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South Sudan President Dissolves Assembly, Reconstitutes Parliament Per Peace
Deal

Winnie Cirino

   JUBA - South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Monday reconstituted the
   National Legislative Assembly, one day after he dissolved the
   400-member parliament in accordance with the revitalized peace
   agreement.

   The new parliament must now accommodate 550 members, including
   additional lawmakers from the formerly warring parties of the Sudan
   People's Liberation Movement-In Government (SPLM-IG), the SPLM-In
   Opposition (SPLM-IO), the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), Other
   Opposition Parties (OPP), and Former Detainees.

   The former transitional government nominated 332 members, the SPLM-IO
   nominated 128, the SSOA got 50, the OPP got 30, and the Former
   Detainees nominated 10.

   Lam Akol, head of the National Democratic Movement, a member of the
   umbrella opposition group South Sudan Opposition Alliance, said the
   parliament should have been reconstituted last year under the peace
   agreement, noting opposition parties submitted their nominations
   several months ago but Kiir's ruling SPLM-IG party delayed the process
   because they had not nominated their members.

   Akol told South Sudan in Focus that Kiir dissolved parliament now in
   order to impress U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan
   Ambassador Donald Booth and UK Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan
   Ambassador Robert Fairweather, both of whom arrived in Juba on
   Saturday.

   "We are now implementing the activities of the pre-transitional period
   rather than implementing the activities of the transitional period, so
   18 months have gone and we are still talking of formation of government
   -- what we should have done about 15 months before that. There is no
   political will to implement the agreement, and the time is ticking and
   they were talking about extending the transitional period," said Akol.

   Responding to the agreement's obligations at this late date is not
   helpful, according to James Okuk, a senior research fellow at the
   Juba-based Center for Strategic Policy Studies. Okuk is not optimistic
   about the prospects of an oversized parliament working in the interests
   of the South Sudanese people, noting that the lawmakers are appointed,
   not elected, and that most of them are holdovers.
   FILE - Civilians celebrate the signing of peace agreement between the
   Sudan's transitional government and revolutionary movements to end
   decades-old conflict, in Juba, South Sudan, Oct. 3, 2020.

   "We know their attitudes and we know their behaviors. The best they are
   going to tax from their country is demanding for loans -- you may call
   it car loans or also for medical bills -- and this will really consume
   a lot of money from the government, given the fact that this parliament
   has been expanded to 550 members," Okuk told South Sudan in Focus.

   Okuk said if the parliament wants to be taken seriously, it must
   impeach ministers and fire other top officials "who do not respect
   public property and who do not respect the laws in the country,"
   adding, "that's the only time I will say we have a real parliament."

   Although the parties to the peace deal took a long time to reconstitute
   parliament, Juba resident Oliver Joseph said he is glad it finally
   happened.

   "We need those appointed to look at how we can co-exist again. They
   should raise up those issues in parliament and how we can come up with
   the strategies to calm the situation in those different areas. Second
   of all, we need to look at education as a whole, we need to add more
   budget [dollars] into the education system," Joseph told South Sudan in
   Focus.

   Data Gordon, an activist with the OKAY Foundation, a nonprofit that
   deals with policy advocacy, said he wants the new parliament to take up
   policy decisions that were left hanging by the previous parliament.

   "There is also the youth policy, the youth enterprise development fund,
   the nurses and midwifery policy, as well as the HIV/AIDs policy because
   this conflict has made interventions in most of these areas a
   nightmare, so if they can focus on these it's very important. Secondly,
   let's have a national budget because for almost a year or so the
   country is running not on a national budget," Gordon told South Sudan
   in Focus.

   Analysts have said the lack of a functioning legislature over the past
   several months has made it nearly impossible for lawmakers to pass laws
   or approve sweeping reforms stipulated in the revitalized peace
   agreement.