President Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar | File Photo.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development has given South Sudan’s peace parties until early next month to reconstitute the parliament, and agree to form state governments.

This emerged on Thursday in the 71st Extra-Ordinary Session of IGAD Council of Ministers held via a video conference, under the chairpersonship of Asma Abdalla, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Sudan.

The meeting was convened to deliberate on the status of implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

The peace parties formed the Presidency in February and later the Cabinet in March, but disagreement over the allocation of state governments has stalled the process of fully forming the unity government.

In a communique, the IGAD Foreign Ministers said they are concerned over delays in the completion of some important pre-transitional tasks such as the reconstitution of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA).

“In this regard, (we) urged the President of the Republic to dissolve the incumbent TNLA before 30th April 2020, and called upon the Parties to reconstitute the TNLA in accordance with the R-ARCSS within ten days of the dissolution of the incumbent TNLA,” the communique said.  

The regional foreign ministers also expressed concerns with the stalemate among the Parties in agreeing to allocate State and local government levels between the parties.

“In light of this, (we) called on the Parties to immediately resume discussions and consultations and reach on an agreement within 15 days of the issuance of this Communique,” they demanded.

The Council also urged the incumbent R-TGoNU to immediately disburse the required funding for implementing pending tasks related to security arrangements.

According to the communique, President Salva Kiir should consult with concerned officials and organs in accordance with the peace deal or the country’s transitional constitution while making public political appointments.

The IGAD ministers also encouraged all parties to ensure that the 35% women representation is respected and adhered to in future nominations to various public offices.