President Salva Kiir chairs the SPLM Political Bureau meeting in Juba on Saturday May 9, 2020. PHOTO: South Sudan Presidential Press Unit/Facebook

The SPLM Political Bureau is urging the parties opposed to the new allocation of states to support the resolution of the “presidency” to end the current deadlock.

The call was conveyed yesterday after a meeting of the ruling party’s leadership.

The meeting was attended by President Salva Kiir, Vice Presidents, Rebecca Nyandeng, James Wani Igga, and Taban Deng.

Earlier this week, the Minister in the Office of the President released a statement revealing the Presidency had agreed to allocate six states to the SPLM, 3 to the SPLM-IO and one state to the Opposition Alliance.

No state was apportioned to the Other Political Parties – OPP.

However, Dr. Machar and some leaders of the opposition groups counter-issued statements rejecting the decision, saying it was a unilateral move by President Kiir.

They stated that the decision does not put into consideration the relative prominence of the parties in each of the state or county.

Dr. Riek Machar, Dr. Lam Akol and five other opposition leaders described the decision as a violation of the revitalized peace deal.

As a result, President Kiir summoned a meeting of the SPLM Political Bureau on Saturday to deliberate on the matter.

Speaking to the press, the Acting Secretary-General of the SPLM, Jemma Nunu said the meeting called for more compromises to end the impasse.

“The political Bureau urged Dr Riek Machar to make a move and bring an end to this stalemate on the allocation of states because now there is a vacuum in the state…there is no government,” Nunu stressed.

Many states in South Sudan have continued to experience communal violence and revenge killings.

Such attacks are attributed to the absence of state governments, and the presence of arms in the hands of civilians.

The coronavirus has already exacerbated the already fragile economic and social conditions in the state.

The states currently do not have governors or ministers such as that of health to respond to any COVID-19 case.

“We would like to make sure that a government is put in place so that people on the ground get the services that they need,” Nunu told the media.

The resolution purportedly by the Presidency agreed to allocate Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Lakes, Warrap, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, and Unity states to President Kiir’s party.

While Jonglei, Western Bahr el-Ghazal, and Western Equatorial states shall go to the main opposition group, SPLM-IO.

Upper Nile State has been allocated to South Sudan Opposition Alliance.

But Dr. Riek Machar stated on Friday that: “as far as we are concerned, the deadlock on the allocation of states still stands.”

Jemma Nunu said the SPLM’s highest political decision-making organ encourages Kiir and other opposition leaders to break the deadlock.

“This is not something which can delay the process, but it seems everybody is sticking to his/her position -which is not good for the people of South Sudan,” she maintained.

The disagreement over the allocation of states to peace parties has been delaying the full establishment of the coalition government.

The opposition parties have asked the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission to refer the deadlock to the guarantors of the revitalized peace deal.