The Jieng Council of Elders has issued another position paper rejecting key provisions of the ‘compromise agreement’ proposed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Developments (IGAD).
The proposed agreement aims to engineer a foreign takeover of the country, according to the council.
The position paper says that the proposal is divisive and will likely breed a much more bitter war. In particular, the Council members objected to the handover of power in the Upper Nile region to the opposition SPLM-IO.
“It does not address in a meaningful way the root causes of the conflict, though it may succeed in temporary halting the fighting, it does not entirely provide any guarantees to stop its resumption in the very near future,” reads the paper.
The position paper alleges that the agreement has been crafted in favour of the rebel leader Riek Machar with the view to help him achieve his alleged “coup objectives in diplomatic manner.”
“The agreement makes Riek Machar co-president, not just a vice president and the agreement essentially renders the sitting president powerless and more ceremonial. This glaring appeasement of hell-bend coup plotters actually provides incentives for violent usurpation of power,” the paper added.
“We find it objectionable to extend the power sharing ratios to the states,” said the Council.
They also reject demilitarization of the national capital, Juba, and introduction of strong reforms in the army, claiming the objective of the proposal is to destroy the army and delink it from its historical leadership.
“The objective of this section is not only aimed at transforming the security sector, is actually aimed at a complete destruction of the SPLA structures and rebuilding a new army on a clean slate. The idea is that the current SPLA structure has a divided loyalty and it is inseparable from the SPLM. Since it is not easy to destroy the SPLM for all the apparent reasons, one way you could achieve this is by cutting historical links to the SPLA by rebuilding a whole new military outfit,” the paper alleges.
The Dinka Council of Elders is comprised of members of government, MPs, relatives and political supporters of President Salva Kiir. It is not a body of Dinka traditional leaders.
Phot: Justice Ambrose Riny Thiik (left), a leading figure in the ‘Jieng Council of Elders’