Eastern Equatoria State's government says that they have not yet received even one copy of the compromise agreement signed between the South Sudanese government and the SPLM/A-IO to end the 20-months conflict in the country.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Minister of Information and Communications in Eastern Equatoria Mark Okia said the state government did not receive any copy of the deal. But he said that the state government is aware that the agreement was signed.
“As you know, the documents were first signed on 17 August in Addis Ababa and the South Sudan President signed on 26 August in Juba, that means the agreement was signed in different places which means the IGAD is still working on it to make it one copy and we hope very soon, we shall receive the copy of the compromise agreement,” he said.
The official stated that his government has already taken notice of the agreement and the state has started implementation of the agreement by preaching about it to the public.
“We in Eastern Equatoria we are ready for implementation of peace and that’s why the governor is on the move telling people about peace and recently he went to Greater Kapoeta and conducted peace conference between Toposa and Boya tribes,” Okia stated
He said the governor will also visit Lafon if possible in order to brief the citizens about the peace agreement signed and how people should support the peace in various places.
Asked about the SPLA's plans to redoploy forces from Juba to other areas, Mark said that this would not affect their state.
“What we know from our state is that Juba will be redeployed 25 km and it has nothing to do with Nimule or any other areas of Eastern Equatoria State and the government has started assessing the areas lying within 25 km and I want to tell you the Ministry of Defense has all areas for redeployments of SPLA and if you want, you can speak to the Ministry of Defense.”
Central Equatoria State Minister Emmanuel Adil Anthony told Radio Tamazuj on the same day that the state governor and cabinet will meet on Monday next week to discuss issues concerning redeployment of the SPLA from bases inside Juba to areas outside Juba.