Politicians from South Sudan's Warrap State previously explored the idea of renaming Twic County “Kiir State”. The idea was later dropped and the county was instead renamed “Twic State” in the decree issued by President Salva Kiir last Friday.

A map released yesterday by a group of South Sudanese chiefs (pictured above) shows that an early proposal for division of the existing 10 states along tribal lines sought to rename Twic County, labeling the area “Kiir State.”

State officials and members of parliament hailing from the area provided conflicting accounts of why this was proposed. Some explained that the name was derived from the River Kiir, which passes through the area, while others suggested the idea originated with politicians close to President Salva Kiir who may have wanted to name the state after him.

“There were discussions before around the name of the new state. But these were done by individuals. It was never subjected to public debate so that people could reach consensus on what name to be adopted,” explained an SPLM official who hails from Wunrok in the proposed Twic State.

He said that those who were suggesting names “were not serious,” saying that all they wanted was to have their own state and that the matter of the name was of secondary importance.

“One guy called Deng Acuil described talks about the name like discussions about naming a child before birth. For him, he was not bothered after the name. He was saying the state could be called Kiir state. It could be called Twic state, Mayardit state, why not,” said the political source.

He was referring to Deng Acuil, a former Warrap state member of parliament who is currently serving as a National Security officer in Juba within the economic intelligence department.

“One can see one of his proposals for the name has worked. Now the state is called Twic State. Some of us were making different suggestions,” added the SPLM official.

Charles Majak, a member of parliament representing Twic County in the national legislature said in a separate interview that he was not aware of the earlier proposal to name the area Kiir State but said that it would not have surprised him, owing to the historical significance of River Kiir in the area.

“It would not have surprised me since we have a river called the Kiir River,” said Majak.

It is not clear why the name Kiir State was not adopted as per the draft proposal submitted to Kiir's office.

According to the new Establishment Order 'Twic State' becomes one of only four counties to be upgraded by itself to the status of state. The other three are Gok, Jubek and Aweil East states, which each consist of only one county.

Related: 

Full list of Kiir's proposed new 28 states in S Sudan (3 Oct.)