Six South Sudanese members of the National Assembly from the Chollo (Shilluk) Kingdom of Upper Nile State have rejected the unilateral order creating 28 states by the president, saying the order is going to add more problems to the current ones.
Speaking on Thursday during a news conference at the parliament premises, MP Onyoti Adigo Nyikwec and other MPs said the present map being circulated now is problematic politically, administratively and socially to the people of the Shilluk Kingdom and even to all the people of the present Upper Nile State.
The president announced on 2 October the dissolution of the ten existing states and constitutions and their replacement with 28 new states carved out largely along ethnic lines.
Minorities of the Shilluk ethnic group were left in the majority Dinka Eastern Nile State, while the state given to the Shilluk, Western Nile, was split in two by a decision to give Eastern Nile a slice of land from Malakal to the Sudan border.
At the press conference today, Adigo said that the order amounts to dictatorship and violates the constitution and the peace agreement. He was joined at the press conference by five other MPs: Hon. Mary Riro Jwac, Hon. Benjamin Bol Joeiyang, Hon. Samuel Abari Acien, Hon. Johnson Olom Nyikwec and Hon. Andrew Okony Ayom.
Onyoti pointed out that all of the Shilluk land on the eastern bank of the Nile will fall under the newly created Eastern Nile State, separating them from the rest of the Shilluk Kingdom.
“The parts of Collo (Shilluk) counties on the Eastern Bank had never been part of Baliet district on the authentic map of 1.1.1956. Malakal, Doleib Hill and Nakdair Payam and other Shilluk villages north of Malakal town up to Fashoda County were not part of the present Baleit County on the map,” said Adigo.
“As you know two days ago, more than 90 people have been killed in Warrap state specifically in Tonj because of the problems of boundary. We urged the president to establish national boundaries of the state, countries and payams according to 1/1/1956 to ensure stability in the country,” he said.
Adigo said they will take their case to court. He added that if the order is brought to the parliament for final approval, then they are also going to work against it in parliament.
“We urge the president to suspend his presidential order No. 36 and focus more on the implementation of the Peace Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan in order to unite the ranks of our people, build trust and heal inflicted wounds incurred on the people,” Adigo added.
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