A leader of one of South Sudan’s minor opposition parties has denied that President Salva Kiir is planning to form a broad-based government in which other parties would likely share in the cabinet.
This comes following a meeting held between the president and representatives of the political parties in Juba on Monday. Amid deep division in the ruling party SPLM, the president initiated dialogue with the smaller parties.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, a representative of the other political parties Mathew Mayor said the president talked of government reshuffle and changes in government institutions.
But he also clearly dismissed reports that the president agreed on the formation of a four-year interim government, which would include the other parties but not the ousted vice-president Riek Machar.
Joseph Malek, the spokesman of the Political Parties Forum, was quoted on Thursday by Al Masier newspaper as saying, “His Excellency the president and political parties held a meeting in which they agreed to form an interim government until 2018, excluding former Vice President Riek Machar.”
But Mayor, the other politician, said the statement by the spokesman of the Political Parties Forum was incorrect. “The president neither invited the political parties nor other bodies to get involved in the proposed political reforms,” he said.
“Previously, the president promised the people more ministries when the economic situation improves, so now this time he wants to reinstate the ministries which were amalgamated,” he explained.
He noted the consultative meeting between the political forces and the president also touched on the upcoming IGAD summit as well as the preparation for the second round of peace talks with the SPLM/A opposition faction in Addis Ababa on 20 March.
File photo: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir (AFP/Getty Images)