The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) have submitted to President Salva Kiir all the names of their nominees for constitutional positions in the government.

The Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation and senior SPLM-IO member Manawa Peter Gatkuoth told Radio Tamazuj, "As SPLM-IO, we have already submitted the names of our representatives in the national parliament, the council of states, state cabinet, members of state legislative council, and local councils.” 

He added, “We are waiting for a decree from the president to announce the names. As we said earlier, the disagreement over Malakal [Upper Nile] should not be an obstacle to the rest of the nine states. Some of these states are facing a lot of challenges and they need to have a government in place to address them and then, we can continue with dialogue about Upper Nile.”

He said the proposed Upper Nile conference to deliberate and resolve the standoff over the appointment of the governor, will be held soon.

“There was not enough arrangement done and the time was very short. As you know, we are now approaching the festive season. There are logistical arrangements that were not completed,” According to Manawa. 

For her part, SSOA leader Josephine Lagu also confirmed that her alliance had submitted names of nominees and are waiting for the official announcement. 

"We, as SSOA have already submitted our names to the vice president who represents SSOA in the presidency, and he is expected to hand it over to the president within days. That is what I know. We have been waiting for the last four to five weeks. So, we think that the decree will come out anytime from now, including the national assembly," Lagu added. "I don’t think there is anything else delaying. What is delaying might be only a little secretarial work such as typing, putting release, these might be the cause of the delay.”

Early this month, the presidency announced that President Salva Kiir shall appoint state and local governments except for Upper Nile State until after the proposed Upper Nile conference. They also agreed that Kiir will establish the Revitalized Transitional Legislative Assembly and the Council of states.