A committee to review the number of states in South Sudan should be composed of experts and civil society leaders that have no political interest, Deng Athuai, a leading South Sudan civil society activist said this week.
“The culture of resistance, confrontation and avoiding discussion of political issues has always been the biggest problem for our leaders,” Deng said.
Earlier this week, First Vice President Riek Machar and Second Vice President James Wani, announced a committee to review a dispute over the number of states in South Sudan. In October, President Salva Kiir changed the number of states from 10 to 28. The opposition disputes the demarcation of the borders.
In the fifteen member committee, 10 will be South Sudanese that are elected by political parties, and five will come from the international community.
“There should be no monopoly of public affairs. We need the process to be transparent and inclusive,” Deng said. “Our people have suffered long enough and they do not want violence or brinksmanship. They want the truth. They want justice and that’s why they are saying that the consultations should have been carried out before the creation of the states so that their views were incorporated in the decision”