UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has submitted a report to the UN Security Council saying that several months have passed without any 'tangible progress' in setting up the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.

The Juba government agreed last year with SSDM/A rebel group to create a special administrative area within Jongle state whose administrator would have status equivalent to that of a governor. The deal represented a compromise for SSDM/A leader David Yau Yau, who had demanded the creation of a new state in his home area of Pibor.

In a report about South Sudan dated 17 February, Ban Ki-moon said, ¨Since my latest report [in November 2014], the operationalization of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area in Jonglei State has made no tangible progress.¨

¨The budget approved by the Government in October 2014 has not been released, and the demarcation of the borders of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area has not yet commenced,¨ he explained.

But the UN leader pointed to progress demobilizing child soldiers formerly belonging to SSDM/A: ¨With regard to the disarmament of the South Sudan Democratic Movement/South Sudan Defence Army (SSDM/SSDA)-Cobra faction, led by David Yau Yau, on 27 January, the armed group released the first group of 249 of an expected 3,000 children identified for reintegration.¨

The UN chief is required to report regularly to the Security Council. His latest report dated 17 February also includes updates on UNMISS activities, the security situation, political developments, and violations of the status-of-forces agreement between UN and the government.

File photo: David Yau Yau (Al Jazeera)