JUBA, May 8 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's main opposition group on Friday rejected a decision to allocate states to former warring parties by President Salva Kiir as a means to resolve disagreement over power-sharing in the 10 states and three newly created administrative areas.
Riek Machar, leader of Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army in Opposition (SPLA/M-IO) who is also the first vice president, said the decision to divide the states among the parties to the September 2018 peace deal is not inclusive.
"The allocation of the states as came in the statement is that of the president and not a decision taken by consensus," Machar said in a statement issued in Juba. "It doesn't put into consideration the relative prominence of each party has in each of the respective state or county."
He was referring to Kiir's statement issued on Thursday that the decision on the allocation of states was made at a meeting attended by all his deputies, including Machar.
The presidency agreed to allocate Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Lakes, Warrap, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, and Unity states to the incumbent government, while Jonglei, Western Bahr el-Ghazal, and Western Equatorial states were allocated to the main opposition group, the SPLM-IO.
Upper Nile State has been allocated to the South Sudan Opposition Alliance.
Machar called on Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, a body tasked with overseeing the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement, to immediately intervene and resolve the matter.
The disagreement over allocation of states to peace parties has been delaying the full establishment of a coalition government. Enditem
