South
Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has dissolved parliament, paving the way for the
appointment of MPs from opposing sides in the country’s five-year civil war.
Activists
and civil society groups say the move is long overdue.
A
peace deal signed three years ago determined that almost a quarter of the MPs
would come from the party of Kiir’s former foe, Riek Machar.
The
majority of the 550 legislators will be from the governing SPLM party.
South
Sudan’s MPs will not be elected but will instead be nominated by different
political parties.
“Let
it not take weeks or months”, Edmund Yakani of the Community Empowerment for
Progress Organization – one of the civil society groups that signed the peace
deal – told the BBC.
“If
possible, the president should appoint the new parliament by Monday.”
The
conflict that erupted in South Sudan in 2013 caused one of Africa’s worst
humanitarian crises, with at least 380,000 people killed and millions forced
from their homes.
The
BBC’s Africa editor Will Ross says politicians in South Sudan are slowly
fulfilling the promises they made in the 2018 peace agreement.
A
unity government has been in place for over a year, but following numerous
outbreaks of inter-ethnic conflict the UN has warned of a risk of a return to
large-scale conflict in South Sudan.
Our
Africa editor says there are still major challenges ahead for South Sudan
including the formation of a new national army – made up of soldiers from the
opposing sides in the country’s civil war.
A
recent report by the UN has called for the arms embargo to be extended, and for
new sanctions against people who hinder the implementation of the peace deal.
Insecurity
is still rife across South Sudan and has prevented many farmers – who have been
forced to flee their homes – from planting or harvesting crops, causing food
shortages nationwide.
There
are also warnings from the UN’s World Food Programme that more than seven
million people in South Sudan will suffer acute food insecurity over the coming
months.
(TODAY.NG)
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