March 20th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The Independent Boundary Commission (IBC) formed on Monday has asked the people of South Sudan to say how many states should be there in their country in a bid to try to solve the state issue which has been one of the contentious issues during the peace process since 2014.
On Monday, the IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan, Amb. Ismail Wais, inaugurated, in Juba, the IBC which is provided for in the revitalized peace agreement signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in September last year by the government and opposition groups.
In a statement following the inaugural meeting, the Chairperson of the IBC, Them-bi-sile Cheryl Majola of South Africa, asked South Sudanese to email their opinion on how many states should be there in South Sudan and why.
“How many states should South Sudan have and why?” is the question and the answer should be emailed to ibcss2010@gmail.com or delivered by hand to the IGAD South Sudan liaison office in Hai Amarat – Juba, located next to the Ugandan Embassy.
The statement signed by Majola says all responses should be sent no later than Wednesday the 3rd of April.
The mandate of the Independent Boundaries Commission under the revitalized peace agreement is to demarcate state boundaries, their composition and restructure the Council of States.
if the IBC fail to agree on the number and boundaries of the states, the RCNBS shall conduct a referendum on this matter asking South Sudanese to choose one of the three options – the 10 states, 21 states or the current 32 states – or any other number of states agreed by IBC to be offered as an alternative.
The IBC, consists of 15 members nominated among the parties to the revitalized peace agreement, supported by five experts nominated by the member states of the African Union High-Level Ad Hoc Committee on South Sudan namely – South Africa, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria and Rwanda.
The body reports directly to the IGAD Executive Secretariat.
