By FRED OLUOCH Special Correspondent
In Summary
- Dr Machar is proposing the breaking up of South Sudan into federal regions with greater autonomy but which contributes taxes to the central government.
- Dr Machar insisted that the transition include stakeholders drawn from political parties, civil society, religious leaders and ex-detainees, and that he is willing to stay out the entire term of the caretaker government.
- Nairobi, having midwifed the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that saw South Sudan secede from the greater Sudan, has been careful not to take sides in the conflict.
South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar is seeking
the setting up of a caretaker federal system of government to bring
lasting peace to the war-torn country.
Details on what Dr Machar told President Uhuru
Kenyatta at their meeting in Nairobi last week have emerged, namely that
the proposed caretaker government would negotiate a peace agreement,
initiate minimum reforms, set up a framework for constitutional reforms
and draw up an election timetable.
Diplomatic sources said Dr Machar told President
Kenyatta he would wait “patiently” for the transitional government — to
be known as the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) — to
achieve the above mandate, over an unspecified period of time.
Sources said Dr Machar is proposing the breaking
up of South Sudan into federal regions with greater autonomy but which
contributes taxes to the central government. Currently, South Sudan has a
centralised system of government run from the capital Juba and 10
states with limited powers.
In a meeting at State House Nairobi on Thursday,
Dr Machar is said to have insisted that the transition include
stakeholders drawn from political parties, civil society, religious
leaders and ex-detainees, and that he is willing to stay out the entire
term of the caretaker government.
The government, Dr Machar said, should spearhead
minimum reforms in the judiciary, civil service, security apparatus and
the electoral process. If Dr Machar has his way, an independent but
powerful body is to be formed to monitor the implementation of these
reforms and the running of the transitional government.
Dr Machar has also added a new dimension, that the
transitional government must also have a strong federal outlook, and
that those who participate in the transitional government must not take
part in the elections to be called by the latter.
The former vice-president briefly met President
Kenyatta on Wednesday after the latter’s tour of Eldoret to set up a
formal meeting at State House the following day.
On Thursday, Dr Machar first met two Kenya’s
special envoys to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad)
talks, Lazarus Sumbeiywo and Dalmas Otieno, among other senior
government officials. He then met President Kenyatta in a meeting that
went on late into the evening.
Nairobi, having midwifed the 2005 Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) that saw South Sudan secede from the greater
Sudan, has been careful not to take sides in the conflict, constantly
engaging both sides and avoiding moves and statements likely to deepen
the divide between the two protagonists — President Salva Kiir and Dr
Machar.
Whereas Dr Machar views President Yoweri Museveni
of Uganda with suspicion due to Uganda’s support of Kiir — Ugandan has
sent troops to South Sudan — he has been open to negotiations led by
Kenya. In several of his tweets since the war started, Dr Machar has
accused President Museveni of using the war to further his “personal
interests.”
“We don’t have a problem with Uganda as a country
but we’ve a problem with its leader who uses innocent soldiers for his
personal interests,” Dr Machar tweeted at one time.
No comments:
Post a Comment