Juba, January 7, 2016 (SSNA) — South Sudan’s government, armed opposition, former detainees, and other political parties have divided up key ministerial positions in the upcoming transitional government of national unity proposed by the IGAD-Plus as a mean to end more than two-year old civil war.
The meeting, which was held today (Wednesday) and supervised by the Chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) and Former Motswana’s President, Festu G. Mogae, is the main part of the implementation of the power-sharing deal.
In the conference, all parties agreed to allocated ministerial posts based on provisions of Chapter I (Article 10.5) of the peace agreement.
Under the IGAD-Plus’s compromise peace agreement, the transitional government will have a total of 30 ministers of which 16 for the government, 10 for the SPLM/A-IO, 2 for former political detainees, and 2 for other political parties.
Based on the allocation guidelines, the government of Republic of South Sudan was given 16 Ministers including Finance and Planning, Defense and Veterans Affairs, Justice and Constitutional affairs, Information, Communication Technology and Postal Services, Minister in the Office of the President, Trade and Industry, Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, Roads and Bridges, Parliamentary Affairs, National Security, Health, Culture, Youth and Sports, Gender, Child and Social Welfare, General Education and Instructions, Livestock and Fisheries, and Environmental Forestry.
The armed opposition was given Petroleum, Interior, Water Resources and Irrigation, Labor, Public Service and Human Resources Development, Federal Affairs, Higher Education, Science and Technology, Energy and Dams, Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Land, Housing and Urban Development, and Mining.
Meanwhile, Former political detainees took Transport and Foreign affairs and International Cooperation. Other political parties were also given Cabinet Affairs and Agriculture and Food Security.
On December 23, the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) reported that talks over the formation of South Sudan’s transitional government have already begun and that negotiations over ministerial posts started two days after rebel advance team arrived in Juba.