- South Sudan is Africa’s youngest state, mostly oil dependent but also endowed with bountiful natural resources including very fertile agricultural land and vast number of livestock, and over 60 million cattle, sheep and goats.
- The two main political parties formed a government of national unity last year, after protracted negotiations
- Dr. Riek Machar is opposition leader of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), which split with Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
“Women were with male soldiers in the front line… So let’s raise the bar to 40%. Officially, let’s put it in our resolutions that the affirmative action is going to be 40%,” that was Dr. Riek Machar, currently one of the principals in South Sudan’s government of national unity.
For long regarded as one of the leading warlords in South Sudan’s vicious civil war that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and displacements, Riek Machar is staking claim to the voice of reason in some political circles, as leader of the main opposition party.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) which joined Salvar Kiir’s SPLM in forming the government of National Unity in February 2019, made the eye-raising resolution to reserve 40% of seats for women, in recognition of their gallant efforts to help end the six-year bloodshed in Africa’s newest state, and struggle for independence from Sudan.
Dr. Machar hinted at the possibility of increasing the voice of women in national affairs, based on party and geographical affiliations. “We can also bring other women on party lines and others from across the geographical divide,” Dr Machar added, noting that there are very influential women in certain constituencies who deserved a chance to lead.
The party joined the country’s unity government in February last year in a peace deal which effectively ended one of the longest running and bloodiest civil wars on the continent. The unity government is in power for a transitional three-year period that will end in fresh elections.
SPLM-IO held its first national conference in the capital, Juba, attended by 1,399 delegates from the 10 regional states and three administrative areas.
The delegates also endorsed the appointment of Regina Joseph Kapa as interim Secretary-General of SPLM-IO. Her appointment comes after Tingo Peter resigned last month.
