The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development or IGAD is expected to meet President Salva Kiir on February 15th to reach on the resolution of number of states and their boundaries.
According to IGAD communiqué, the two principals disagreed again on the number of states to be ten former states or the current thirty-two plus Abyei Administration Area.
The opposition leader Dr Riek Machar agreed on the ten former states not 23 plus Abyei, yet the head of state decided to consult with South Sudanese back home.
In his statement the government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth said the discussion of IGAD summit focused on the ten states and the government is not ready to backward its decision.
He added that the opposition leader made the situation worse than before.
Makuei said the government will rely on the last decision of people and will take it according to their will.
The Number of States and Boundaries remains as one of the main outstanding issues in the revitalised agreement after various meeting between the two principals and presence of guarantors.
They also emphasized the need to speak in one voice and avoid parallel processes that would further complicate the situation.
Earlier, IGAD foreign ministers proposed that the transitional government be formed soon in line with the revitalized agreement with 27 states.
IGAD’s proposal for 27 federal regional states in South Sudan was initially met with stiff opposition from Kiir and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
President Kiir asked IGAD leaders for some time for consultations with his citizens on the matter.
The deadline came when IGAD leaders met on the sidelines of the ongoing African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia led by Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdock.
According to VOA, Henry Odwar, SPLM-IO deputy chairman, said it was ‘disheartening’ that the parties ‘hit another brick wall’.
He said the SPLM-IO said it welcomes arbitration, but that arbitration committee to settle the number of states and boundaries before forming transitional government.
Odwar said if the stalemate over the number of states is not resolved and security arrangements are not completed before the deadline, the SPLM-IO will not be part of any new government.