Optimism grips South Sudan over new government
Juba, Sunday
There is cautious optimism in South Sudan that a newly formed unity government can finally bring peace following years of civil war.
What has also got people talking are the prominent roles women have been given, including Angelina Teny, who is now defence minister, the first woman to hold the position.
South Sudan’s president on Thursday announced the Cabinet for the transitional coalition government formed last month in line with a revitalized peace agreement reached in September 2018.
According to a decree read on state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, President Salva Kiir’s side has 20 ministries in the unity government.
His aides in the Cabinet include Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Beatrice Kamisa Wani, Interior Minister Paul Mayom, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Ruben Madol Arol, Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth, and Finance and Planning Minister Garang Mabiordit.
First Vice President Riek Machar’s party —Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO)—has nine ministries. His wife Teny has been appointed Defense and Veterans’ Affairs Minister, while his aide Puot Kang will serve as Petroleum Minister.
Teny, is not new to the security role. While her husband has been under effective house arrest, first in South Africa and then Khartoum, she has been one of the opposition SPLM-IO’s chief negotiators and led the group’s National Committee for Security and Defence.
She is a straight-talker and quick-thinker who has been one of the country’s most important politicians.
She’s previously served as state minister for energy and mining and after independence from Sudan, she led negotiations between the two countries on how to divide lucrative and contested oil assets.
More recently, she spent 17 months in the capital, Juba, after the signing of the recent peace deal working out security arrangements on how rebels and government forces could be merged.
Since her appointment some have questioned her qualifications to be defence minister.
South Sudan slid into crisis in December 2013 when Kiir sacked Machar as vice president on suspicion of plotting a coup, followed by a protracted civil war that claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced 4 million people to flee their homes.
The formation of the coalition government and subsequent full implementation of the peace accord is widely hoped to end the suffering of the people of South Sudan, a young nation that has faced years of conflict.
In 2016, the opposing sides formed a unity government and Machar’s rebel forces accompanied him into the city – it ended up with clashes between the opposing forces and the two fleeing the country.
Now the stage has been set for a repeat, and many will be watching to see if things work out better this time round. -Agencies
