IBC embarks on grassroot consultations on number of states

A team from the Independent Boundary Commission (IBC) is in Central Upper Nile state to consult with the local community on the issue of the number of states. 

The team will meet with a cross section of youth, women, civil society, faith based and traditional leaders.

Their findings will be presented to the IGAD Secretariat and thereafter the recommendations will be communicated to the parties to the peace agreement. 

This is one of several IBC teams dispatched to conduct the grassroot consultations.

“One team is here and another one has gone to Wau, another has gone to Yei and, explains team leader, Ambassador Thembisile Majola.

Ambassador Majola says consultations will also be conducted among the South Sudanese community in refugee camps in Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The consultations follow an earlier phase that required the public to send their proposals to the IBC via email or handwritten documents.

The IBC consists of 15 members nominated among the parties, supported by five experts nominated by the member states of the African Union High Level Ad Hoc Committee on South Sudan namely South Africa, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria and Rwanda.

The revitalized peace agreement states that the commission will consider the report of the Technical Boundary Committee on the South Sudan tribal boundaries as they stood on 1 January 1956.

Ambassador Thembisile Majola spoke to Simon Nyang Touch in this interview.