South Sudan on Monday swore in hundreds of lawmakers to a newly created national parliament, a long overdue condition of a fragile peace deal that ended the civil war in the young country.
In all, 588 MPs — a mix of delegates from the ruling party and former rebel factions who signed the truce — took the oath of office at a ceremony in Juba presided over by the chief justice.
The creation of an inclusive national assembly was a key condition of the 2018 ceasefire that paused five years of bloodshed between government and rebel forces that left nearly 400,000 people dead.
Like several other urgent and crucial provisions of the peace accords, the convening of parliament went long unfulfilled, eroding trust between the political rivals that unified in a tenuous coalition after the war.
It comes nearly a year behind schedule and remains incomplete, with 62 MPs absent from the swearing-in ceremony, some because of squabbles with the government over the power-sharing arrangement.
Daniel Awet, deputy of the ruling SPLM party, hailed the occasion as a show of unity.
“It is only through unity of purpose and love of one another that we progress our country and secure the future for the young generation that has been saved after long wars,” he told the lawmakers, community representatives and church leaders present for the occasion.
President Salva Kiir did not attend the event.
South Sudan has struggled with war, famine, and chronic political and economic crisis since celebrating its hard-fought independence from Sudan a decade ago.
The ceasefire was just the latest inked between Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, whose rivalry ignited the conflict that left the world’s newest country ethnically riven and desperately poor.
Their truce still largely holds but it is being sorely tested, as politicians bicker over power and promises for peace go unmet.
*This article was written by Agencies for Uzalendo News. Email: uzalendonews@gmail.com for News tips and Inquiries.
