According to state television, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir declared the formation of a new parliament on Monday, which would include members from both sides of the country’s civil war.
A new legislative body was a condition of the 2018 agreement signed by him and Vice President Riek Machar, who served on opposing sides for years during the five-year civil war that killed 380,000 people and displaced four million.
“Reconstituting” the country’s parliament had been due in February 2020 but had still not taken place, prompting the ire of the opposition.
Kiir dissolved the previous parliament on Saturday ahead of the change — more than a year overdue.
A decree by Kiir was then readout on the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) on Monday, including the names of the national assembly legislators.
In accordance with the accord, the new assembly will number 550 lawmakers, up from the previous 400.
Of these 332 deputies were chosen by Kiir, 128 by Machar, and 90 others by signatory parties, in line with the peace deal.
The decree did not mention the upper house state council which was also dissolved late Saturday.
The dissolution of parliament came on the eve of a visit to the capital Juba by US special envoy to South Sudan Donald Booth.
The US State Department had voiced concern at “the slow implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, ongoing violence, and deteriorating economic and humanitarian conditions.”
Kiir and Machar formed a coalition government in February 2020.
