South Sudan Conflict, and Democracy Consolidation

By George Hokker

South Sudan Conflict, and Democracy Consolidation. South Sudan Conflict, South Sudan Ethnic Crises, South Sudan History Book has all these information. Inclusion and empowerment are vital for both democracy and development to take hold in conflict and post-conflict situations, according to Nicholas Haysom, special representative of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Sudan and South Sudan. "I think the temptation in some of these situations is to suppress different people's identities,” said Haysom, who was previously the secretary-general’s representative in Afghanistan. “They'll say there’s only one identity, [and] you can understand that because of the imperative of nation building.” “But that cannot be the basis of building a firm and inclusive society. It has to be one that recognizes people's differences but based on their shared values and shared interests and destiny,” he said

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781365720505

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South Sudan Conflict, and Democracy Consolidation

South Sudan Conflict, and Democracy Consolidation,

Trying to resolve issues, South Sudan Political History.

____________________

Author

George Hokker

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First Printing: 2017

ISBN: 978-1-365-72050-5

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South Sudan.

South Sudan’s New Democracy

What does it mean to be a citizen of the new Republic of South Sudan?

During the Cold War, Americans wondered if newborn African and Eastern European countries would become democracies. Now we assess how new democracies will live up to their professed democratic values. The world’s newest country, South Sudan, is in the unique position of being able to learn from and construct its constitution from countries that have already gone through the risky process of declaring freedom.

Since the declaration of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, South Sudan has been ruled under an interim constitution, adopted by the people, that firmly established that the authority of government at all levels in Southern Sudan shall derive from the people and shall be exercised in accordance with their will. The constitution also separated religion and the state, promised to respect all indigenous languages of the country, established English and Arabic as the official working languages of the government, and even promoted the use of sign language for people with special needs. This interim constitution was a symbol of how far South Sudan had risen from the destructive grasp of two civil wars.

The technical committee, including South Sudan’s Minister for Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development John Luk Jok, reviewed the interim constitution and drafted the transitional constitution that would take its place. The technical committee was unbalanced from the start. The body consisted of 41 members of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), and only 11 officials from other political parties. On March 7, the officials from the other political parties all withdrew from the technical committee citing the unfair majority that the ruling party held over the approval and revisions of the constitution. Together this group of political officials was supposed to address any gaps in the written law and provide a framework to guide a new South Sudan.

Political party leaders, including those that had withdrawn from the constitutional review exercise, did all eventually participate in a review of the draft constitution and finally released the draft of the transitional constitution in April. The transitional constitution recognized English as the official language of the new republic, cementing the belief that English is a global lingua franca that can encourage development and differentiate South Sudan from Sudan where Arabic is the primary language. With more than 40 ethnic groups, South Sudan is very linguistically diverse. Perhaps in choosing English as the official language of the new republic, South Sudan can avoid the problems of a nation like Morocco, where classical Arabic is the official language, the local population speaks the Moroccan Arabic dialect of Darija, and the elite use French and English in the halls of government.

The right to life, dignity, and integrity are enshrined in the transitional Constitution’s Bill Of Rights. The new republic has also agreed to promote the political participation of women, who constitute over 55 percent of registered voters, with affirmative action policies that accord fully one quarter of the positions in the legislative and executive branches to women. This one-quarter figure is not quite the 30 percent representation that the South Sudanese women at the 2005 Oslo donors’ conference demanded, but it’s a start. According to the South Sudan minister of gender, child, and social welfare women will make up 52 out of the 170 members of the National Legislature from 2011 to 2015.

In regards to the disputed region of Abyei, the transitional constitution firmly claims sovereignty over the territory of the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms transferred from Bahr el Ghazal Province to Kordofan Province in 1905 as defined by the Abyei Arbitration Tribunal Award of July 2009. The constitution makes no mention of when the referendum on Abyei’s future will take place.

Executive Legislative Tensions

The transitional government of Southern Sudan has ruled with a top-down approach. Edicts are issued from Juba and followed through in the local towns and ten states of South Sudan. South Sudan has established a national legislature composed of two houses (the National Legislative Assembly and the Council of States) that functionally resemble the House of Representatives and the Senate in the United States. For the 18-21 months before the first national elections of South Sudan are scheduled to take place in 2013, the legislative body is composed of representatives who have been serving as members of the unicameral Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (the predecessor to the National Legislature) and all southern Sudanese members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Sudan in Khartoum. As it stands 90 percent of the legislators are members of the ruling SPLM. The power of the executive branch of South Sudan extends into the legislative branch. In the Council of States, in addition to those representatives elected by their state, the president appoints 20 representatives. Term lengths and limits for the National Legislature were not set out in the transitional constitution.

The new president’s powers include the ability to dissolve elected governments and dismiss elected officials. The transitional constitution limits the presidential term to four years, commencing on July 9, 2011, but does not state presidential term limits. South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar advocates presidential term limits saying Overstaying in power beyond two terms prevents new ideas. The decision to extend the current president’s term of office is an over step in power in the eyes of Lam Akol,