Draft constitution of the Republic of South Sudan released
* Article
* Comments (27)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
*
*
*
*
April 24, 2011 (KAMPALA) – The draft South Sudan transitional
constitution says the president of the republic will serve for four
years starting from 9 July 2011.
PDF - 852.6 kb
The draft constitution of the Republic of South Sudan
South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north in
January 2011 referendum provided by 2005’s Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of north-south civil war. South
independence from the north will be celebrated on 9 July 2011 in
according to the CPA.
The term of office for president and vice president is also four years
in the US. Following the confirmation of independence early this year,
the president of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), Salva Kiir
Mayardit, formed a committee to work on a constitutional text. Last
week, the minister of legal affairs, John Luk Jok, handed the draft of
the proposed Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan
to President Kiir.
President Kiir will study the transitional constitution before it is
forwarded to Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) for approval.
According to part two of the transitional constitution and article
100, “The tenure of the office of the President of the Republic of
South Sudan shall be four years, commencing from July, 2011.”
The transitional constitution also defines the parliament of Juba
after inauguration of the Republic of South Sudan in July this year as
being composed of the current members of SSLA and members of
parliament currently representing southern Sudanese in Khartoum.
Cabinet ministers in Khartoum will be members of South Sudan
parliament without a voting power, the proposed constitution noted.
It states that although “All indigenous languages of South Sudan are
national languages” English will be the “official working language of
the Republic of South Sudan”. For many people in South Sudan Arabic is
currently their lingua franca. There is an emphasis in the document
upon the “decentralized system of government” which will afford
greater power at the state level. It also described the establishment
of independent Relief and Rehabilitation; National Anti-Corruption;
Demobilisation, Disarmament and Re-integration; HIV/Aids; and Human
Rights inter alia commissions.
The Bank of South Sudan will be responsible for the production of a
new currency which will “reflect the historical and cultural diversity
of the country” On the controversial subject of Local Justice, subject
of a recent report produced by the Rift Valley Institute and the US
Institute for Peace, “Legislation of the states shall provide for the
role of Traditional Authority as an institution at local government
level on matter affecting local communities.”
The document states that the National Legislature will be made up of
the National Legislative Assembly and the Council of State.
Significantly, the constitution defines the territory of the Republic
of South Sudan and emphasize that "the territoryof the nine Ngok Dinka
chiefdoms transferred from Bahr el Ghazal Province toKordofan Province
in 1905 as defined by the Abyei Arbitration Tribunal Award of July
2009".
Sovereignty of the Abyei is controversial as it in the borderlands
between north and South Sudan, it is oil-rich and fertile land and the
ethnic origin of its inhabitants is a matter of dispute. Controversy
surrounds the inclusion of Misseriya tribal group in a delayed
referendum which will decide area’s future. The nomadic Misseriya, who
are associated with north Sudan, spend part of year in Abyei, where
the Ngok Dinka resides. Tensions in the area are rising as the
military presence increases.
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD
info" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
