Constitutional review: S. Sudan civil society activists decry lack of
participation
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By Julius N. Uma
April 24, 2011 (JUBA) - Coalitions of civil society organisations,
gathered at a two-day pre-convention, openly decried the government’s
failure to include their views in South Sudan’s interim constitution,
now in its draft stage.
JPEG - 53 kb
Coalition of civil society members attending the pre-convention
workshop organized by Justice Africa in Juba, April 19, 2011 (ST)
In January, South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, issued a decree,
appointing a technical committee to help review the 2005 interim
constitution ahead of the July independence declaration. The committee
consisted of representatives from the south-ruling Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM), the opposition, civil society and
religious leaders.
A month later, however, about nine members from the opposition
boycotted the committee’s work, accusing their counterparts from SPLM
of violating procedures agreed upon by the technical committee.
This was closely followed by a civil society petition addressed to the
South Sudan president and copied to John Luk Jok, the technical
committee’s chairperson and the current minister for legal and
constitutional development in the southern government.
In the petition, also seen by Sudan Tribune, civil society activist
accused the committee of failure to consult them in appointing one
Angelo Berda, the civil society representative on the technical
committee.
“We the civil society would like to petition the technical committee
currently reviewing South Sudan’s interim constitution. We feel the
member appointed to represent us does not represent the civil society
fraternity,” partly reads the petition.
Already, civil society entities have planned a national convention
with the aim of mapping out strategies to define their role and
mandates in society ahead of the southern independence in July.
The convention will be organised by Justice Africa, in partnership
with the Southern Sudan Civil Society Referendum Taskforce (SSRTF).
Justice Africa is London-based advocacy organization and research
institute founded in 1999 to campaign for human rights and social
justice across Africa.
(ST)
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