Governors of South Sudan’s three southernmost states held a one-day meeting in Juba on Saturday to discuss forming an executive council responsible for speaking on behalf of the region.

Eastern Equatoria Governor Louis Lobong Lojore said the meeting resolved that a conference will be conducted to appoint an independent Equatoria council.

“We agreed that we very soon need to call a meeting of the council, so that we formalize the council,” he said, without elaborating further on the political or institutional character of the proposed council.

The three governors of Central, Eastern and Western Equatoria last convened jointly in Juba at an emergency Equatorias conference in January.

Lojore referred to some recent defections of Equatorians to the SPLM/A faction led by Riek Machar: “We have seen that individuals are speaking on behalf of Equatoria while they are not officially delegated to do so,” he said.

He was referring in part to a press statement on 22 March by Wani Tombe, a former Juba University lecturer, who declared the formation of the ‘Greater Equatoria Council of Rights (GRECOR),’ saying it will join the armed opposition.

Tombe’s statement called for Equatorians to rally behind the leadership of Riek Machar, saying the political programme of Machar is “consistent with the comprehensive and detailed aspirations of the peoples of the Equatoria region.”

But governors of the three states of Equatoria have been asked to mobilize troops for the SPLA led by Salva Kiir. None of them have joined the opposition, though the Equatorian politician Alfred Lado Gore did so.

During the events of mid-December, Gore was declared to be a most wanted person, and his whereabouts were unknown. Later he revealed at a press conference in Addis Ababa that he had escaped Juba in the company of defected fighters.

Gore’s group moved northward from Juba through Lakes State into Unity State, which at that time was mostly controlled by the defected Division 8. They fought twelve battles along the way, he explained.

Joseph Bakosoro of Western Equatoria State, the only governor in the country to have been elected not on the SPLM ticket, has warned against fighting in his state, which was largely undisturbed by conflict since December.

In remarks before the conference last week, he said Western Equatoria would not support any tribal conflict, but work on national business. The governor called on South Sudanese to accept mistakes that happened in the country and open a new page.

As quoted by Radio Bakhita, the Governor asked for how long South Sudanese will continue to fight, urging them to learn from their history and forge a new direction.

File photo: CES Governor Clement Wani Konga (center) and Vice President James Wani Igga (right)

Related:

Politics: More defections to Machar group (24 March)

Equatoria governors propose quota system for ethnic balance in army (13 Jan.)