South Sudan: President creates 28 new states, decree may threaten peace agreement
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}South Sudan's President Salva Kiir made a Christmas Eve decree dissolving the nation's 10 states and creating 28 new ones, a move which may threaten the peace deal signed in August to end the country's two-year civil war.
Kiir announced the move in a late night broadcast by the state-run South Sudan Television.
Kiir's action to create 28 states comes after 150 rebels returned to the capital, Juba, on Monday to implement a peace deal signed by Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar. Machar's spokesman James Gatdet Dak told The Associated Press that the rebels are consulting on their reaction to the decree.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}South Sudan's war began in December 2013. Tens of thousands have been killed in the fighting that has displaced more than 2 million from their homes.