Jemma Nunu Kumba, a woman speaker of the Parliament of South Sudan
Jemma Nunu Kumba, then Minister of Water, during a forum of the 10 nations of the Nile, in Khartoum in June 2014. AFP - EBRAHIM HAMID
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One of the challenges for this longtime activist of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) will be to consolidate peace and unity in a recently “
reconstituted
”
assembly
.
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The announcement was made by President Salva Kiir in person on Friday July 23: Jemma Nunu Kumba will become the first woman to chair the Parliament of South Sudan.
At 55, the current secretary of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement has a long activist career behind her.
In the 90s, she joined the rebellion and joined the SPLM in the war between them in Khartoum for the independence of South Sudan.
She then participated in peace negotiations between the SPLM and the Sudanese government.
Since independence in 2011, she has been elected governor of the state of Western Equatoria in the southwest and has held several ministerial positions, including that of Water.
Within Salva Kiir's party, she also rose through the ranks.
Last May,
Parliament was dissolved
and then reconstituted from 400 to 550 MPs, a quarter of whom were appointed by Riek Machar, the former enemy of Salva Kiir, with whom he shares power in a government national union.
Salva Kiir therefore calls on the new President of Parliament to focus on the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement. Concludes with Riek Machar and other parties after a civil war that has left more than 380,000 dead and four million moved, it is still not applied.
"
It will not be easy,
" reacted Jemma Nunu Kumba to the announcement of his appointment.
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South sudan
Salva Kiir
Riek machar