■ South Sudan President under fire over new constitutional review body

South Sudan's President, Salva Kirr, is coming under fire since issuing a decree constituting a 45 - member National Constitutional Review Commission on January 9. The Commission, which is tasked with writing a permanent Constitution to replace the interim Charter, is made up of part time and permanent members. Civil society groups have raised concerns over the government's failure to carry out broad consultations in constituting the body as required by article 202(2) of the Transitional Constitution. They are also calling for the government to increase civil society representation on the Commission to four - including permanent - members, elected directly by the civil society fraternity rather than handpicked by the President. Samuel Dong Luak, an advocate and the sole Civil Society member on the Commission, has threatened to quit the body if the government refuses to respond to these grievances. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July 2011 following 30 years of civil war, and has since been operating on a transitional Constitution, which remains valid until 2015.