Conditions not yet in place for South Sudan election: UN official

August 10, 2023 (JUBA) – Lack of progress in key electoral and constitutional benchmarks casts doubt on the conduct of elections in South Sudan despite growing calls in the public, a U.N official said Thursday.

Guang Cong, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for Political Affairs in South Sudan said there is an urgent need for the adoption of the National Elections Act by the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly, the reconstitution of the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC), the National Elections Commission and the Political Parties Council.

“Despite the growing calls for elections in the public domain, we are concerned about the lack of progress in key electoral and constitutional benchmarks. As it stands, the conditions for South Sudan to hold elections are not in place yet,” he said during the plenary meeting of members of the Revitalised Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) in the South Sudan capital, Juba.

Guang said 2023 is a ‘make or break’ year for free, fair and credible polls in 2024.

“With less than four months left in 2023, all parties to the Peace Agreement are therefore urgently requested to demonstrate their political will by expediting the implementation of key outstanding benchmarks of the Roadmap. Political will, pragmatism, and leadership are paramount,” he added.

Guang lauded calls by the presidency for immediate deployment of the unified forces, but noted that the transitional security arrangements are behind schedule.

South Sudan has so far graduated about 53,000 of the 83,000 unified forces expected forces to make up its police, army, intelligence, wildlife and prisons.

The top UN official further commended the Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) for its open refugee policy that has seen the arrival of more than 213,000 people displaced by conflict in neighbouring Sudan since April 15.

He, however, warned that the conflict in Sudan is likely to impact on South Sudan.

“The congestion and increased competition over scarce resources in the border areas, if not duly addressed, could exacerbate tensions between the returnees and host communities,” stressed Guang.

For his part, however, the interim chairperson of the RJMEC, Charles Gituai said the first batch of unified forces is still redundant and awaiting redeployment.

He disclosed that the unification of the mid-level echelons of the command structure is not complete as parties continue to haggle over power-sharing ratios.

“We should take stock on what has been achieved, what is pending, and what needs to be done in the remaining time of the extended Transitional Period,” said Gituai.

The RJMEC chairperson urged the parties to expedite the reconstitution of the Political Parties Council and National Constitutional Review Commission, in addition to provision of the timely and sufficient resources for the implementation of all the critical pending tasks of the peace deal.

(ST)