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Sudan Tribune

Plural news and views on Sudan

Sudan Tribune

Plural news and views on Sudan

Elections

Completion of security arrangements key for election conduct, says Machar

South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar (Eye Radio photo)

September 11, 2023 (JUBA) – Completion of  security arrangements in the 2018 peace agreement is key for conduct of credible elections in South Sudan, First Vice President Riek Machar said Saturday.
Speaking at the closing day of the national economic conference, Machar said credible outcomes of the elections risk being undermined if guns were still in the hands of unauthorized people in the country.
These prerequisites, he told the conference, include screening, training and deployment of the necessary unified force, return of the internally displaced persons to their home areas of origin, return of refugees from neighboring countries to which they fled during war in search of security and safety.
“Security is paramount, even if you want to hold elections. can you hold elections under the current situation? Who will protect the ballot boxes? You have to handle the issue of security first”, said Machar.

 “The refugees will come back and the IDPs ( internally displaced persons) will go to their homes. According to the roadmap, elections should be on December 22, 2024, do we need to vote with a gun on your heads? Solve the issue of security,” he added, pointing to the significance of the constitution.

The senior opposition leader called for reforms in the public sector institutions, including reviewing and ensuring a permanent constitution is drafted and passed into law.

These issues, he added, were some of the provisions that the 2018 peace deal required the transitional government of national unity to meet prior to holding elections after the transitional period has elapsed.

In August last year, South Sudan’s leaders signed a two-year extension of the transitional government, in a move foreign partners warned as lacking legitimacy.

This was the second time the parties extended the country’s transitional period.

Machar said implementation of key provisions in the roadmap is behind schedule.

“The constitution is a very important element in conducting elections. without security, there are no elections. without refugees coming here, there is no election,” he stressed.

However, while Machar and other leading opposition figures pushed for the implementation of all the provisions in the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, President Salva Kiir and members of his ruling party (SPLM) have pledged to go ahead with the conduct of the elections due in December 2024.

Stephen Par Kuol, the minister of Peacebuilding, said key provisions needed to be completed before the government decides to go for elections after the end of the transitional period stipulated in the deal.

“We must prepare the country. The conditions for elections must be there. You start with the stabilization of the security. Look at what is happening in our country. We have more commander-in-chiefs of armed groups or armed militias. And you have our communities armed to the teeth, killing themselves. Do you have a condition for elections in that situation?, he asked.

For is part, the deputy speaker at the transitional national legislature, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino separately said that the country was in the process of deploying the already trained unified necessary force.

“We are in the process of making the deployment. We have already submitted the list,” he explained.

In March, the head of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Nicholas Haysom, warned that the nation faced a “make or break” year in 2023 and its leaders must implement the peace deal to hold “inclusive and credible” elections next year.

(ST)

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