Calls for S. Sudan rebel faction to register as political party

September 5, 2014 (WAU) – A national peace and reconciliation conference in South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state, which ended on Thursday, has called on the rebel SPLM in Opposition faction led by former vice-president Riek Machar to register and for the upcoming 2015 elections.

“[The] SPLM in Opposition should be allowed as a political party like [any] other in the country, which will be illegible to contest with [the ruling] SPLM and other political parties that need the post of president in the country,” said one of the recommendations released at the conclusion of the conference in Wau.

The conference was aimed at finding a lasting political solution to the more than eight-month-long crisis, which erupted after a dispute within the SPLM turned violent.

The conference said allowing Machar and his group to function as their own independent political party in the country would be a way for the opposition movement to tender their own interests in the upcoming elections and find common ground with the government.

Conference participants also warned the rebel faction against refusing to sign
the protocol of agreed principles on the formation of a transitional government before the 2015 elections.

“Riek and his group in Opposition should not continue calling on the legitimate 2010 elected president Salva Kiir to step down,” the statement said.

Despite ongoing logistical challenges, including the population census and deterioration in the humanitarian situation, following the mid-December outbreak of violence, South Sudan’s cabinet this week instructed its finance ministry to unveil funds to conduct the scheduled 2015 elections, with the current government’s term due to end on 8July 2015 as agreed in the transitional constitution.

The Council of Ministers has also agreed to use South Sudan’s disputed previous census results for the elections.

(ST)