South Sudan’s Vice President Calls for Mediated Dialogue Over Elections

JUBA, Xinhua: First Vice President of South Sudan Riek Machar Teny has called for a mediated dialogue among parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement to agree on the timeline for elections and revision of the peace roadmap.

“I would like to welcome and express our support for the proposal that the peace parties to the agreement dialogue on these issues to chart a way forward for peaceful elections and the transition to democracy,” Machar said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, Tuesday evening. “In light of the challenges registered during the five years of implementation, we would like to state that dialogue and its outcome shall only be credible in the presence of the mediator.”

Machar emphasized the need for political will among the parties to address the challenges in implementing the pending tasks critical to paving the way for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections at the end of the current transitional period, which ends in February 2025.

The Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, Charles Tai Gituai, while addressing a meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council in late February, said that following his recent engagement with the parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, the parties are yet to arrive at a consensus on the conduct of the upcoming elections scheduled for December.

Gituai highlighted that pending tasks include funding and operationalization of the elections-related institutions responsible for the preparation and conduct of elections, and the making of the permanent constitution, whose provisions will guide the conduct of elections.

He also noted that other key pending tasks include judicial reforms to enhance the capacity and independence of judicial institutions, completion of phase 1 and phase 2 unification of forces, and the expansion of political and civic space to enhance public participation in the constitution and election processes.