In a report published on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all political parties in South Sudan to take “urgent steps” to facilitate long-awaited elections, proposed to be held later this year.
Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has grappled with a myriad of challenges, including chronic violence, poverty, and natural disasters, without conducting any elections.
Guterres emphasized the necessity for parties to commit to a significant level of implementation to ensure the peaceful, free, fair, and credible conduct of elections.
However, plans for elections have been marred by ongoing disputes between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, who have been at odds for years.
Their factions engaged in a devastating civil war from 2013 to 2018, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties and the displacement of millions.
Despite a peace deal reached in 2018, which outlined a “transition” period to prepare for general elections, international observers express doubts about meeting the new timeline set for December elections.
Kiir and Machar have yet to agree on the logistics and the offices to be contested.
After assessing the situation, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) concluded that stakeholders urgently require technical, legal, and operational support for conducting elections by December 2024 or later, as outlined by Guterres in the report.
Key election tasks and preconditions remain behind schedule, including national, state, and local elections, which pose significant logistical challenges.
Moreover, delays in voter registration, a national census, drafting a national constitution, and addressing the repatriation of displaced persons exacerbate the situation.
South Sudanese leaders also acknowledge that widespread subnational violence presents additional hurdles to holding elections.
With the mandate of UN peacekeepers in South Sudan set to expire soon, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on extending it later this month after considering the findings of this report.
