Presidency set for crunch talk on election
President Salva Kiir has directed the high-level committee on the status of the implementation of the peace agreement to prepare documents on the roadmap for holding peaceful and democratic elections.
The document is due to be presented at the presidential meeting this week.
This came after the committee comprising the Presidential Advisor on National Security Affairs, Tut Gatluak Manime; the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Martin Elia Lomoro, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mayiik Ayii Deng, and the Minister of Information, Michael Makuei Lueth presented the roadmap to the president on Friday.
The document presented to Kiir shall guide the country towards the end of the transitional period and pave way for the country to conduct peaceful and democratic elections.
“Having been presented with the Roadmap, President Salva Kiir Mayardit directed the committee to present the document in a meeting of the Presidency scheduled for next (week).”
The Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Dr Martin Elia Lomoro, stated that the process of drawing the roadmap was tedious as it involved a lot of consultation with institutions and stakeholders.
“It has not been an easy process looking through the status of the ongoing implementation of the Revitalised Peace Agreement, consulting various institutions and stakeholders,” Dr Lomuro said.
However, Lomuro said they consequently came up with a roadmap that would guide the country to the end of the transitional period and conduct elections peacefully and democratically.
Early this month Kiir assured Pope Francis through the Secretary of Vatican State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, that the country was ready to hold credible elections at the end of the transitional period to end violence.
SPLM has been holding rallies across the country in a bid to mobilise members ready for the 2023 elections.
The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan states that elections must be held three months before the end of the transitional period, which falls in December.
However, a lot of prerequisites include the graduation of Necessary Unified Forces, passing of security act, election act, political parties act, dignified repatriation of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), are yet to be put in place.
During the presidency meeting scheduled for next week, the president and his deputies will set the appropriate date for the graduation of Necessary Unified Forces (NUF), which will be a breakthrough in the implementation of Chapter Two, of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, majorly on security arrangement.
