UN mulls countrywide civic education
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has revealed its plan to roll out civic education in 2022 as a way of facilitating the peace agreement implementation.
UNMISS Chief of Political Affairs Division, Guy Bennett, said they are trying to support the implementation of the peace agreement through political means, especially in the areas of mediation and supporting political activities.
“In 2022, we are going to focus on civic political education just to help people understand the peace implementation in various forums as well as work with the citizens and political parties,” said Mr Bennett as he spoke to Radio Miraya in a morning breakfast show yesterday.
He revealed that they were going to work with diplomatic partners such as IGAD, the African Union, the United States, government agencies and the citizens to try and support civic political education.
“People have very different opinions on what they have seen based on the perception of the implementation of the peace agreement. We also came out and said more has been made, but it should be moving however slowly it may take,’’ he remarked.
He said there is a reduction in political violence and the peace process is moving toward a pre-transitional period without any violations. According to Bennett, the peace process should get to the stage where resolutions move through political debate rather than political violence and conflict, which he described as “moving in the right direction.”
He further said that by next year they would be supporting technical political processes, including the constitution-making process, and creating a conducive environment for the election.
“When you look at the agreement, an election has to take place after 60 days of the pre-transitional period in December 2022, but an election needs a lot of preparation and will depend on the decision-makers,” he said.
“The support from the United Nations, including UNMISS, will be defined by the government. We can make some assumptions in terms of logistical requirements, and we can be at the request of the government,’’ he said.
In the second week of December 2021, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General to South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom said UNMISS would continue to actively support the peace process by working alongside political actors and other stakeholders to support locally-driven solutions.
He stressed that there is a need for parties to show the tangible accomplishment of the peace agreement to allow the international community and UNMISS to play an even greater role in providing support to the government and people of South Sudan.
