![James Morgan, South Sudan’s ambassador to Ethiopia & Djibouti and South Sudan’s envoy to the African Union, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. [Photo courtesy]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/350777555_221513853977560_4204717057457765437_n.jpg?resize=1024%2C593&ssl=1)
James Morgan, South Sudan’s ambassador to Ethiopia & Djibouti and South Sudan’s envoy to the African Union, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development said following a meeting with President Salva Kiir that youth are being trained by the AU on how to conduct elections.
“Experts from the African Union are training a number of South Sudanese youth on how to conduct elections, ahead of the 2024 polls,” he told the media following the meeting at the presidential palace J1 on Wednesday.
South Sudan is expected to go for elections – the country’s first since independence in 2011 – in December next year with President Kiir – head of the ruling SPLM party – and Peter Mayen Majongdit, leader of the People’s Liberal Party (PLP) being the known candidates.
The main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Riek Machar Teny has not yet selected a candidate and has previously said that it will “easily” win a free and fair elections.
Based Machar statement, the current first president of the Republic of South Sudan saying that he can easily won free and fair election come 2024 election, indicates that Dr. Machar himself is not willing to contest for the upcoming general election in South Sudan. Why? According to me,it is because South Sudan right now, has took the different path and that is communism bases of governance which is in opposite with democratical processes. Another factor to be known here is that, the Splm led wing Salva Kiir is the one campaigning a lone right now and other parties are quite, reason being their thinking is different from one side of ruling party`s campaign earlier with no clear statistics of people who are suppose to vote. The experts of AU conducting training arena in Juba is not bad, it is a good move but where is the civil population who are going to votes in that the expected election you are now busy to arrange training before voting processes? Are sure that the situation is very conducive for election to be conducted in South Sudan? And is the current peace revitalized inclusive? Those questions are in need of answering before conducting and arrangement of election. The governor’s forum arrangement of campaign and inviting president Kiir to one region of Bahrelghazal indicates that the national security of a country is at stake and questionable.
I want to concludes that led the revitalized peace accord be inclusive and let us also count people whom are suppose to votes in the election of 2024, let also make sure that food security is resolved without delay and end devastated economic crisis in South Sudan.
The commentator is an independent Journalist and associates Lawyer, who is living outside South Sudan.
To me, if we go for the elections as it has been stipulated in the recent agreed roadmap, I would be saying let the peace be fully implemented first in the letter and spirit and then go for elections as it has been agreed upon by the two peace principals, and otherwise, if the the current peace roadmap has not been fully translated into reality, and then let us not think for next problems or elections.
Elections without conducting the general census, repatriation of all refugees, deployment of necessary unified force, etc is useless.