S. Sudan presidency says calls for elections in 2022 unjustified

JUBA – South Sudan’s presidency has said in a statement that growing calls for elections in 2022 are unjustified given the lack of implementation of many provisions of the revitalized peace agreement.

Based on the revitalized peace agreement, elections shall be held at the end of the transitional period ending in 2022.

Recently, activist Peter Biar Ajak testified before the US senate and urged the American government to pressure South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit and force him to hold elections in 2022.

In a statement on Monday, South Sudan’s presidential affairs minister Nhial Deng Nhial said the calls for elections in 2022 are unjustified because much has not been done in the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.

“The call for early elections in 2022, is again without justification. It must be borne in mind that the actual inauguration of the (R-TGONU) following conclusion of the Agreement in September, 2018 took some time,” he said in a statement seen by Sudans Post.

“Hence the time lost must be recouped so that there is adequate time to complete all the tasks of the transition before elections are held,” he added.

“Dr. [Peter Biar] Ajak himself would acknowledge the ultimately it becomes imperative that these illegal arms are collected and disposed of in a manner that ensures they never find their way back again into the hands of those from whom they were taken in the first place.

“The ongoing disarmament process that is regulated by law is essentially a peaceful exercise whereby Chiefs and Traditional leaders solicit the voluntary surrender of weapons from their people.

“It is hoped that this endeavor will succeed and the Government will not be compelled to have recourse to coercive measures to strip the civil population of these weapons.

“However, in the event that the use of force becomes unavoidable the Government will not hesitate to use it to save lives and preserve law and order. “And such action if at all needed, will be carried out meanwhile strictly observing fundamental human rights. The Government of South Sudan cannot reflect on the humanitarian situation without pausing to express its profound gratitude to the international community for all that it has done thus far to mitigate the crisis.

“We thank the United Nations, its Agencies and the international NGO community for the action they have taken to date, to ease the plight of the thousands that have been uprooted from their homes in Jonglei State and Pibor Administrative area by a combination of violent conflict and devastating floods.

“Given the recurrent nature of the phenomenon of flooding in those areas, we urge continued support in helping devise more durable solutions so that flooding and its attendant woes in flood-prone areas of South Sudan becomes a thing of the past.”