![EU envoys speaks to the press alongside cabinet affairs minister Martin Elia Lomuro following meeting at J1 with President Kiir. [Photo courtesy]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/419589656_1433289190632469_1709506287626392899_n.jpg?resize=1024%2C394&quality=89&ssl=1)
Speaking to the press after the meeting held at the statehouse J1, EU envoy Dr. Weber called on the country’s political leaders to respect and protect human rights.
“I call on the parties to the Agreement to work together to maintain peace, protect human rights, and prepare a conducive environment for inclusive general elections at the end of the transitional period,” Dr. Weber said in a statement posted on the Presidential press unit.
The Special Envoy further stressed the importance of empowering the National Electoral Commission to conduct free and fair general elections.
Dr. Martin Elia Lomoro, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, reiterated that South Sudan is capable and ready to hold the general elections on time.
The leader of the main opposition group, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) and the country’s First Vice President Riek Machar said on Thursday that the country is not yet prepared to hold the December 2023 elections.
Machar revealed this during his meeting with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan and head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Mr. Nicholas Haysom in Juba on Thursday, according to his office.
Machar said elections cannot be held until a series of conditions are met, including the full implementation of the security arrangement provided for in the revitalized peace agreement.
President Salva Kiir reconstituted the National Election Commission on 4th November 2023, but the body has not yet been funded to start preparing the country for elections.
Under the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, the commission is mandated to prepare and conduct a free, fair and credible election at the end of the current transition period.
