![Michael Makuei Lueth, Information Minister speaks to reporters after regular cabinet meeting in Juba on Friday 2 September 2022 [Photo by Sudans Post]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Makuei-Lueth.jpg?resize=1018%2C601&ssl=1)
The government and a number of opposition groups in September 2018 signed a revitalized version of a 2015 peace agreement providing for a 36-month transitional period meant to consolidate peace ahead of elections, the first since the country gained its independent in 2011.
While the agreement provides for formation of the transitional government by May 2019, the parties kept extending the pre-transitional period until when they finally agreed to form the government starting with appointment of opposition Dr. Riek Machar as first vice president in 2020.
Amid disagreements over key provisions of the deal last year, the parties agreed for a twenty-four-month transitional period with general elections, a key requirement at the end of the transitional period, being slated for December 2023.
Speaking during a press conference conducted in Juba on Tuesday, informatioln minister and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth said that the parties to the revitalized peace agreement will this time go for elections and will not extend their term again.
“There are a lot of doubting Thomases who say and who ask what happens if the roadmap is not implemented. Those who ask this question say that this is a government of people who have decided to rule, they are not ready to step down for elections, they are obstructing all the time and delaying the implementation because they want to extend again and that is what they have in mind,” he said.
“Let me assure you that this time we are implementing and we are going for elections in time. There is no question of a revitalized roadmap as some of you have been putting it. So, if you are ready for election be ready for the elections,” the senior government official further added.
