SSOA declares readiness for 2024 elections, calls for dialogue

JUBA – The South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), a consortium of political parties and armed groups established in 2017, has declared its readiness for the upcoming December 2024 elections and called for talks between the signatories of the revitalized peace agreement to decide on what to do.

In a statement seen by Sudans Post today, the chairperson of SSOA, Josephine Lagu Yanga, said the decision was reached during a leadership meeting held on February 24, 2024, by members of the consortium.

“The position of SSOA is that we should aim at holding the elections as stipulated in the roadmap,” Lagu said in the statement seen by Sudans Post today.

Lagu, who is also the minister of agriculture and forestry emphasized that elections are a requirement of the 2018 R-ARCSS, and failure to hold them would be a violation of the agreement but stressed the need to meet the prerequisites as needed.

“For sure, there are prerequisites that can be implemented to ensure the December 2024 elections are worthy of the name,” she said.

“However, there are certainly others that must be discussed so that the parties can agree together on what can be done,” she added.

She called for substantive dialogue among parties on key election issues to ensure a credible, inclusive, and violence-free poll.

“Let us engage in dialogue to determine together how the transitional period can peacefully end as it should. Our people have suffered enough, and they need a new beginning,” she said.

Through dialogue, Lagu believes the parties to the peace agreement can reach a joint decision on elections.

“Our people are fed up with endless transitions and are yearning for elections to take place so that they can choose their leaders,” she said.

South Sudan has never seen election since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. It is expected to hold its first elections in December of this year.

However, disagreements between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, who also leads the main armed opposition SPLM-IO, suggest the country is not ready for it.

Machar cites the incomplete implementation of the revitalized peace agreement, which calls for the reunification of the various factions signatories to the agreement.