By Coletta Wanjohi
Just under 13 years after gaining independence from Sudan, world's youngest nation – South Sudan – awaits a watershed moment in its brief history: its first general elections.
"The people of South Sudan want elections, and we shall have them in December 2024," James Morgan, foreign affairs minister of South Sudan, told TRT Afrika.
Since July 9, 2011, which South Sudan celebrates as its Independence Day, the fledgling nation has had a lone head of state in President Salva Kiir.
But while the government is convinced that the time is ripe for South Sudan to go to the hustings, the United Nations is worried that the situation may still not be conducive for a free and fair vote.
The immediate historical context seems to support the UN's narrative. South Sudan plunged into internal conflict in 2013, affecting not just its social structure but also the economy.
“As things stand, South Sudan is not ready for elections. A lot needs to be done before that," Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN under-secretary-general for peace operations, reported to the Security Council.
"There is an intense fight over resources and high unemployment, mainly impacting the youth."
The UN has also flagged "political competition among the ruling elite, increased inter-communal clashes and the added strain inflicted by the influx of those escaping the conflict in neighbouring Sudan".
South Sudan was to hold its first electoral exercise in July 2015, but an internal conflict that erupted in December 2013 derailed this plan.
A power struggle between President Kiir's government and his then deputy, Vice President Riek Machar, opened a war that stalled the poll plan, paralysed democracy, and spawned a gamut of other issues.
The humanitarian crisis triggered by the violent conflict included 400,000 deaths and the displacement of over five million people. Almost half of the displaced fled to neighbouring Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda.
"We say that people learn from the past. History is a teacher, so most people in South Sudan have learnt that the war wasn't necessary. This realisation is one of the more important facets of where we stand," foreign affairs minister Morgan told TRT Afrika.
Poll postponement
After years of fighting and several failed attempts at a ceasefire, the government and opposition parties signed the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan on September 12, 2018, in Ethiopia's Addis Ababa.
This provided for the formation of an entity called the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity, which spelt out timelines for elections to move the country from a transitional administration to a full-fledged democracy.
But with the implementation of these commitments being delayed, elections kept getting pushed, too. In August 2022, the transitional administration extended its mandate from two years to February 2025. It tentatively scheduled elections for December 2024.
"The peace agreement was holding. The pandemic and other things caused the delays, so we created a reworked roadmap. The additional 24 months (for the transitional authority) were meant to complete what remained to be done," Morgan explained.
According to the UN, free and fair elections require "a new permanent constitutional framework, voter registration details, an election security plan, well-trained, equipped, and unified security forces, and a mechanism for resolving disputes over results".
The South Sudan government is confident that some of these conditions will be met well before the elections.
"There is no time that we shall be totally ready for elections. Some people will always say we should wait. These elections are for the people. It's about giving them what they want," Morgan said.
The South Sudan elections will be one of 15 electoral exercises on the continent this year, with the African Union as an observer. The continental bloc sees this as "a path to genuine democracy".
Some experts say holding elections in the country might provide the much-needed trigger for stronger governance structures and reforms that will, in turn, improve the lives of South Sudan's over 11 million people.
So far, incumbent Kiir is the only one who has expressed his intention to run for president in the December polls.
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