Sarah Nyanath, civil Society Activist and the Executive Director for Gender Equality South Sudan Organisation - Credit: Eye Radio/Moses Awan

A civil society Activist says with or without the conduct of elections in 2024, South Sudan is in a ‘Checkmate’ position as elites will continue to hold the country, hostage, after extending the transitional period.

Sarah Nyanath who is also a signatory to the agreement, expresses dissatisfaction over progress made in the peace implementation.

She says nothing has been done by those in authority to demonstrate commitment to implementing the deal.

This week during the SPLM leadership meeting at the secretariat celebration, President Salva Kiir reiterated his call on the need for elections to be done with or without the completion of other arrangements for the peace agreement.

While the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar during the economic conference pointed out the need to complete the security arrangements before the elections.

Nyanath warned that the elites will continue to hold the country hostage if the transitional period due to end in 2024 is extended.

According to her, South Sudanese are in what she describes as the “Checkmate position”, a term describing intense suffering.

The activists further say several parts and regions of the country remain underdeveloped, arguing that no difference has been made to change the situation of the country.

“When I look and think through it, we are in a checkmate position because whether we are going for elections, we are in a checkmate position, or if we remain, not going for elections, the same group just extend their lives and continue holding the country hostage,” said Nyanath.

“They are delivering absolutely nothing except enriching themselves, their families, and a few friends and that is the way it is which is very sad because nobody can tell me today that we have made any difference,” she said.

“Upper Nile looks so ugly, Equatoria looks so ugly, and Greater Bahr El Ghazal looks so ugly. Even instead, there are some new types of conflicts”.

September 12, marked exactly five years since the historic revitalized peace agreement on the resolution of conflict in South Sudan was signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The peace agreement was signed to bring lasting peace, and reforms in the security sector, reconcile the people, return the refugees, and resettle the displaced persons.

But since then, little has been done characterized by several extensions of the transitional period.

Despite the signing of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan in late August 2015, the situation in the country remains fragile.