President Salva Kiir. (Photo/Office of the President/March 4, 2024).

According to the Office of the President, the four Bills include the National Security Amendment Act -2024, the Road Finance Agreement with Ethiopia Bill as well as the ratification of the Treaty on Trade with China, and the Agreement on the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework.

While the Parliament has already passed the Bills, the President is expected to meet with the Minister of Justice and his legal team to further study the Bills before signing them into law.

The National Security Service Bill, recently passed by legislators, has drawn condemnation from the international community in Juba, Human Rights Watch, and several civil society activists, urging President Kiir not to sign the bill.

Western embassies based in Juba, including those of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have collectively expressed concern, stating that the bill “would constitute a significant step away from the opening of political and civic space, which is essential for genuine and peaceful elections.”

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has warned that the bill if signed into law, could entrench arbitrary detention and further repression by South Sudan’s National Security Service.

Additionally, the SPLM-In Opposition has also called on President Kiir to uphold the principal’s decision to repeal the provision allowing arrest without a warrant in the NSS bill and urged him not to approve it.