Eye Radio

President Salva Kiir met with UNMISS chief Nicholas Haysom, and the Head of African Union liaison office in South Sudan, Ambassador Mukama Biswaro, to discuss the country’s readiness for the December 2024 elections.

The meeting comes as the US government said the South Sudan peace parties have collectively failed to meet the standards necessary for genuine and peaceful elections to take place in the country.

The Biden administration was citing the UN Secretary-General Guterres’ April 8 Negative Assessment of Preconditions for Elections in South Sudan which outlined numerous critical preconditions necessary to hold genuine and peaceful elections that have not been met.

Haysom, the Special Representative of the UN secretary general to South Sudan said the discussed emphasized on the importance of well-organized elections.

Peace parties are currently at an impasse over whether or not to hold the country’s first general elections as scheduled due to pending critical tasks that experts fear may trigger further instability in the country.

The SPLM-In Government and an alliance of political parties maintain that it is ready for polls in December 2024.

However, the main opposition, SPLM-In Opposition said the country is not ready for elections, citing pending key provision of the peace agreement, especially the security arrangements and permanent constitution.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ramadan Mohammed Abdallah Goc, who attended the meeting, said elections would be held at the end of the transitional period, according to a statement from Kiir’s office.

Haysom and Biswaro have apparently taken up the issue of taxation on donor governments, UNMISS, UN agencies, and their implementing partners, which is said to be increasing the cost of providing humanitarian assistance.

Foreign Minister Goc told the media that the issue of taxing UN-imported items will be subject to South Sudan’s laws and regulations and that it is not a privilege that NGOs should take advantage of.

On Monday donor governments reiterated a joint statement complaining about the government’s imposition of the “ePetroleum Accreditation Permit” requirement on UN fuel trucks, which they said is preventing these trucks from bringing fuel into South Sudan to support UN operations.

“This illicit action is severely impacting the ability of UNMISS, UN humanitarian agencies, and humanitarian partners to conduct their mission in support of the South Sudanese people,” the statement said.