Interim Chairperson Maj. Gen. Charles Tai Gituai - Courtesy

The Revitalized Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC on Thursday called on the unity government to clarify how it intends to deliver non-violent, free, fair and credible elections.

Interim R-JMEC Chairperson Major General Charles Gitai Tai said he called for a frank engagement among peace parties for them to make a unified position on how they intend to deliver successful polls in time.

“I would like RJMEC members to engage frankly with the R-TGoNU and parties’ representatives to clarify how they intend to deliver peaceful, true, free and fair credit elections as per the agreement and roadmap in the remaining time,” Gituai said during the 34^th R-JMEC Plenary Meeting in Juba Thursday.

General Gituai said preparations for South Sudan’s first general elections should be executed in accordance with the 2018 peace agreement and its implementation roadmap.

He, however, said the peace deal is currently marred in multiple challenges from lack of sufficient funds to intercommunal violence, defections, flooding and the influx of returnees and refugees freeing the conflict in Sudan.

“The recurring challenges facing the implementation of the agreement are by now familiar, and steps to mitigate them in order to smooth the way for elections at the end of this year need to be taken,” Gituai said.

“These challenges include, among others, the lack of sufficient funding, trust deficit, capacity gaps, intercommunal violence, defections, flooding and the influx of returnees and refugees freeing the conflict in Sudan.”

South Sudan is expected to hold its first general elections late this year, as agreed upon by parties to the revitalized peace agreement, after they extended the transitional period for 24-months in August 2022.

This is expected to enable the establishment of a democratically elected government.

While the SPLM In Government insists the polls will be held as scheduled in the peace road map, some opposition parties have questioned the country’s readiness for such exercise, citing unimplemented electoral provisions and lack of political and civic space.

On December 14, 2023, the head of UN Mission in South Sudan said the country is currently not in a position to conduct free and fair elections.

Inter-communal violence in several parts of the Bahr el Ghazal region have killed since December 2023.