Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of UN Mission in South Sudan addresses a press conference in Juba on Wednesday, 28th Sept 2022. Credit: Lou Nelson/Eye Radio

The head of the UN mission in South Sudan has called on the unity government to create a political environment ahead of the upcoming general election.

On Wednesday, Nicholas Haysom discussed with President Kiir ways to fast-track the implementation of the outstanding tasks in the Revitalized Peace Agreement.

According to him, UNMISS has been engaging the leaders, the National Election Commission and other stakeholders in the preparations for elections.

The UNMISS boss said, free, fair, and creditable election needs a conducive environment in which people can engage and participate in the process.

Haysom stressed this will allow for open dialogue, debate, and campaigns to take place.

During a press conference in Juba Friday, he also emphasized that credible elections require an environment that is free from conflict.

“I have been having a wide range of discussions with sufficient government leaders, and I think there is an understanding that the country needs to work on creating the environment in which elections can take place,” Haysom said.

“In other words, some of understanding that we still have some way to go before we can have free, fair, and creditable elections in an environment in which people can engage in robust political debate.”

“We will be certainly focusing on the technical question about how to manage effectively an election so that there’s no fraud and so on. But we have realized the big question is creating the political environment in which people can compete and engage in direction the country needs to go in.”