By Kei Emmanuel Duku
As the next round of the Tumaini Peace Initiative is expected to resume on January 6, 2025, Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, has appealed to the country’s top leadership to embrace the spirit of compromise to end citizens’ suffering.
Responding to President Kiir’s New Year’s message, ,Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO cautioned that the Tumaini peace initiative will fail if politicians continue to exhibit a culture of rigidity, intolerance, indiscipline, and immaturity in their engagement with the mediation process.
He urged politicians to desist from self-serving negotiations where they solely seek to gain power through the Tumaini peace talks.
“Acquiring power through peace mediation does not benefit the nation. We must strive to ensure that you commit yourselves to making essential compromises and transitioning the country onto a path of peace and democracy,” said Yakani.
South Sudan is scheduled to hold its first democratic elections in December 2026.
However, Yakani emphasized that the ongoing delays in implementing crucial tasks such as the unification of forces, enacting judicial legislation, and introducing judicial reforms will significantly hinder the electoral process.
He stated that for South Sudan to transition to a democratic system, government must endeavor to put in place all the necessary requirements for conducting peaceful, free, and fair elections by October 2025.
“We must also ensure that the constitutional-making process moves forward effectively, with adequate funding, and that preparations for political party participation in the elections are conducted efficiently. Additionally, a comprehensive population census must be conducted,” added Yakani.
He, however, cautioned against the government and other opposition parties using the population census and the constitutional-making process as political tools to delay the elections.
He instead appealed to the government to create an open civic and political space where political parties, media, and civil society can freely exercise their democratic rights ahead of the general elections.
Yakani further noted the urgent need for the government to establish institutions for transitional justice to enable the public to engage in matters of reconciliation and healing.
“As civil society, we are launching a national campaign to advocate for the holding of elections in December 2026. We hope that this campaign will not face any interference or restrictions,” he concluded.