South Sudan: UN cautions that the transition must endure beyond polling day
With elections set for 22 December, the head of the UN mission told member states that the true test will be whether citizens are safer afterwards.
The head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Anita Kiki Gbeho, has told the Security Council that the country's political transition must hold well beyond polling day if the forthcoming elections are to deliver lasting stability.
South Sudan is due to hold its first national vote since independence on 22 December. Briefing member states in New York on Tuesday, Ms Gbeho said the central question was whether the transition remained anchored in the Revitalised Peace Agreement. "The true measure of success is simple: whether South Sudanese citizens are safer tomorrow than they are today," she said.
In September, President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional government of national unity, removed all vice-presidents, including First Vice-President Riek Machar, and appointed a caretaker administration. Opposition groups maintain that these measures breach the power-sharing terms of the 2018 peace agreement.
Funding and security concerns
The African Union's High Representative for the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, drew attention to a shortfall in election financing. "The government does not seem to have enough resources to be able to finance these elections," he said. Murithi Mutiga of the International Crisis Group warned that a rushed poll could deal a decisive blow to the 2018 framework.
The Secretary-General's latest report describes deteriorating security in several regions. Clashes in Upper Nile have displaced more than 35,000 people, and three peacekeepers were killed in an ambush on a UN patrol in Jonglei in August. The UN estimates that 2.5 million South Sudanese face emergency levels of hunger.
South Sudan's deputy ambassador, Sabino Edward Nyawella Amaikwey, urged the mission to recognise the progress achieved, "however gradual".