Activist Calls on AU C-5 to Ensure Credible and Peaceful Elections in South Sudan

By Simon Deng

The Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, has urged the African Union High-Level Ad Hoc Committee on South Sudan (AU C-5) to intensify efforts to guide the country toward a peaceful, credible, and legally compliant democratic transition.

In a statement released Monday, Yakani emphasized the importance of elections as a popular demand of South Sudanese citizens. “The elections need to be credible, peaceful, and undertake due legal process as required by the provisions of the 2018 peace agreement,” he stated.

Yakani also voiced concerns about potential political instability, citing the trial of the First Vice President and the dissolution of the government of national unity on September 22, 2026, as “potential triggers that may pose a political challenge or political instability in the country.”

Ahead of the AU C-5’s scheduled meeting on the status of South Sudan’s political transition, Yakani commended the committee’s renewed efforts but raised urgent concerns over current political developments.

He highlighted key areas for action, particularly in light of the upcoming AU C-5 meeting.

“We are urging AU C-5 to take this opportunity of their meeting to make practical and concrete decisions that help the South Sudanese government work with all parties signatory to the 2018 peace agreement to champion a pathway for elections in a manner that is credible, inclusive, free, and fair,” Yakani said.

He concluded by stressing the necessity of dialogue: “We cannot go for any elections without a genuine, inclusive dialogue that brings everybody on board, a dialogue without a precondition.”