South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The Catholic Bishops of South Sudan has called on the politicians to prioritize the wellbeing of their citizens above their personal interests.
The Bishops made this call during a closure of a three-day bishops’ conference held in Juba on Saturday.
“We urge all the parties to put aside their differences and work together for the good of the people,” reads part of a joint press statement issued on Saturday.
The clergies said they were very ‘disappointed’ over what they called ‘government’s lack of preparation’ to conduct free, fair and credible elections by December 2024.
“Elections are part of this power struggle. Like all South Sudanese, we look forward with hope to the day when free and fair elections can be held in the country but we are very disappointed by the government’s lack of preparation,” a five-page document said.
The eight catholic clergies claimed the coalition government has failed to implement key elements or provisions for conduct of polls.
Those include demarcation of constituencies, registration of voters, political parties, and candidates, training of electoral officers, civic education, and logistics for voting.
The religious leaders said the country has poor infrastructure, communication, and insecurity which they believe pose a threat for conduct of peaceful polls.
“South Sudan is not truly at peace. While there is no serious fighting between major armed groups, sub-national violence is taking place in many parts of the country,” it said.
“This is often portrayed as simple local, tribal community violence but in fact it is inextricably linked to national political dynamics.”
The clerics said elections is the end game for the 2018 peace pact which can’t be avoided.
“In fact the elections form the final step of the agreement, the culmination which takes place only after all other parties of the R-ARCSS have been fulfilled and which officially ends the mandate of the R-ACRSS,” it said.
