South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
Peace monitors have called on the transitional unity government to speed up the unification of forces and their subsequent deployment to allow parties such as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement –In Opposition (SPLM-IO) to register with the Political Parties’ Council.
The SPLM-IO has been barred from registering as a political party under a provision of the Political Parties’ Act, 2022, which bars parties with active armed wings from registering.
“In addition, the Political Parties Act, 2022, prohibits registration of political parties with armed wings. It is therefore essential for the Parties to the Agreement to expedite the completion of unification of forces to enable those currently with armed wings to register and participate in elections,” said Maj.Gen Charles Tai Gituai, Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) which monitors the peace agreement during his address at the 8th Governor’s Forum in Juba on Wednesday.
He said that political parties have also raised concerns over the exorbitant registration fees of 75,000 U.S dollars which they deemed prohibitive.
South Sudan is due for elections in December 2026 before the recently extended roadmap nears an end in February 2027.
On September 13, 2024, the parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement delayed elections that were due in December 2024, citing delayed graduation of unified forces and enactment of the permanent constitution.
Gituai revealed that only 29 political parties had been fully registered by the Political Parties’ Council as of 30th June 2024.
The SPLM-IO and South Sudan Opposition Alliance still have military wings.
In July 2024, SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Riek Machar was blocked from registering with the Political Parties Council.
The transitional unity government is supposed to graduate and deploy a total of 83,000 000 comprising police, army, intelligence services and prison services, to take charge of security during the transitional period.
In November 2023, 7,000 out of the 55,000 unified forces which graduated in August 2022 were deployed to the states of Upper Nile, Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria and Western Bahr El Ghazal.
