South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, on Monday urged members of the African Union Peace and Security Council to encourage regional leaders to initiate urgent and inclusive political dialogue aimed at resolving South Sudan’s ongoing political stalemate.
He revealed that the visiting delegation from the African Union Peace and Security Council focused discussions on how to address the persistent deadlock.
“We call upon the members of the African Union Peace and Security Council to lobby our leaders to commence an urgent, inclusive political dialogue to resolve the current political stalemate that the country is facing,” Yakani told Dawn by phone.
“The dialogue must be inclusive, involving every member and leader of the parties that are signatories to the revitalised peace agreement. The leadership must ensure they engage in the dialogue constructively,” he added.
Yakani disclosed that this is the ninth visit by the African Union Peace and Security Council delegation to hold talks with political leaders and other stakeholders, including civil society and religious leaders.
“We hope our concerns will be taken seriously by the members of the AU Peace and Security Council in their discussions with the country’s leadership. We believe elections are the only viable option for transitioning the country from violence to peace,” Yakani stated.
He also mentioned that discussions with the visiting delegation included the escalation of violence in some parts of the country and a call to cease hostilities, as agreed upon in 2017 by the signatory parties to the 2018 peace agreement.
“We have also asked the African Union to address the challenges faced by humanitarian workers and the access to humanitarian aid in the country, as humanitarian workers are sometimes targeted by the violence,” he said.
Yakani noted that the visiting AU Peace and Security Council has met with President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the National Election Commission (NEC), the National Constitution Review Commission (NCRC), and the Political Parties Council (PPC), among others.
“Elections require a political consensus among the parties that are signatories to the 2018 peace agreement. Some critical political decisions need to be made regarding the pre-conditions established by the agreement,” he explained.
“We have demanded that the AU Peace and Security Council, in the spirit of working towards elections, establish a technical committee to assist the National Election Commission in setting up a framework, institutions, and procedures for conducting the elections.”
