USAP Challenges Exclusion From Dialogue, Calls for All Peace Signatories to Participate

By Simon Deng

The United African Party (USAP) has condemned its exclusion from an ongoing political dialogue involving parties to South Sudan’s 2018 revitalized peace agreement. The party is calling for an inclusive process that gives all signatories an equal opportunity to present their positions ahead of the country’s planned elections.

On Friday, Professor Ajang Bior Duot, Acting Chairperson of USAP, decried the party’s exclusion while simultaneously advocating for an inclusive inter-party dialogue involving all signatory parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.

“A dialogue that locks out a signatory cannot claim to be inclusive. South Sudan cannot achieve credible elections by silencing the very parties the peace agreement empowers to speak.USAP cannot be silenced,” Bior stated on Friday.

Bior revealed that on October 1, 2026, all signatory parties to the agreement, including members of Other Political Parties (OPP), were given the opportunity to present their positions during the dialogue, with the sole exception of USAP. The party was denied the chance to present its prepared position paper.

“This deliberate exclusion violates the principles of inclusivity, consensus, and equal participation of all signatories enshrined in the 2018 peace agreement. Silencing a legitimate signatory does not build trust; it undermines the inter-party dialogue and endangers the consensus on which a credible electoral process depends,” he asserted.

Bior disclosed that USAP remains fully committed to achieving durable peace, security, and credible elections in South Sudan, and will continue to pursue every legitimate avenue to ensure its voice is heard.

“USAP demands an immediate and unconditional opportunity to present its position paper on security and election preparedness to the inter-party dialogue,” he said, emphasizing the necessity of including all parties to the agreement.

“We call for urgent intervention by the OPP, the inter-party dialogue co-chair, the parties to the 2018 peace agreement, RJMEC, and the guarantors to the 2018 peace agreement to protect the rights of all legitimate signatory parties,” he concluded.