UN ties South Sudan’s 22 December vote to peace deal
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Africanews
UN mission chief in South Sudan Anita Kiki Gbeho told the Security Council that the political transition must hold after the 22 December vote. She spoke as President Salva Kiir dissolved the unity government and removed his first vice-president Riek Machar, measures challenged by the opposition, according to Africanews.
The head of the UN mission in South Sudan, Anita Kiki Gbeho, told the Security Council that the key issue in the 22 December vote is whether the country’s political transition remains anchored in the 2018 revitalised peace agreement and whether the gains of recent years survive the vote, reports Africanews. The country is six weeks away from its first national election since independence.
In September, President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional unity government, removed all vice-presidents, including First Vice-President Riek Machar, and appointed an interim administration; opposition groups denounced this as a violation of the power-sharing arrangements set out in the 2018 agreement. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the African Union’s High Representative for the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, noted that the government does not appear to have the resources needed to finance the vote.
For Murithi Mutiga of the International Crisis Group, rushed elections could deal a decisive blow to the 2018 framework and pave the way for a return to large-scale violence. The UN secretary-general’s latest report points to a deterioration in security: clashes in Upper Nile have displaced more than 35,000 people and an ambush on a UN patrol in Jonglei killed three peacekeepers in August. US diplomat Jennifer Locetta accused the South Sudanese government of blocking UNMISS patrols and harassing UN personnel.
