UN warns South Sudan against holding ‘premature’ elections

[Elisabeth Janaina]

UN warns South Sudan against holding ‘premature’ elections
File photo: SPLA-IO rebels walk during an assault on government
soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, August 26,
2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
File photo: SPLA-IO rebels walk during an assault on government
soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, August 26,
2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

South Sudan’s plan to hold elections next year risks "deepening" an
already devastating conflict, the UN Mission in the country warned,
barely two weeks after the government vowed, despite the ongoing
civil war in the nation, to hold elections next year.

“I think if we had premature elections before all the procedures are
put in place and before there was real peace, then that would be a
problem,” David Shearer, the head of UN Mission in South Sudan
(UNMISS), told reports in Juba on Thursday.

The top UN official advised South Sudan to delay elections until the
ongoing civil war ends. “In June, I spoke at the Heads of State
meeting for IGAD and we said that it is important that elections are
held where free and fair elections can take place for them to be
credible elections and for them to be able to contribute to resolving
the conflict here,” he said.

“I think it is important that we work through the peace process, that
we have good conditions on the ground to enable an election to take
place that can be seen as free and fair and people can have confidence
in,” he added.

The United States last week imposed sanctions on two senior government
members, a former military official accused of undermining peace,
security and stability in the world’s youngest nation.