South Sudan Lawmakers Amend Peace Deal to Keep December Election on Track
JUBA, South Sudan: South Sudan’s transitional parliament has approved controversial amendments to the country’s 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement, removing key pre-election requirements in an effort to keep long-delayed general elections on schedule for December, prompting criticism from opposition groups and Western diplomats.
The Transitional National Legislative Assembly voted to amend the peace accord by deferring two major milestones — a national population census and the completion of a permanent constitution — to the next elected government, eliminating legal hurdles that many officials said could have delayed the country’s first post-independence elections.
The amendments were passed despite objections from opposition lawmakers, including members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), who boycotted the process, arguing that changes to the peace agreement should have been agreed by all signatories through consultation rather than by a parliamentary vote.
The government, however, stopped short of adopting an earlier proposal that would have removed provisions giving the 2018 peace agreement supremacy over South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution, preserving the accord as the legal foundation of the country’s transitional government.
The changes drew an unusually coordinated response from South Sudan’s international partners.
In a joint statement issued on July 7, the embassies of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, together with the European Union delegation, said they remained “gravely concerned about actions taken without the full consensus of all the signatories.”
The diplomats reaffirmed that “the 2018 peace agreement remains the basis for the legitimacy of the transitional government” and said “any changes must be made through authentic dialogue involving all parties to the agreement.” They also called on South Sudan’s political leaders “to commit to an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
The amendments come amid mounting political tensions and renewed uncertainty over implementation of the peace agreement, which ended a five-year civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
The African Union has repeatedly warned that implementation of the accord remains seriously behind schedule, with only about 37% of its provisions fully implemented. Security arrangements, constitutional reforms and preparations for elections remain incomplete.
Political tensions have also intensified following the detention of First Vice President Riek Machar, Kiir’s longtime rival and leader of the SPLM-IO, raising fresh concerns among regional and international observers about the future of the fragile power-sharing arrangement established under the 2018 peace deal.
Government officials argue that postponing the census and permanent constitution process is necessary to avoid another delay to elections, which have already been postponed several times since South Sudan gained independence in 2011.
Opposition leaders and some civil society groups, however, warn that holding elections before fully implementing critical provisions of the peace agreement risks undermining the credibility of the vote and could deepen political divisions in the world’s youngest nation.