UN rights experts head to South Sudan amid gov’t push for elections

JUBA — United Nations human rights experts will visit South Sudan next week as President Salva Kiir’s government presses ahead with plans for elections despite renewed fighting, the detention of opposition leader Riek Machar and continued delays in implementing key provisions of the 2018 peace deal.

The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said in a statement extended to Sudans Post on Friday morning that Chairperson Yasmin Sooka will lead the September 7-10 mission alongside commissioners Barney Afako and Carlos Castresana Fernández.

“The visit comes as South Sudan faces renewed armed conflict, deepening political tensions and growing risks to civilians and the peace process, while moving towards its first national elections since gaining independence in 2011,” the Commission said.

The commissioners are expected to meet government officials, political and security actors, civil society representatives, victims and survivors, humanitarian agencies, lawyers and international partners.

They will assess the human rights, political and security situation, including renewed hostilities and displacement and what the Commission described as the “continued erosion” of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

The 2018 agreement ended a civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and those aligned with Machar and created the current power-sharing government. But several of its key provisions remain unfinished, including security-sector reforms and the full unification of rival forces. Western governments have repeatedly said the agreement remains the basis for the legitimacy of the transitional government.

Machar, the country’s First Vice President and leader of the main opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, has remained in detention amid a wider political and security crisis.

His party says his detention and the prosecution of senior opposition figures linked to the group undermine the peace agreement and have made meaningful political participation increasingly difficult.

The government, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with elections planned for December 2026. The National Elections Commission said this week that voter registration had not yet started and that there was still no electoral register. Electoral officials from the 10 states and three administrative areas were only beginning training on voter registration procedures on Monday.

Preparations also remain behind schedule in other areas, while the political environment has become more contested. The European Union has said it supports elections as a way forward but has raised concerns over the lack of preparation and unresolved political decisions.

The United States and other Western governments have also warned that elections should not be treated as credible simply because they take place. Washington has previously called for political space, neutral security forces, functioning electoral institutions and dialogue among political leaders as necessary conditions for a genuine and peaceful vote.

Britain said at the UN Security Council in August that elections must be credible, peaceful and inclusive and warned that a vote in which major parties cannot participate freely would serve “neither democracy nor peace.”

Those concerns come as fighting continues across parts of rural South Sudan. Government and opposition forces have clashed in Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity and parts of the Equatoria region, with civilians displaced by fighting and air strikes. UN reports have documented worsening security conditions in several of those areas.

In Jonglei alone, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced during fighting between government forces and opposition-linked forces, according to UN agencies.

The SPLM-IO has said it is not opposed to elections but argues that outstanding provisions of the peace agreement must first be implemented and that conditions should allow for a free, fair, peaceful and credible vote.

The UN Commission said its delegation would also examine developments affecting the political transition and “the conditions necessary for a peaceful, inclusive and credible democratic process.”

“The Commissioners will use the visit to engage directly with affected communities and gather first-hand information relevant to the Commission’s mandate,” it said.

The findings will be used in the Commission’s reporting to the UN Human Rights Council and in its work on preventing human rights violations and atrocity crimes, promoting accountability and supporting peace.

The commissioners are expected to hold a press conference in Juba on September 10 to present preliminary observations from the visit.