The South Sudan United Front (SSUF/A), which is under the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance (SSOMA), criticised civil society’s calls for “an election on time.”

SSUF spokesperson Garang Malual, said they were astonished to hear the civil society leader, Mr. Edmund Yakani, say that the country cannot afford to push the election date despite the absence of pre-electoral tasks.

“I was shocked hearing him talk that way, because when a normal person wants to talk about elections anywhere, not only South Sudan, something must be put in place first,” Malual said.

He said issues such as the national population census, voter registration, and insecurity in the country are the major concerns.   

 “Leave a lone rampant insecurity in the country in all three regions of Upper Nile, Bahr El Ghazal, and the Equatoria region; there is ethnic unrest in the entire country; people are not repatriated from the refugee camps; the population that is outside is almost larger than what is in the country,” Garang claimed.

“In this situation, how do you talk about elections, maybe unless you live on a different planet?” he asked.

On the same note, Garang said the SSUF/A’s chairman, Paul Malong Awan, is ready for the Kenyan government to mediate the peace talks.

He explained that the SSUF/A leader responded positively to a letter written by President Salva Kiir to Kenyan President William Ruto, demanding that the Kenyan government mediate the peace talks between the holdouts’ groups called the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOMA).

“General Paul has indeed replied to the letter, accepting Kenya going to mediate the peace talks. He did that as the chairman of SSUF/A and the rest of the alliance will do it on their parties’ behalf, that is on the peace talks issues,” Garang stated.

REPORT: The City Review Digital