WASHINGTON, US
The United States, Britain and Norway on Tuesday called on South Sudan's leaders to take urgent steps to ensure genuine and peaceful elections in December.
South Sudan has been formally
at peace since a 2018 deal ended a five-year conflict responsible for hundreds
of thousands of deaths, but violence between rival communities flares
frequently.
The joint statement follows
warnings from the United States that South Sudan is not on a path of free and fair elections to
take place in December as planned unless action is taken.
South Sudan is planning to
choose leaders to succeed the current transitional government, which includes
President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, whose respective
forces battled each other during the 2013-2018 civil war.
In 2022, Kiir said the
transitional government would remain in power for another two years, delaying
scheduled elections.
"Following recent
senior-level visits from our capitals to Juba, the Governments of Norway, the
United Kingdom, and the United States reaffirm our call for South Sudan’s
leaders urgently to take steps necessary to ensure genuine and peaceful elections
in December," the statement said, adding the process should address 10
questions posed by the United Nations, African Union and Intergovernmental
Authority on Development.
"Not taking these
critical steps and so not allowing elections would be a collective failure on
the part of South Sudan’s leaders."
A senior US State
Department official told Reuters this month that the elections
will not be a credible process unless urgent action is taken.
On the likelihood the
elections proceed in December as planned, the US official said: "I
give it 50/50."
The official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, warned that the US would look to options including
sanctions and adjusting its diplomatic platform in the country if elections
were to be delayed or violence breaks out.
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