The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has called for an inclusive inter-party dialogue to build political consensus and create conditions for peaceful elections scheduled for December 2026.
Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO, said the dialogue should bring together all political parties and stakeholders, including those that signed the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and those outside the peace agreement.
Yakani said the slow implementation of the 2018 peace deal has been driven in part by a lack of trust and confidence among the parties, contributing to repeated delays in the country’s transition to an elected government.
The R-ARCSS, signed in September 2018, established a transitional government and envisaged elections at the end of a 36-month transitional period.
However, delays in implementing key provisions led to repeated extensions. A 2022 roadmap was subsequently adopted to provide a revised path towards a peaceful and democratic end to the transition.
The transitional period was extended again in 2024, with elections now scheduled for December 2026. Key outstanding issues include electoral preparations, the permanent constitution-making process, security-sector reforms and transitional justice.
Yakani said the upcoming inter-party dialogue should therefore be used to address the political disagreements that have slowed implementation and establish a common position on how the country can move from the transitional period to an elected government.
He said the dialogue should be open to both signatories and non-signatories to the peace agreement and should operate without preconditions.
“The national inter-party dialogue should be focused on generating internal political consensus in an inclusive manner where no one is left behind and no precondition is positioned,” Yakani said.
He also urged the government not to selectively determine which political parties participate, saying the process should allow all relevant political actors and stakeholders to express their views freely.
Yakani further called on President Salva Kiir to consider a general amnesty for political actors who want to participate in the dialogue, arguing that participants should be able to engage without fear of repercussions.
For elections to contribute to lasting peace, Yakani said South Sudan needs political agreement on the conditions under which the polls will be conducted, including guarantees that political parties can participate freely and citizens can choose their leaders through the ballot.
He said the country must move away from the use of armed force as a means of gaining or retaining political power.
“The barrel of the gun is no longer a viable option for controlling power or accessing power,” Yakani said, stressing that citizens should be allowed to decide their leaders at the ballot box.
The call comes as South Sudan faces a tight timetable ahead of the December 2026 elections.
The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission has previously warned that completing pending peace-agreement tasks including permanent constitution-making, electoral preparations, unification of forces and transitional justice is essential if credible elections are to be held.
Yakani said the inter-party dialogue should help establish the national consensus needed to determine the “agreed good conditions” for the December elections.
He also appealed to regional and international actors supporting the peace process to strengthen coordination around South Sudan’s transition.
Yakani specifically urged the African Union Commission to implement recent decisions by the AU Peace and Security Council calling for greater coordination among regional and international mechanisms involved in South Sudan.
He said a coordinated political strategy, with measurable priorities and regular reporting, was necessary to help move the country from recurring political and armed conflict towards a peaceful democratic transition.
South Sudan’s planned December 2026 election is widely viewed as a critical test of whether the country can finally conclude its prolonged transitional period through a political process rather than another cycle of violence.
