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July 9, 2024 (Nairobi) – An umbrella group has warned South Sudan’s leadership against plans to extend the transition period, saying the country remains on the brink of total collapse due to a deepening economic crisis.
The National Consensus Forum (NCF) sounded the alarm amid raging ethnic tensions and communal clashes and food shortages across the country.
The NCF describes itself as an entity comprised of 21 South Sudanese political, civil society, women, youth, faith-based organizations, academic and professional associations, representing the main sectors of South Sudanese society.
In a statement issued on Monday, the group claimed that the government had lost the trust and control of the country by failing to pay salaries to civil servants regularly.
“The NCF condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempt to extend the vile 2018 Khartoum Agreement, which has already been extended once. While the agreement was expected to be implemented within 36 months, only 15% has been implemented in six years,” it read in part.
The umbrella group also claimed that any attempt to extend the transition period, despite Toumani’s initiative, was against the spirit of a genuine peace process led by Kenya between the South Sudanese government and its diehards.
The National Volunteer Force expressed its determination to seek a genuine and lasting peace and called on all stakeholders, civil society, women and youth groups, religious organizations and all political organizations to jointly fulfill the State’s obligations and responsibilities and reject this illegal and unilateral expansion.
According to the forum, the recently passed Security Bill, which allows for warrantless arrests of suspects, is indicative of unbridled authoritarianism in the country.
“If NSDAP can arrest without a warrant, it can subject any detainee to torture and isolation, deny visits, legal and medical care, and other actions,” the statement said, condemning the arrests of civil society activists and journalists.
Last Wednesday, South Sudanese lawmakers passed the long-awaited National Security Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024, which gives security agencies the power to arrest suspects without a warrant. However, Sections 54 and 55 of the bill, which gave the agencies too many powers, were retained.
“With the passage of this bill, good governance and the rule of law in South Sudan have been wantonly dismantled,” the NCF stressed in a statement.
At the same time, the umbrella organization called for an inclusive roundtable to provide an enabling environment for all South Sudanese stakeholders to jointly seek a genuine and lasting peace, address the root causes of the conflict in South Sudan as detailed in the new roadmap, and usher in a new institutional and social contract for South Sudan.
(English stone)
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