Nicholas Haysom, the head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, held his first press conference of the year on Friday 13 January. He insisted on the need to implement the peace agreement quickly.
Nicholas Haysom pointed out ” urgency of the implementation of the peace agreement signed in 2018, supposed to put an end to the civil war that started in 2013, but very late on its schedule. Elections were indeed scheduled for December 2022, but they have been postponed for two years, while the humanitarian and security context is only deteriorating.
In 2023, more than 9 million South Sudanese will need assistance out of the 12 million in the country; but this remains one of the most dangerous for humanitarians. Nicholas Haysom has thus deplored the murder of 3 South Sudanese humanitarian workers since the beginning of the year alone. He asked the South Sudanese and their leaders to put aside their differences to build their country and above all, to respect the timetable on which they agreed to prepare the elections.
” This year is a particularly important year for South Sudan and its people, estimated the UN representative at the microphone of our correspondent in Juba, Florence Miettaux. It will in fact determine whether the transition to peace can be achieved. I met this week with President Salva Kiir to discuss how to speed up the implementation of the outstanding points of the peace agreement, including the drafting of the Constitution and the unification of the army, in order to to create an atmosphere conducive to the holding of free, fair and credible elections in December 2024 “.
“ We also discussed strategies to end the worrying inter-communal fighting in several parts of the country, continued Nicholas Haysom at a press conference. This violence threatens to jeopardize the progress achieved so far and could even derail the entire peace process. To progress both in conflict resolution and in our humanitarian ambitions, South Sudan must succeed in implementing the peace agreement scrupulously, respecting the timetable set by the roadmap. »