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STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / PEACE AND ELECTORAL PROCESSES
TRT: 7:00
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: RECENT 2023, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN/FILE
1. Various of workshop/electoral official engaging with Civil Society organisations
2. Set up of Elisabeth Haynes-Sadeger, UNMISS Head of Office Central Equatorial State
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Elisabeth Haynes-Sadeger, Head of Office Central Equatorial State, UNMISS:
“This workshop taking place in the build-up of elections is of particular importance to us. It presents a timely opportunity to enhance the skills of civil society representatives who will accompany and support the people of South Sudan throughout this process. In the current context of South Sudan, I cannot overemphasize the role civil society organizations can play in accelerating democratic processes and enhancing peace building in our communities. Civil society organizations are very much, very much - the entry and exit points for any durable, democratic and peaceful processes.”
4. More of engagements with workshop participants
5. Set-up of Government official
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Leon Lomori, Director General, Ministry of Peace Building, Central Equatoria State:
“The lifetime of the R-ARCSS (Revitalized Peace Agreement) has ended and we are supposed to be talking about the government Road Map. This is one important document that you need to internalize, understand it and make those who cannot access it to also understand it. And now for you and the government, working together [is important]. By this month we should be doing this. How are we moving? Where do you need support? Where do I need support? Where do we put hands together so that we move the Road Map which was intended to take us to the elections period. Come the elections period - our country has never been peaceful. The politics has never been friendly. For the communities who might not have been informed of exactly when going to the poll what they are supposed to do – [it is important to do so]. It is not just taking the [ballot] and dropping it. Your role is to educate the community on how and why they go to the polls, and what to expect from the vote they have cast – because this country belongs to all of us.”
7. Power point showing pre-elections processes
8.Various of participants listening
9. Official engaging participants on Advocacy and lobbying skillsets
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Sahra Said, South Sudan Network for Democracy and Elections:
“South Sudan has been in war for many years. We've had negotiations. We have had agreement after agreement, and after the last agreement there is a Road Map that South Sudan will go for elections after the transitional period. But the transitional period has been extended and now we have a new road map to the next the extension of the transitional period. In the road map to the transitional period, we are told that we will have elections. It is specified we will have elections six months before the transitional period, and we need to get prepared. Elections is not a one-day event. It is a series of activities, and it is a cycle. It is not a two months three months event. So, by attending this workshop, I will equip myself with new skills and knowledge and provide civic education to the masses of South Sudanese who within South Sudan and in the diaspora.”
11. Various shots, flipchart writing showing the role of civil society organisations.
A room attended by representatives from Civil Society Organizations working in South Sudan, listen to an electoral official from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), who explains various stages of electoral processes.
The session is engaging, and participants readily share their experiences - of processes they have been a part of only once in their lives.
A handful explain that they were involved in a national electoral process in Sudan in 2010 – almost a year before South Sudan became an independent State.
For the group drawn from 20 Civil Society Organisations, the discussions are timely – and a reminder that the clock is ticking towards South Sudan’s first ever national elections.
SOUNDBITE (English) Elisabeth Haynes-Sadeger, Head of Office Central Equatorial State, UNMISS:
“This workshop taking place in the build-up of elections is of particular importance to us. It presents a timely opportunity to enhance the skills of civil society representatives who will accompany and support the people of South Sudan throughout this process. In the current context of South Sudan, I cannot overemphasize the role civil society organizations can play in accelerating democratic processes and enhancing peace building in our communities. Civil society organizations are very much, very much - the entry and exit points for any durable, democratic and peaceful processes.”
Continued conflict in South Sudan pushed back various timelines that would have allowed for earlier conversations on elections.
But now – a peace process that has been in place since 2018, shows promise that an electoral process is possible sometime in 2025.
Preparations are indeed underway.
The South Sudanese government has formally requested the United Nations for advice, and technical assistance towards conducting free, fair and credible elections. Following this, UNMISS has begun engaging with the National Election Commission and other relevant national interlocutors in planning and preparations.
Besides this recent development, Civil Society Organisations who mostly engage with communities at the grass roots, are being prepped through capacity building workshops, on their role for the remainder of the peace process, which includes a pre-electoral and post electoral period.
SOUNDBITE (English) Leon Lomori, Director General, Ministry of Peace Building, Central Equatoria State:
“The lifetime of the R-ARCSS (Revitalized Peace Agreement) has ended and we are supposed to be talking about the government Road Map. This is one important document that you need to internalize, understand it and make those who cannot access it to also understand it. And now for you and the government, working together [is important]. By this month we should be doing this. How are we moving? Where do you need support? Where do I need support? Where do we put hands together so that we move the Road Map which was intended to take us to the elections period. Come the elections period - our country has never been peaceful. The politics has never been friendly. For the communities who might not have been informed of exactly when going to the poll what they are supposed to do – [it is important to do so]. It is not just taking the [ballot] and dropping it. Your role is to educate the community on how and why they go to the polls, and what to expect from the vote they have cast – because this country belongs to all of us.”
The two-day capacity building workshop drew lessons on skillsets needed for advocacy and lobbying for civil society groups; how to build capacity on resource mobilisation and engage in partnerships; and ways of enhancing a meaningful civic and political space ahead of the elections.
The participants listened and expressed readiness to take up their role as pioneers in a long-awaited electioneering process.
SOUNDBITE (English) Sahra Said, South Sudan Network for Democracy and Elections:
“South Sudan has been in war for many years. We've had negotiations. We have had agreement after agreement, and after the last agreement there is a Road Map that South Sudan will go for elections after the transitional period. But the transitional period has been extended and now we have a new road map to the next the extension of the transitional period. In the road map to the transitional period, we are told that we will have elections. It is specified we will have elections six months before the transitional period, and we need to get prepared. Elections is not a one-day event. It is a series of activities, and it is a cycle. It is not a two months three months event. So, by attending this workshop, I will equip myself with new skills and knowledge and provide civic education to the masses of South Sudanese who within South Sudan and in the diaspora.”
It is expected that some of the civil society organisations will criss-cross the country engaging in voter education, encouraging dialogue on the need for peaceful campaign processes, and the importance of free and fair electoral processes, despite challenges of a shrinking civic space, insecurity, and funding.
