Space Organization, a local civil society group has engaged the South Sudan Council of Churches to work to ensure that the upcoming general election scheduled for December 2024 is held peacefully devoid of violence.
“We are supposed to go for elections and there are mixed reactions on whether elections should be done or not, the government especially the SPLM has given their stand to conduct elections without condition and SPLM-IO has outlined prerequisite for conducting elections,” said Noel Kaiga Joseph, the Program Officer for Space Organization while briefing journalists on Saturday after the meeting with church leaders in Juba.
“The constitution-making process is not completed, we need to speed up the constitution-making process, transitional justice is not implemented, we need to end the transition, we need to see that it is peaceful transition,” he added.
Juan Rachel, the Peace Coordinator for South Sudan Council of Churches, said the church is a credible and legitimate organization that can facilitate peace among disgruntled groups.
“We believe the voice of the church can act as facilitator for peace mediation, the church can play key role, one of them is moral guidance through teaching and reconciliation, we want to use that leverage on voter education,” said Rachel.
“People are united but elections may cause disunity, the church will monitor the electoral process, advocate social justice, we want to ensure that people’s welfare is taken as a priority, our time for transition is coming and we need to work together,” she added.
