South Sudan’s transition to democratic governance through a highly anticipated, first-ever post-independence general election has to wait once again for another two years. Most recently slated for December 2024, the elections were postponed for a fourth time in September 2024 when the 2018 Revitalized Agreement for Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and the resultant Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) were renewed for the same two-year period. As a result, the general election will now be held in December 2026 and a new democratically elected government will finally lead the nation beginning in February 2027. Despite this latest extension, however, South Sudan has achieved notable milestones in its transitional justice process.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, making it the world’s youngest country. The fledgling nation, however, soon after descended into civil war in 2013 and again in 2016, muddling what should have been its first elections in 2015. The parties to the conflict eventually signed the R-ARCSS on September 12, 2018, ending the hostilities, establishing the R-TGoNU, and putting in place a framework for a transition to democratic governance. Since then, the process has been fraught with challenges and repeatedly delayed—delays that the R-TGoNU has blamed on the failure to fully implement various provisions within the R-ARCSS required before holding free and fair elections.
The most pivotal among these are the transitional security arrangements enumerated in Chapter 2 of the R-ARCSS, which provide for the unification of the country’s fragmented security forces into the South Sudan Defense Forces. A unified military should not only restore the public’s trust in the country’s armed forces but help secure a democratic election and halt the persistent intra- and inter-communal violence that continues to plague South Sudan.
That said, key provisions of the R-ARCSS, such as the establishment of the National Constitutional Amendment Committee, the National Elections Commission, and the Political Parties Council, have been successfully implemented, albeit significantly late.
Notably and laudably, President Salva Kiir recently, in October 2024, signed into law the bills establishing the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing (CTRH) and the Compensation and Reparations Authority (CRA), which firmly set South Sudan on a transitional justice path. The genuine roll out of these two mechanisms should address the legacy of the country’s conflicts as well as promote sustainable peace, national reconciliation, healing, and development. As per the R-ARCSS, the CTRH and CRA are both critical components of the peacebuilding process in South Sudan and ought to address the challenges of repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation, and reintegration of displaced populations, including returnees and refugees.
In addition, the mediation process spearheaded by the lay Catholic association Community of Sant’Egidio and now led by the Kenyan government—known as the Tumaini (“hope” in Swahili) Initiative—continues to make progress in bringing onboard the hold-out groups that did not sign the R-ARCSS.
These milestones and mechanisms have the potential to consolidate South Sudan’s political reconciliation, pave the way to a democratic transition, address the entrenched impunity, guarantee the non-recurrence of atrocities, and eventually fulfill the promises of the country’s 2011 independence. However, they demand genuine political goodwill and a commitment to reforming the country’s constitution, security sector, judiciary, and other state institutions through an inclusive process that consults with all stakeholders including displaced populations.
___________
PHOTO: South Sudanese people celebrate their country's first day of independence after a long and bloody civil war with Sudan on July 9, 2011. (Steve Evans/Flickr)
