The upcoming peace talks in South Sudan face significant challenges as opposition groups call for the repeal of a recently passed bill that allows detention without arrest warrants, a condition they insist must be met before any agreement can be signed.
Since May, Kenya has hosted crucial meetings between South Sudanese government officials and rebel factions excluded from the 2018 peace agreement, which ended a five-year civil war that claimed 400,000 lives and displaced millions.
Despite the earlier accord, intermittent violence continues to plague the country of 9 million.
Pagan Amum Okiech, representing the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance, stated to the Associated Press on Tuesday that signing any agreement would be “futile” if the stringent National Security Act becomes law with President Salva Kiir’s approval.
In preparation for the country’s first elections on December 22, parliament recently endorsed the controversial 2015 bill. Amum criticized the legislation, saying, “This law infringes upon the basic rights and freedoms of South Sudanese citizens, eliminating civic and political space. Peace and democracy cannot coexist with such legislation.”
Edmund Yakani, executive director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation, which works with students and graduates, also condemned the bill, asserting that it “casts a shadow over the negotiations.”
Human Rights Watch has joined the opposition to the bill, urging Kiir to reject it, arguing that it will worsen human rights abuses and empower security agencies already known for their misconduct.
The talks, dubbed Tumaini (“hope” in Swahili), have produced a draft agreement proposing to extend the transitional period, delay elections, finalize the constitution, electoral laws, and constituency boundaries, and establish a unified security force as outlined in the 2018 peace accord.
Some Western diplomats have suggested postponing the elections “to ensure their fairness.”
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