Peter Biar urges international community to help end Kiir-Machar’s ‘violent’ rule

JUBA – South Sudan prominent activist and economist Peter Biar Ajak who has fled into exile following two-year detention by the country’s National Security Service (NSS) has appealed to the international community to help South Sudanese end the violent rule of President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his first deputy Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

South Sudan descended into a deadly civil war in December 2013 following disagreement between Kiir and Machar over who should be the flag bearer of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) for elections slated – unsuccessfully at the time – for 2015.

The civil war has since been fought along ethnic lines with Dinka members of the SPLA, the guerilla rebel force which then became South Sudan’s national army following independence in 2011, supporting Kiir against their Nuer counterparts who were otherwise supporting Machar.

The two men, since 2015, have signed at least two peace agreements: The Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS) – which collapsed in 2016 following fighting between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar – and the Revitalized Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS).

With the first having been signed in 2015 and ended in 2016, there is fears that the second one, R-ARCISS, which was signed in 2018, could unravel given the prevailing lack of political will from the signatories to implement it in letter and spirit.

Kiir is now urging the international community to support conduct of elections at the end of the transitional period in 2023, even if there is no census and important preparatory arrangements that usually precede elections.

Machar, who has blamed Kiir for intentionally failing the peace agreement to return the country to war, is saying there will not be elections unless the peace agreement is fully implemented to guarantee free polls and until the rival forces are reunified as provided for in the agreement.

In an opinion piece published on the African Arguments, Peter Biar said the international community should step in to help the people of South Sudan remove President Kiir and First Vice President Machar from power and should provide a force to protect polls.

“These peacekeepers could be deployed across polling stations,” he said of the United Nations peacekeeping force in South Sudan. “The key will be to keep the number of polling stations small – so enough peacekeepers are available at each of them – while providing sufficient time for voters to make their way there.”

He said “There are 79 counties in South Sudan, including the contested region of Abyei. If each county is allocated five polling stations, this will give a total of 395 sites. And if each polling station is protected by 30 well-equipped, well-trained troops, this means 11,850 peacekeepers would be required in total. Remaining forces could be organised into mobile units that patrol other areas, particularly in highly contested regions.”

“To accommodate the limited number of polling stations, voting could be allowed to take place over three to five days. Once the voting is complete, the counting could take place within each polling station in the presence of the peacekeepers, journalists, regional and international elections observers, and the representatives of political parties. To minimise fraud, the results could be announced at each polling station, in accordance with the 2012 National Elections Act, and aggregated at county, state, and national levels. That way, maximum confidence in the integrity of the results can be ensured.

“Such an election could also ensure the participation of citizens in refugee camps and in the diaspora, who are eligible to vote in the presidential race. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) could facilitate this process in coordination with a new electoral commission to be established.

“Giving UNMISS the mandate and capacity to provide security for elections would take away Kiir’s biggest advantage: his ability to manipulate the security forces to extend his corrupt and illegitimate rule through sheer intimidation.

“If this were to happen, the South Sudanese people would finally be able to put into effect what they unanimously called for during last year’s National Dialogue, which is for Kiir and Machar to exit the political landscape. With the support of our neighbours and friends from around the world, we could finally end the corrupt violent rule of militias in our country.”