Politics

US chief warns elections might not be credible in South Sudan. Here’s why

Published

2 months ago

March 9, 2024

A senior US State Department official has cautioned that unless immediate action is taken, the planned December elections in South Sudan are not likely to be a credible process due to the government’s delayed preparations.

In an interview, the official responded in the affirmative when asked if, absent immediate action, the electoral process was headed towards being a fraud.

Later this year, South Sudan will hold national elections to select a new transitional administration led by First Vice President Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir, whose forces fought each other throughout the country’s 2013–2018 civil war.

Kiir, who has been the country’s president since he led it into independence in 2011, announced in 2022 that the transitional administration would hold onto power for an additional two years, postponing the planned elections.

“I give it 50/50” about the possibility that the elections in December would go as scheduled, the official stated.

Speaking as anonymous, the official issued a warning that in the event that elections are postponed or unrest breaks out, the United States may consider using sanctions and modifying its diplomatic posture in the nation.

“If there’s either a delay or violence, I think we would look at the whole suite of options, including sanctions,” the official said.

According to the official, exploring Washington’s development assistance and other avenues of involvement are further choices.

An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a representative of the South Sudanese administration. According to the embassy, Peter Lord, the deputy assistant secretary for East Africa, Sudan, and South Sudan, visited the nation last week and urged the leaders to take the necessary actions to host legitimate and peaceful elections in December.

However, the US diplomat issued a warning on Friday, stating that South Sudan had failed to fulfil its obligations from two years prior, which included conducting a census, creating a constitution, and establishing all the democratic institutions required for the elections to occur.

The source went on to say that there hasn’t been a careful or comprehensive procedure because electoral institutions have just recently been constituted. According to the senior official, Kiir is in favour of the elections because they would give him credibility, but several in his immediate vicinity, including Machar, are against them because they run the risk of losing in a political struggle.

Although a 2018 agreement that put an end to a five-year conflict that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives declared South Sudan officially at peace, there are still frequent flare-ups of localised violence between competing populations.

Right now, South Sudan is in a precarious situation. Local violence between various armed groups and factions is increasing, according to UN reports.

According to UN estimates, South Sudan’s seven years of civil conflict between 2013 and 2020 resulted in 2.19 million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries, 1.62 million internally displaced people, and 7.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid.

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Politics

Mozambique: Ruling FRELIMO announces Chapo as presidential candidate

Published

1 day ago

May 7, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Daniel Chapo has announced that he will run for president in the October election on behalf of the ruling FRELIMO party in Mozambique.

Since achieving independence in 1975, FRELIMO has ruled the nation in southern Africa, and the party is hoping that Chapo can lead it to another win in the election on October 9.

“The soap opera of speculation is over, including speculation about the third term,” President Filipe Nyusi said on state television on Sunday, dismissing the prospect of contesting elections again.

“We must all unite around comrade Daniel Francisco Chapo, in the demanding march towards electoral victory next October,” Nyusi said.

The president of Mozambique is limited to two terms of five years by the constitution. Nevertheless, following his reelection as party leader in 2022, there had been conjecture in the media that Nyusi may run for a third term.

Chapo, a relatively unknown person in national politics, is the governor of the province of Inhambane in southern Mozambique. As to the party announcement, he secured 225 votes (about 94%) from the central committee of the party.

“We are going to work with all social strata,” Chapo said on television after his win.

Chapo, a former radio host, was born in 1977, making him the first candidate for FRELIMO to be born since the nation gained its independence.

He has served in many governmental capacities, most notably as an administrator of the districts of Nacala and Palma. He also has a master’s degree in development management and a law degree.

Politics

Again, Rwanda denies it attacked displaced persons in DR Congo

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

For the sixteenth time, Rwanda refuted US charges on Saturday that its troops attacked a camp for internally displaced persons in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), placing the blame instead on militants it claimed were backed by the military of the Congo.

The US State Department released a statement in which it vehemently denounced the incident that claimed at least nine lives on Friday.

There have been persistent accusations against Rwanda of providing support to the armed organizations, which has resulted in diplomatic tensions between the neighbours in East Africa.

Citing the threat that Rwanda’s surface-to-air missile systems posed to civilians, U.N. and other regional peacekeepers, aid workers, and commercial aircraft operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the US demanded in February that Rwanda remove its systems and all of its armed forces from the DRC immediately. Rwanda denies providing any assistance to the rebels.

According to the U.S. statement, the M23 rebel group, which Rwanda supports, and the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) held the positions from which the attack was launched. The United States is “gravely concerned about the recent RDF and M23 expansion” in eastern Congo.

Speaking on behalf of the Rwandan government, Yolande Makolo refuted claims that the RDF was responsible for the attack, blaming instead rebels backed by the Congolese military.

“The RDF, a professional army, would never attack an IDP (displaced persons). Look to the lawless FDLR and Wazalendo supported by the FARDC (Congolese military) for this kind of atrocity,” she said in a post on X.

Wazalendo is a Christian sect, while the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is a Hutu organization that was founded by Hutu officials who left Rwanda after planning the 1994 genocide.

Thousands of people from the surrounding areas have fled to Goma in eastern Congo as a result of the M23 rebels’ two-year offensive, which has advanced toward the city in recent months.