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South Sudanese society group calls for Kiir, Machar to step down ahead of December polls

South Sudan President and Chair of the EAC Salva Kiir. (X)

By Mwangi Maina | Friday, June 7, 2024

The civil society group also called for the dissolution of the National Security Service (NSS), advocating for its reconstitution as the National Intelligence Service.

A coalition of South Sudan's civil society organizations, known as the People’s Coalition for Civic Action (PCCA), has reaffirmed its previous calls for President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar to step down from power, ahead of the contested December polls.

Founded in 2021, the PCCA advocates for reforms in government institutions to better serve the needs of the people.

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Abraham Awolich, a founding member of PCCA, emphasised that Kiir and Machar should prepare for their departure and refrain from contesting in the upcoming general elections. He insisted that this was the only way forward for the country.

"The PCCA is committed to genuine reforms, not superficial actions that we have witnessed over the past decade. If the government is unwilling to take these proposals seriously, we are not interested in signing another false agreement," Awolich stated in a statement this week.

The civil society group also called for the dissolution of the National Security Service (NSS), advocating for its reconstitution as the National Intelligence Service.

According to PCCA, the current spy agency has become a tool for oppressing South Sudanese citizens, infringing upon their liberties and freedoms.

Furthermore, the group claimed that security agents have encroached upon the responsibilities of the police and military.

They proposed reconsidering the concept of presidential guards, deeming it unfit for democracy and suggesting the incorporation of a new independent agency under the Ministry of Interior to protect important persons.

The statement was issued on June 4, 2024, following the arrival of Kuel Aguer Kuel, former governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and head of PCCA, in Kenya for mediation talks on South Sudan.

Kuel, who was arrested and detained in July 2021 on treason charges after advocating for a popular uprising, was released in December 2022.

He now participates in the Nairobi peace talks as the leader of the civil rights movement.

High-level mediation talks on South Sudan were launched on Thursday, May 9, in Kenya with African presidents calling for an end to a conflict that has crippled the country's economy for years.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir thanked his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, for hosting the talks and said that his government would negotiate in good faith and with an open mind.

The talks are between the government and rebel opposition groups that were not part of a 2018 agreement that ended a five-year civil war that left 400,000 people dead. Ruto reiterated Thursday the need for inclusive and home-grown solutions to African issues.

"We hope that the opposition groups have a similar conviction and desire for peace in South Sudan, which, when fully achieved, will bring everlasting stability and economic development in the region, not just South Sudan," he said.

South Sudan's Information Minister Michael Makuei on Thursday revealed that the Kenya-led mediation team had presented a 75-page document to the parties at the peace talks for responses.

Speaking to reporters at the venue of the talks, Makuei said: "This document will constitute or be transformed into an agreement, and as clearly stated by the chief mediator, we did not come here to do anything other than to negotiate an agreement to operationalise the [revitalised] agreement."