By Alan Clement
The Presidency has approved proposed amendments to the 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement, acknowledging that existing provisions of the deal have created structural obstacles delaying preparations for national elections.
The decision was reached during an expanded special session of the Presidency chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit on December 17, bringing together senior government leaders and political parties.
According to an official communiqué from the presidency, the meeting unanimously endorsed amendments to what were described as “key provisions” of the peace agreement that have hindered progress toward elections.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Minister of Cabinet Affairs Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro said the approved draft amendments would now follow established institutional procedures.
He explained that the proposals would first be tabled before the Council of Ministers, then submitted to the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), before being presented to the National Legislative Assembly for debate and final approval.
“The adopted changes will now follow institutional processes,” Lomuro said, adding that the intention is to remove legal and procedural bottlenecks that have stalled the country’s electoral roadmap.
South Sudan has yet to conduct a national election since gaining independence in 2011. Under the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), signed in September 2018, elections were initially scheduled for the end of a transitional period.
However, the vote has been postponed multiple times due to incomplete implementation of key benchmarks, including security sector reforms, the unification of armed forces, the drafting of a permanent constitution, and the conduct of a population census.
While the Presidency frames the amendments as necessary to break the deadlock, civil society activists have called for an inclusive process.
Edmund Yakani, a human rights advocate and Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), emphasized that the amendment process should involve all stakeholders and not only the signatory parties to the peace agreement.
“I mean the stakeholders and the parties who are signatory to the R-ARCSS should be all together in a conversation to make that principle function this time,” Yakani told this outlet.
He added that past agreements have failed not because of principle, but because of the lack of collective will to implement them.
Yakani warned that excluding stakeholders undermines the legitimacy of the process.
“The abuse of the word stakeholders by the parties is not the right way. They should facilitate this process,” he said, urging political parties to engage in dialogue where every signatory and relevant actor can participate.
He also highlighted concerns over security arrangements, including the unification of forces and control over community defense units, which remain incomplete and could threaten elections, particularly for the SPLM-IO party whose leader, Riek Machar, is currently under trial.
Dabek Mabior, Deputy Chairperson of the South Sudan Civil Society Alliances, welcomed the decision to amend the peace agreement but cautioned that the changes must uphold democratic principles.
“We stand firm and committed to democratic principle in the country,” Mabior said.
He added that stakeholders should guide the parties in implementing the peace process to ensure citizens can exercise their democratic rights.
RJMEC, the internationally supported oversight body, will play a central role in reviewing the amendments before parliamentary debate.
Activists note that while the legal adjustments are critical, credible elections will also depend on tangible progress in security, civic registration, and transitional justice, benchmarks embedded in the R-ARCSS that remain partially unfulfilled.
If successfully adopted and implemented, the amendments would mark a significant step toward South Sudan’s first-ever national election since independence, but civil society warns that inclusivity, transparency, and security remain vital to avoid repeating past failures.