Peace monitors pressure Juba to enact new constitution

South Sudan peace monitors have urged the Juba administration to promptly embark on making a permanent Constitution to guide the elections at the end of the transitional period in 2018.

The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission chairman, Mr Festus Mogae, Wednesday expressed fears that the transitional government was not making progress on constitution making, as stipulated in the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan.

The agreement was signed between the warring factions in 2015.

According to the agreement, the Transitional National Legislative Assembly was to, within the first six months of the interim period, enact a legislation to govern the constitutional making.

However, Mr Mogae said the failure to start the process on time could signify a future challenge to democracy in the country.

He said the new constitution was a mandatory requirement for organising the elections in 2018.

READ: Juba takes first steps to new constitution

The former Botswana president further advised the Juba regime to expedite the process to avoid creating a legal vacuum during the polls period.

He said the biggest challenges was the lack of political goodwill from the warring factions to fully implement the shaky peace deal.

The South Sudan political climate remains restive as pockets of violence continue to occur in several parts.

The young nation seceded from Sudan in 2011, but descended into a war two years later.

The UN says the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country remains fragile, with at least six million people in need of food aid.