FRANCE 24 report: South Sudan's nascent civil society mobilising to ensure fair election
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00:00These women want to say in how South Sudan's first ever elections are held.
00:06The workshop is one of many being organised by the country's nascent civil society, which
00:11has been working hard to ensure the December polls are free and fair.
00:16The commission is taking time, they are complaining there is no funding, but the civil society
00:21has taken steps, not one step, steps forward to create awareness to the citizens.
00:26It is important for such events to multiply, everybody needs to be reached out, we need
00:30to reach every corner of this country.
00:32In 2018, a peace agreement was signed to end the civil war that broke out shortly after
00:36the country became independent in 2011.
00:40That deal included a promise that elections would be held.
00:44Most civil society groups working to make that happen are in Juba, but church leaders
00:48have been mobilising people outside the capital as well.
00:53These priests have been trained on how to ensure electoral peace.
00:57In every homily that we give out on Sundays, we incorporate an aspect on peaceful election.
01:03We are targeting youth with a lot of workshops, so that when a politician comes and wants
01:08to manipulate the youth to pick up a gun because he has lost the election, the youth will say
01:13no, we are not for that.
01:16People in more remote areas can also be reached through radio.
01:21The radio station broadcasts a daily show about the elections.
01:25The aim is to debunk misinformation and counter hate speech, especially between different
01:30ethnic groups.
01:31In media houses like iRadio, for instance, we have connected people from different estates,
01:36from different tribes, and they became now like one group of listeners of iRadio from
01:40different communities.
01:41So this is part of playing a role to unite the people of South Sudan.
01:46The commission in charge of the election is expected to make a decision about the date
01:50of the polls this week.
01:52They have been criticised by the UN for not respecting preparation deadlines.