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.

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