South Sudan said yesterday it was prepared to go ahead with planned elections despite the United States and other foreign countries refusing to support the ballot. South Sudan’s foreign affairs minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, called on the international community to work with South Sudan, describing the decision as disappointing. “It is unfortunate that some countries have decided to withhold providing support for elections, which is an essential component of democracy and one of the international mechanisms to allow the citizens to choose the leaders of their choice to different level of government,” Benjamin said.
The minister said he had received a message from the US government and several other countries informing South Sudan of their decision not to support the elections scheduled to take place between May and June. However, Benjamin said the US had indicated it would continue to provide support to the South Sudanese government in other areas, including education, health, agriculture and humanitarian issues.