There is a need for South Sudan to hold an election as enshrined in the 2018 peace agreement. And in such an event, the youngest African nation will certainly realise its economic and political potential and foster accountability on leaders.

These were the sentiments of outgoing United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) David Shearer as he held an interview with AP on April 15.

Mr Shearer had a detailed interview reflecting on the achievements on his four-year stint mediating peace in South Sudan. He once again called on the leadership to consider transitioning to a democracy to bring in accountability and stability.

“That needs to be the rallying cry as we go forward – to bring everybody on board and to put pressure on the government to actually speak up and hold those elections,” he said, as quoted by the New Zealand press.

“That doesn’t mean to say winner needs to take all, because that can create all sorts of problems. But we do have to allow people to have their say in what comes next.”

Last week Shearer addressed the South Sudanese media fraternity for the last time at the UNMISS headquarters in Juba, as he remembered his time spent in the country.

To him, mediating peace in South Sudan looked impossible when pro-Dr Riek Machar and pro-President Salva Kiir groups clashed before the 2018 peace deal.

But having travelled that path, the diplomat is of the opinion that the country has achieved a lot to scale down violence in pursuit of stability.

‘Iif you had asked me 18 months ago whether I would have seen Dr Riek Machar coming into Juba and taking up the role of First Vice President, I would have said that’s probably unlikely. But South Sudan is a place that is full of surprises, and sometimes those surprises are very pleasant ones, and today we have a situation where the country is more stable than it was before,’’ he said, as he remembered the mission that was ahead of him upon jetting in the country.

However, Shearer issued a word of caution that pending clauses of the agreement must be implemented before the vote. Such include addressing security issues like unification and graduation of forces.

He said, ‘‘The biggest and most courageous decisions need to be around the unification of the forces. You have to bring the forces together into one South Sudan military…make them feel like they are functioning under one unified command, under one general, one president.’’

He told AP that with stability, South Sudan will rank alongside other countries as the most preferred tourist destinations.