Nairobi, April 14 -- South Sudan is launching a voter registration programme in what observers term the surest sign Juba plans to go ahead with elections, even as stakeholders pull apart on the country's democratic transition.

The chairperson of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Abednego Akok Kacuol, told a news conference in Juba the electoral body has deployed registration officers in all the 10 states in readiness for the exercise.

But there are protests to the plan with arguments of insufficient environment for the country to organise free and fair elections, which require money and security.

Pagan Amum, the leader of the Real-SPLM, one of the parties to the peace deal of 2018, argued the circumstances in South Sudan make it...