Südsudan

Young men shot dead 15 people in South Sudan's eastern Pibor region, including a county commissioner, a senior official said on Wednesday, amid a rise in local conflict ahead of a national election due at the end of the year.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has rejected another extension of the transitional period, citing the need for citizens to choose their leaders through a popular constitutional process.

The Security Council today decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan until 30 April 2024, unanimously adopting resolution 2726 (to be issued as document S/RES/2726 (2024)) under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. 

This week, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meets to renew the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for another year. It has been renewed over 13 times since the mission’s inception in 2011, but this time will be vital.The country is at a crossroads.

With only nine months remaining before the polls in December, South Sudan is not ready to hold elections and a lot more needs to be done, the head of UN peace operations said on Tuesday. … “Therefore, if not managed carefully, they [the elections] carry the potential for violence with disastrous consequences for an already fragile country and the wider region,” he said.

The United Nations peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix has reiterated the world body’s commitment to provide support to elections in South Sudan as well as for peace and stability to return to Sudan.

South Sudan can hold credible elections if its leaders overcome some obstacles, the head of the United Nations mission in the country (UNMISS) said on Tuesday Nicholas Haysom urged political leaders to tackle challenges in order to hold free, fair and credible elections.

Kenya this week took over the mediation role in talks between the government of South Sudan and the holdout groups that did not sign the 2018 peace agreement.

In August 2022, South Sudan’s transitional government extended its term to February 2025, with elections planned for December 2024. The extension would allow time for ironing out challenges in implementing the country’s 2018 peace agreement, which had initially scheduled polls for December 2022. Since signing the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan in 2018, every milestone in the accord has been delayed, with dire consequences for South Sudan’s stability and its people.

In August 2022, South Sudan’s transitional government extended its term to February 2025, with elections planned for December 2024. The extension would allow time for ironing out challenges in implementing the country’s 2018 peace agreement, which had initially scheduled polls for December 2022. Since signing the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan in 2018, every milestone in the accord has been delayed, with dire consequences for South Sudan’s stability and its people.