South Sudan’s president commits to 2026 election at Juba forum
South Sudanese president Salva Kiir Mayardit affirmed his commitment to a general election in December 2026, according to Africa News and agencies on November 28th.
Elections were postponed in September after initially being scheduled for December this year, in line with a two-year extension to the country’s transitional period.
He also pointed to the importance of finishing the Tumaini peace negotiations, stating that talks with hold-out groups don’t seek to replace the existing Revitalized Peace Agreement.
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“Our collective vision, we the signatories to the 2018 peace agreement, is to bridge the gap, to understand the reservations of the hold-out groups, accommodate these reservations within the existing agreement so that the Tumaini Initiative becomes part of the existing agreement”, stated Salva Kiir Mayardit.
“It makes sense to say, any agreement to replace the existing one will defeat the principle of inclusivity and will certainly lead to a cycle of conflict”, he added.
Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan Nicholas Haysom expressed disappointment at the delaying of elections.
He said it was “regrettable but inevitable”, due to a lack of progress on key deliverables in the agreement. Haysom insisted that “what is needed now is a clear, realistic, harmonised work plan for the next two years.”
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The forum comes as South Sudan faces a grave humanitarian crisis, where nine million people requiring humanitarian aid and 880,000 returnees and refugees fleeing the war in northern neighbour Sudan.
Africa News
