South Sudan delays elections for two more years, extends transitional period

South Sudan’s government has decided to postpone a long-delayed national election until December 2026, the presidency said on Friday, underscoring the challenges facing the country’s fragile peace process.

President Salva Kiir “announced an extension of the country’s transitional period by two years as well as postponing elections, which were initially scheduled for December 2024 to December 22nd, 2026”, according to a statement on the leader’s official Facebook page.

South Sudan has been formally at peace since a 2018 deal ended a five-year conflict responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but violence between rival communities flares frequently.

Until Friday’s announcement, it was planning to choose leaders to succeed the current transitional government, which includes Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, whose respective forces battled each other during the civil war.

While a peace agreement six years ago ended a 2013-2018 civil war between President Salva Kiir and his bitter rival, Vice President Riek Machar, relentless feuding between the two men has repeatedly delayed a transition that was supposed to pave the way to future polls.

International observers have become increasingly exasperated with South Sudan’s political leadership, with Kiir and Machar’s long-running and destructive feud repeatedly stymieing progress on elections.

The country is among the world’s poorest despite large oil reserves, and has suffered from war, natural disasters, hunger, ethnic violence and political infighting since it gained independence in 2011.

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With inputs from agencies.