Editorial Team/Staff Writers
South Sudan will hold its first election since independence in 2011 this December, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing the National Elections Commission.
The world’s youngest nation has repeatedly postponed elections due to conflict, which broke out in December 2013, pitting current President Salva Kiir against his rival Mr Riek Machar.
According to the Associated Press, while the National Elections Commission says preparations for the election are underway, the opposition and some observers have cited legal issues and logistical hurdles.
There is also a long-standing political dispute between Mr Kiir and Mr Machar, who was suspended as the country’s first vice president last year after being charged with treason.
Mr Machar’s group, known as Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, or SPLM-IO, said unresolved disagreements with Mr Kiir’s administration make the pursuit of elections a dangerous matter, the Associated Press reported.
“Anyone coming to register voters and campaign in territories controlled by the mighty SPLM-IO, you will be a prisoner of war,” Nathaniel Pierino, acting chairperson of the group, said in a post on Facebook. “Be reminded, the country is at war.”
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Mr Kiir is expected to be a presidential candidate in December’s election, but it is unclear if Mr Machar, who still faces criminal charges, would be allowed to stand.
South Sudanese government troops have been fighting opposition forces since a 2018 peace deal broke down over a year ago.
Fighting has persisted in some remote areas, as Mr Machar remains under house arrest in Juba, the capital, occasionally appearing in a cage to answer charges his group says are politically motivated.
A UN inquiry has found that South Sudan’s leaders are “systematically dismantling” the 2018 peace agreement, signed to end a civil war and return Mr Machar to a unity government with Mr Kiir.
The UN mission in South Sudan has warned of worsening humanitarian conditions and called for a cessation of hostilities. Washington is urging peace talks again.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS OUR READERS OFTEN ASK
South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 after a referendum, but the country’s leaders have governed without the people’s mandate.
According to the BBC, the country had planned to hold the post-referendum general election in 2015.
The 2018 peace deal, which created a unity government with Mr Kiir at its helm and Mr Machar as his deputy, envisioned an election in 2022, but the vote was not held amid tension between the country’s leaders.
Mr Machar was sacked as vice-president and arrested earlier last year and charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity, which he denies.
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