International peace guarantors criticise South Sudan election postponement

19/9/2024 16:37

        International guarantors of South Sudan's peace process said the transitional government's postponement of elections due in December was disappointing and showed its failure to implement a 2018 peace plan.
        
        Last Friday, South Sudan President Salva Kiir's announced an extension of the transitional period by two years and postponed elections for a second time following a delay in 2022.
        
        South Sudan has formally been at peace since the 2018 agreement ended a five-year conflict responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but violence between rival communities flares frequently.
        
        Britain, the United States, Norway, the European Union, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands - guarantors of the peace process since South Sudan's independence from Sudan in 2011 - said the extension was a disappointment.
        
        They said elections were the best way to bring peace to the country and South Sudan's leaders must act urgently to create the necessary conditions for them to take place.