JUBA, South Sudan (AP) – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said Wednesday, just weeks after his former rival turned vice president proposed postponing elections due to be held in December. , warned lawmakers not to “cling on to power.”
Kiir said extending the transition period would deprive people of the opportunity to choose their leaders, and called on parliament to pass the necessary laws to pave the way for elections.
Exiled South Sudanese academic charged with arms trafficking and plot to overthrow government
The president was addressing lawmakers as Congress returned from recess Wednesday.
South Sudan was due to hold elections by February 2023, but the date was postponed from August last year to December 2024.
President Salva Kiir of South Sudan arrives at Jubas Presidential Palace, South Sudan, Friday, February 3, 2023. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir warned his leaders on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, “not to cling to power”, just weeks after his former rival’s comments. The lawmaker-turned-deputy proposed postponing the elections scheduled to be held in December. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
National Assembly Speaker Gemma Nunu Kumba said MPs would redouble their efforts to ensure all pre-conditions for the election were met.
Vice President Riku Machar, whose army fought a five-year civil war that ended with a peace deal in 2018, last month proposed extending the interim government’s term to allow it to adequately prepare for elections.
Landlocked Sudan is facing an economic crisis due to a drop in oil exports after war-torn Sudan last month declared force majeure on oil shipments passing through the country. Fighting in Sudan has affected cargo heading to a terminal near Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.
Civil servants and security forces in South Sudan have not been paid for the past six months due to the economic crisis.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
South Sudan is working to create a permanent constitution, an electoral commission and a unified police force made up of pro-government and anti-government forces to provide security for the troubled nation.
Mass violence continues in some parts of South Sudan. The United Nations extended its peacekeeping mission in the country, while calling for an end to the violence and urging the government to make quick progress so that postponed elections can be held peacefully and freely in December.
