MADRID 9 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations envoy and head of the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Nicholas Haysom, has alerted the Security Council that the stability of the African country is going through an extremely delicate moment due to the political paralysis that has led to an “as inevitable as it is regrettable” electoral delay with the consequent and “deep frustration” of the South Sudanese people.
The transition period in South Sudan has ended up being extended to February 2027 and the elections initially scheduled for the end of this year have been delayed until December 2026. Inter-communal violence, the war in neighboring Sudan and the inability to carry out a Once and for all, the Revitalized Peace Agreement that ended the war that broke out in 2013 between the forces of the president, Salva Kiir, and the now vice president, Riek Machar, has caused the country’s political advance has been “relegated to the background”.
Haysom recalled that this extension is the fourth that has been declared since the end of the armed conflict in 2018 and warned the authorities that the United Nations will not welcome a new extension. “The clock has started ticking and it will not be restarted in February next year, when the new extension begins. Otherwise, we could find ourselves in the same situation in December 2026,” the envoy stated.
“This cannot be a normal situation for the parties to the peace agreement, the political elite, the guarantors of the peace agreement or the international community. We must collectively seize this opportunity to make this extension the last and achieve peace and democracy that the people of South Sudan deserve,” he added.
The head of UNMISS has finally warned of an uptick in communal violence in several states of the country as the rainy season has ended and warned of an “alarming number of civilian victims in the states of Upper Nile, Central Equatoria and Warrap. “.
“UNMISS continues to implement its mandate to protect civilians, but we cannot be everywhere at once, and static physical protection is not a permanent solution in these circumstances either,” said Haysom, who called on both Kiir and Machar to “unify and deploy their own forces” in the affected states “because it is the only way to sustainably prevent civilian deaths.”
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