Africa
South Sudan To Hold First Elections In 2024 – Salva Kiir
Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, announced that the nation’s long-delayed elections will take place as scheduled in 2019.
The first time since the nation earned independence, President Kiir declared he would seek re-election.
Although no other candidates have officially declared, it is likely that First Vice-President Riek Machar will run as well.
Since the country’s 2011 emergence from a protracted civil conflict, Kiir has served as president.
However, violence persisted even after independence, and in 2013 when the president and Machar had a falling out, a civil war broke out.
In an effort to put an end to the five-year civil war, the warring parties signed a power-sharing agreement in August 2018.
The mandate of the transitional government, which was due to end in 2022, was extended to allow the leaders to address challenges with the implementation of the peace agreement.
On Tuesday, Kiir said those challenges would be addressed “before the elections” set for December next year.
