South Sudan says it will hold first-ever election in December after repeated delays

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Authorities in South Sudan on Monday set the date of Dec. 22 for the country’s first general election since independence in 2011.

Elections have been repeatedly postponed amid recurring armed conflict. There is also a long-standing political dispute between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar, who was suspended as the country’s first vice president last year after he faced treason charges.

While the National Elections Commission says preparations for the election are underway, the opposition and some observers note legal issues and logistical hurdles.

Machar’s group, known as Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, or SPLM-IO, said unresolved disagreements with Kiir’s administration make the pursuit of elections a dangerous matter.

“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.”

While Kiir is expected to be a presidential candidate in December’s election, it remains unclear if 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. While fighting persists in some remote areas, Machar is under house arrest in Juba, the capital, occasionally appearing in a cage to answer charges his group says are politically motivated.

A U.N. inquiry has found that South Sudan’s leaders are “systematically dismantling” the 2018 peace agreement, signed to end a civil war and return Machar to a unity government with Kiir.

The U.N. mission in South Sudan has warned of worsening humanitarian conditions and called for a cessation of hostilities. Washington is urging peace talks again.