South Sudan's President urges focus on 2026 elections at Juba Forum

President Salva Kiir Mayardit affirmed his commitment to a general election in December 2026 during the Governor's Forum.

Elections where initially scheduled for December of this year, but they were postponed in September - in line with the two-year extension of the country's transition period.

In his address, South Sudan's President also pointed to the importance of concluding the Tumaini peace negotiations, underlining that talks with hold-out groups don't seek to replace the existing Revitalized Peace Agreement.

"Our collective vision, we the signatories to the 2018 peace agreement, is to bridge the gap, to understand the reservations of the hold-out groups, accommodate these reservations within the existing agreement so that the Tumaini Initiative becomes part of the existing agreement", stated Salva Kiir Mayardit.

'It makes sense to say, any agreement to replace the existing one will defeat the principle of inclusivity and will certainly lead to a cycle of conflict'', he added.

Nicholas Haysom - the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan - expressed disappointment at the move to delay South Sudan's elections.

He labelled the decision “regrettable but inevitable”, due to a lack of progress on key deliverables in the agreement. Haysom insisted that “what is needed now is a clear, realistic, harmonised work plan for the next two years."

The Governor's Forum comes as South Sudan faces a grave humanitarian crisis, where nine million people requiring humanitarian aid. The influx of 880,000 returnees and refugees fleeing violence in neighbouring Sudan is also placing pressure on the country.