South Sudan’s Presidency has agreed to rule out any future extension of the transition period, Africano Mande Gedima, Minister of Presidential Affairs, said on Friday.
The decision was reached on Wednesday during a meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir, and attended by Dr. James Wani Igga, the Vice President for Economic Cluster, Josephine Lagu, Vice President for Service Cluster, Gen. Taban Deng Gai, the Vice President for Infrastructure Cluster, and Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior, the Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, among other senior officials.
SPLM-IO officials loyal to suspended First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar, who is under house arrest and battling charges for the Nasir incident in court, did not attend the meeting and have yet to issue a statement on the decision.
Addressing a press conference in Juba on Friday, Presidential Affairs Minister Mande, who read the communiqué, said the presidency agreed not to extend the transitional period ever again.
“Now, therefore, the expanded meeting of the Presidency agreed as follows: Number one, the expanded meeting of the Presidency emphatically resolves that there shall be no further extension of R-ARCSS transitional period beyond the current agreed timeline,” he said.
Mande added that the meeting of the Presidency unanimously agreed to the amendment of certain provisions of R-ARCSS and the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011, as amended, which are critical to establish the necessary legal framework for the conduct of the general election in December 2026.
“Number three, the expanded meeting of the Presidency agreed to establish a committee to initiate the required amendments of the R-ARCSS and present them to the leaderships of the various signatories to the R-ARCSS to pave the way for the conduct of elections in December 2026,” Mande stated. “And the leadership body of the parties, the ITGON, SPLM-IO, SSOA, SPLM-FDs, and OPP, signatories to the revitalized agreement to address election-related matters, including grievances from the parties through dialogue.”
He said the Presidency directed the immediate completion of the transitional security arrangements as mandated by Chapter 2 of the 2018 peace deal.
“Number five, the expanded meeting of the Presidency resolved that all other pending provisions of the R-ARCSS that cannot be completed prior to the national election shall be formally designated as post-R-ARCSS programs,” the minister added.
He said the Presidency directed the Minister of Finance and Planning to immediately allocate and provide the necessary funds and financial resources required for the prompt operationalization of the elections and all related activities essential for the conduct of the general election in December 2026.
In September 2024, the Presidency agreed that the long-awaited elections in December 2024 would be postponed for a further two years to December 2026, once again extending a transitional period agreed in a 2018 peace agreement.