South Sudan president calls for further delay in unity government formation

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has called for one-year-long delay in formation of a transitional government instead of the six months extension agreed by the parties to the September 2018 peace deal in Ethiopia last week.

Kiir said the six months is not enough to implement the impending issues such as security arrangements that have stalled the fragile peace.

“If we cannot do them in the last eight months, what will make this to succeed this time around in six months,” the South Sudanese leader said on Wednesday while launching a new civil registry program in Juba.

Kiir cited logistical challenges during the rainy season as one of the reasons to further delay the unity government.

“There will be rain and you cannot move with a car to any location. But if it is one year the remaining six months will get us in the new year and things can be done during that period and then we can form the government by April or May next year,” Kiir said.

Signatories to the 2018 peace agreement on May 3 agreed to extend formation of the transitional government by six months following delays in the implementation of the pact.

South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.

The UN estimates that about four million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally.

A peace deal signed in August 2015 collapsed following renewed violence in the capital Juba in July 2016.

Under the 2018 peace deal, opposition leader Riek Machar will once again be reinstated as Kiir’s deputy. Enditem