On 20 September, South Sudan’s parliament approved a two-year postponement of the long-awaited elections announced by the transitional government on 13 September, citing delays in implementing key provisions of the 2018 peace agreement and insufficient funds to register voters. The elections, originally scheduled for December 2024, are now expected to be held in 2026. This marks the fourth election postponement in the past decade, with South Sudan yet to hold elections since gaining independence in 2011. The decision has drawn sharp criticism from both national and international actors. A group of South Sudanese lawyers petitioned the court, challenging the legality of the postponement, while the United States, the United Kingdom, and Norway – international guarantors of the peace process – issued a joint statement condemning the delay as a failure of leadership.

Sources: Sudan Tribune, Radio Tamazuj, VOA News, Africa Confidential, AP News, International Peace Institute

Despite international pressure and objections from opposition parties, the controversial law allowing the country’s National Security Service (NSS) to conduct warrantless arrests was enacted by default after President Salva Kiir’s decision not to sign or veto it. On 3 July, South Sudan’s parliament passed the amended National Security Services Act, criticized for granting broad powers to NSS, including arrest and detention without court oversight for ‘crimes against the state’, a vaguely worded provision that critics argue is often used to suppress freedoms of expression, assembly, and association. The bill also grants the government extensive surveillance capabilities, raising fears of further shrinking of civic space.

Sources: International IDEA, Radio Tamazuj, The Associated Press

On 3 July, South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly passed amendments to the National Security Services Act, expanding the powers of the country’s National Security Service (NSS) to arrest and detain people without a warrant. The NSS has been a key instrument of state repression, engaging in surveillance, arbitrary arrests, torture and suppression of dissent. The amendments allow the NSS to arrest individuals for ‘crimes against the state,’ a vaguely worded provision that critics argue is often used to suppress freedoms of expression, assembly, and association, and further place the de facto powers of the NSS on a statutory footing. The law’s adoption disregards recommendations to limit NSS powers to intelligence gathering, as outlined in the Transitional Constitution of 2011. The law now heads to President Salva Kiir, who has 30 days to assent or return it to parliament. Rights groups, opposition members and western countries have urged President Kiir to reject the bill and instead align it with constitutional and international standards.

Sources: Human Rights Watch (1), Human Rights Watch (2), U.S. Embassy in South Sudan, UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Amnesty International, Radio Tamazuj

The level of inter-communal violence in the Abyei region (claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan) has been escalating since late 2023. January 2024 was a particularly deadly month in which more than 50 people were killed, including one UN peacekeeper. The current violence relates to the dispute over the boundaries of the region which has been ongoing since South Sudan declared independence in 2011. The region has oil reserves, and two Dinka ethnic groups (Ngok Dinka of Abyei and Twic Dinka of South Sudan’s Warrap state) are contesting the administrative boundaries and revenue arrangements in the region.

Sources: United Nations News, Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, British Broadcasting Corporation