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South Sudan

Monthly Event Reports

January 2024 | Violence escalates in disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan

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.

November 2023 | Progress towards 2024 elections as key democratic institutions reconstituted

On 3 November, President Salva Kiir issued a series of decrees   reconstituting three democratic institutions critical to the implementation of South Sudan’s 2018 peace agreement, including the 2024 elections that are due to end its long-delayed transition to democracy. Since the outbreak of civil war in South Sudan in 2013, the National Elections Commission, the Political Parties Council (tasked with regulating political parties) and the National Constitutional Review Commission (tasked with drafting a permanent constitution) have been largely defunct. While the development has been welcomed by the UN and the peace agreement’s other guarantors, the reconstituted institutions face significant challenges in carrying out their mandates, including a lack of resources, a lack of political will and trust among the parties to the agreement, and an implementation timeframe that many commentators consider to be unfeasible.     

August 2023 | UN warns South Sudan not ready for long-delayed transitional elections
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On 2 August, Nicholas Haysom, the head of the UN mission in South Sudan, warned that the country is not ready to hold transitional elections scheduled for December 2024. Under South Sudan’s 2018 peace agreement, the elections are due to mark the end of its halting transition to democracy, which in August 2022 was extended by two years due to the slow implementation of the agreement. According to Haysom, the country has still not established the necessary infrastructure to hold credible elections, with ‘foundational tasks’, such as drafting a constitution, incomplete. In July 2023, however, its President, Salva Kiir, said the polls would be held next year as planned. South Sudan has not held general elections since it gained its independence in 2011.

August 2022 | South Sudan’s transitional government extended by two years

South Sudan’s unelected transitional government has agreed to extend the transitional period of the peace agreement by an additional 24 months. This means that the elections, which were due to be held upon the expiration of the original agreement in February 2023, will instead be held in December 2024. President Salva Kiir Mayardit justified the extension on the grounds that much of the original agreement remained unimplemented, and that the armed forces need to be unified and a new constitution created before elections can be held. The United States, United Kingdom and Norway, who helped mediate South Sudan’s peace process, criticized the talks that led to the extension agreement for a lack of stakeholder consultation and stated that the “roadmap must demonstrate how another extension would differ from [the two] previous ones.”

Explore past monthly event reports

GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022

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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
11 381 377
System of government
Presidential system
Head of government
President Salva Kiir Mayardit (since 2011)
Head of government party
Sudan People's Liberation Movement
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
In transition
Women in lower or single chamber
32.4%
Women in upper chamber
32.1%
Last legislative election
2010
Head of state
President Salva Kiir Mayardit
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
31/01/2022
Population Tooltip
11 381 377
System of government
Presidential system
Head of government
President Salva Kiir Mayardit (since 2011)
Head of government party
Sudan People's Liberation Movement
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
In transition
Women in lower or single chamber
32.4%
Women in upper chamber
32.1%
Last legislative election
2010
Head of state
President Salva Kiir Mayardit
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
31/01/2022
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
No Action
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
No Action
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
No Action
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
No Action
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
No Action
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
No Action
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
No Action
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
Regional Treaties
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
State Party
in
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Performance by category over the last 6 months

Representation neutral Representation
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Jan
Feb 2024
Representation neutral Rights
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Feb 2024
Representation neutral Rule of law
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Representation neutral Participation
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Feb 2024

Global State of Democracy Indices

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Explore the indices
Representation
Representation
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/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Annual value

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

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