South Sudan MPs extend president’s term until 2018
South Sudan’s lawmakers have overwhelmingly voted to extend incumbent President Salva Kiir’s term in office by three more years.
Thomas Wani Kundu, a senior parliament official, said on Tuesday that the vast majority of deputies voted to extend President Kiir’s mandate from 9 July 2015 to 9 July 2018.
“The tenure of the office of the president is extended by 36 months,” said Kundu, adding that the government’s proposal to extend its mandate and award itself continued legitimacy “was passed overwhelmingly.”
Elections in the bitterly-divided African country had been due to be held before July 9 under a provisional constitution. However, the current move formally ditched any plans for elections this year in the civil war-torn country.
The developments come as Kiir has recently rejected a proposed power-sharing deal with his former deputy and rebel leader, Riek Machar, with the aim of putting an end to 15 months of civil war in the country.
The proposal had been put forward during talks brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an eight-country trade bloc in Africa.
Earlier this month, IGAD brought together delegations of South Sudan’s government and rebels in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to convince the two sides to settle issues, among them power sharing. However, the warring parties missed the bloc’s March 5 deadline to reach a peace agreement.
Meanwhile, senior parliamentary officials in the capital Juba have defended the extension of President Kiir’s mandate, saying it was designed to give the government time to reach a peace deal.
“All these amendments were initiated by the President in order to give peace a chance. These (extra) three years are in order to give us a chance to get prepared... so we can conduct free and fair elections,” Kundu added.
South Sudan plunged into chaos in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to the president and defectors led by Machar around the capital. Violence still persists in parts of the world’s newest nation as the rebels and government blame each other for violating multiple truce agreements.
Thousands of people have been killed since the start of the conflict, while 1.5 million have been displaced and 2.5 million more are reported to be in dire need of food aid in South Sudan, which declared its independence from Sudan in 2011.
JR/MKA/SS
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