September 15, 2024 (JUBA) – Leading South Sudanese academics and professionals have challenged the legality of extending South Sudan’s transitional period two more years, describing it as an unconstitutional and unilateral action to avert loss of legitimacy and constitutional crisis. South Sudan’s parties to the September 2018 peace agreement extended the current transitional period, citing an opportunity to implement the remaining key provisions in the peace agreement. But academics, including leading members of civil society organizations, argued that the extension undermines mechanisms and institutions established as a result of the 2018 peace agreement. Luka Biong Kuol, the Director of the Institute of Peace, Development, and Security Studies at the University of Juba said the extension of the lifespan of the transitional government of national unity and its decision to postpone the elections initially scheduled for December 2024 lacked basis. “The statement by the Minister of Cabinet Affairs that the R-ARCSS [Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan] has been extended by two years and that elections to be adjourned to December 2026 based on the consensus reached by the Presidency is not supported by the provisions of the R-ARCSS”, he argued. In particular, Kuol …

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