South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir announces the dissolution of the country’s parliament, according to what was established in the 2018 peace accord

Having achieved independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan is one of the last countries to do so in the world. With a population close to 12 million and a territory of more than 600,000 km2, South Sudan is also characterized by its high levels of diversity, with over sixty major ethnic groups who mainly follow traditional religions, although Christianity is the majoritarian one. 

Despite this, independence did not bring peace to the country. Shortly after that, in 2012, the country faced a brief fight with Sudan over the region of Abyei, known for its oil-rich fields which ended in the same year with an agreement to demilitarize the region along their border. Moreover, a civil war erupted in 2013 when president Salva Kiir decided to fire the cabinet and accused Riek Machar, his vice-president, of having planned a failed coup. During the conflict, more than two million people had to flee their homes and thousands faced acute need of humanitarian help. The conflict diminished in 2018, with a peace agreement to suspend the war that started a process of transition and reforms that was settled with a ceasefire in 2020 if powers were shared by the parts involved. Yet, that process still lasts until today.

However, president Salva Kiir announced last Saturday on public broadcast that he was going to dissolve the parliament. The decision came just a day before US special envoy to the African country Donald Booth would visit Juba, the state’s capital.

This means that lawmakers from opposing sides of the country’s civil war will be able to be appointed, as the 2018 peace accord originally specified. Besides this, the 2018 accord stated that the new assembly will be composed of 550 lawmakers, with 332 from Kiir’s governing SPLM party and with parliamentarians not being elected but nominated by different parties.

As result, many activists and civil society groups have welcomed the decision as something that was long overdue but expressed concern about the viability of a reconstituted parliament.

This process might bring hope to a country that was under the UN’s eye due to the increasing levels of violence and the high numbers of people in “famine-like conditions” and nearly 8,5 million in severe need of humanitarian aid.