South Sudan: Kiir opens inter-party dialogue boycotted by the opposition three months before the polls

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir opened an inter-party dialogue in Juba on September 24, 2026, presented as the final political step before the general elections on December 22, 2026. According to Radio Tamazuj, the main opposition movements did not show up, immediately depriving the exercise of those it was specifically intended to bring together.

Before the delegates, the head of state set narrow limits for the discussion. According to Eye Radio, a South Sudanese media outlet, he requested that the exchanges focus solely on electoral issues and remain within the existing legal framework, warning that the dialogue was not, in his words, "a place for negotiations." He described four parallel workstreams: the legal framework, which he says is complete, administrative logistics, security, and political consultation.

Power concentrated before the vote

The context weighs heavily on these statements. Africanews reports that the transitional unity government was dissolved on September 22, 2026, ending the tenure of Vice President Riek Machar, Kiir's historic rival and a co-signatory of the 2018 peace agreement. Factions close to Machar reject the government's electoral approach. Radio Tamazuj also notes that the concentration of presidential powers resulting from this dissolution is raising questions.

December 22, 2026, is set to mark the first national vote for the continent's youngest state since its independence in 2011, following a civil war and a transition stretched over several years. This is the stake: an entire generation of South Sudanese has never cast a ballot in a national election.

Three months, and many questions

The criticisms relayed by Africanews focus less on the principle of the vote than on its feasibility within three months. Three obstacles keep recurring: the state of security in several regions, the narrow political space left to opponents, and the absence of a permanent constitution to govern the outcome. Without these guarantees, a vote held on schedule risks being contested before it is even organized.

African mediation remains present. Kiir thanked the African Union Peace and Security Council, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, former President Jakaya Kikwete, and Sudanese leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, according to Eye Radio. The Community of Sant'Egidio was among the participants.

For Juba, the credibility of December 22 will therefore depend as much on logistics as on the government's ability to bring the opposition back to the table. An election organized without them would settle the calendar, but not the peace.