South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will convene the African Union’s C5 and representatives of IGAD today to assess South Sudan’s political transition ahead of elections scheduled for Dec. 22.
The meeting is the latest regional effort to address a
political process that has shifted significantly since the C5 Plus summit in
Addis Ababa in February.
At that summit, the five-member C5 and other regional
leaders called for full implementation of the 2018 peace agreement, an
immediate end to hostilities and inclusive dialogue. They also urged the
government to consider releasing political detainees, including then-First Vice
President Riek Machar, and called for elections in December without another
extension of the transitional period.
Those calls came as tensions between President Salva Kiir
and Machar’s camps were deepening.
Machar was detained at his Juba residence in March 2025
after fighting in Nasir, Upper Nile state. He was later suspended from his
position as first vice president and indicted alongside seven other members and
associates of his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO).
The eight are on trial over the March 2025 Nasir violence on
charges including murder, treason, conspiracy and common intention, destruction
of public property and military assets, terrorism financing and crimes against
humanity. They have denied the charges.
Machar is now the former first vice president and remains in
detention as the trial continues.
The political dispute has since moved beyond the courtroom.
In July, C5 ministers travelled to Juba as part of the
committee’s efforts to follow up on the February summit. The AU Peace and
Security Council had also sent a delegation to South Sudan in April, while the
AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa and Red Sea, former Tanzanian
President Jakaya Kikwete, and an AU technical assessment team visited in
August.
The South African presidency says today’s meeting will
review progress from those engagements.
In August, the AU Peace and Security Council again called
for full implementation of the peace agreement and the urgent resumption of
inclusive dialogue, while maintaining that elections should be held in December
without another extension of the transition.
Then, on Sept. 22, Kiir dissolved the transitional
government, including the national legislature and state governments, and
appointed a caretaker administration to run the country through the electoral
period. The move came three months before the scheduled vote.
Two days later, Kiir opened an inter-party dialogue in Juba
focused on election-related issues, bringing together political parties,
members of the caretaker government, former vice presidents, civil society,
religious leaders and international representatives.
Kiir said the dialogue should help build consensus around
peaceful and credible elections and should not be used as a negotiating table
for political parties to bargain over the country’s transition. He described it
as one of four tracks leading to the vote, alongside legal, administrative and
security preparations.
Ramaphosa’s meeting comes less than three months before the
scheduled elections, with the political transition having changed significantly
since the C5 Plus summit in February.
The South African presidency said the meeting will take
stock of developments since February, review implementation of commitments from
the various AU and C5 engagements and identify areas requiring further regional
and continental support.
The C5 comprises South Africa, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria and
Rwanda.
The meeting is scheduled to open at 2:30 p.m. South Sudan time, with the media allowed to cover the opening session before proceedings move behind closed doors. A communiqué is expected at 4 p.m.