South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has replaced the Head of the Election Commission, only about three months before the first national election since independence in 2011.
Kiir, in an announcement read out by the state-owned broadcaster on Tuesday, said commission Secretary General Gabriel Bol Deng will replace Abednego Akok Kacuol. He gave no reason for the change.
South Sudan has been at peace since a 2018 agreement ended a five-year conflict during which thousands of people were killed. Still, inter-communal violence is frequent.
Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for December 22.
Last week, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said safeguards and conditions for peaceful and credible elections were missing.
“South Sudanese do have a right to vote; that right must be protected by ensuring they can participate freely, compete fairly, and resolve any electoral disputes through credible adjudication,” one of the United Nations commissioners, Barney Afako, said in a statement last Thursday.
–Reuters–
