July 12th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan Parliament has controversially extended, to three years, the term on the incumbent President Salva Kiir Mayardiit years which is in contradiction of the ongoing peace efforts by the regional body, the IGAD to end the country’s civil war.
The term extension for Kiir’s government by the parliament and itself defies warnings by world powers, including South Sudan’s longtime ally, the United States which said last week it will not support the government should it extend its term.
Speaking to journalists after the extension, the chairperson of the parliamentary information committee ,Paul Yoane Bonju, said the parliament has extended the terms of the president and the parliament itself.
He said they first deliberated on the parliament’s own term before coming to that of the President.
Kiir’s term, according to the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan 2011, is supposed to end in mid 2015 but civil war, which followed the killings of Nuer civilians in Juba broke out in the world’s youngest nation.