The South Sudanese government’s plan to hold elections in 2018 has prompted concern from the United Nations.
The agency says the plan risks “deepening and extending” an already devastating civil war.
The U.N. secretary-general’s special envoy to the African Union Haile Menkerios said the country’s elections should be held in a stable environment where “people are not displaced by violence and hunger and in which they are able to express their political views free from intimidation.”
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has been dogged by violence since December 2013 following accusations by President Salva Kiir that his then-deputy Riek Machar was plotting a coup against his government.
Machar denied the allegations but then went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.
A UN-backed peace deal signed in 2015 has continuously been violated by the warring factions, prompting warnings from the world agency of a possible eruption of genocide.
President Kiir and Machar in March 2016 reached another agreement, putting up a unity government in which the latter took up the position of first vice president.
This did not however last long as forces allied to both leaders clashed again in Juba in July 2016, forcing Machar to flee the capital.
South Sudan is currently Africa’s biggest refugee crisis, ranking third worldwide after Syria and Afghanistan.
