Originally scheduled for July 2015 the elections were postponed for three years due to clashes between the main protagonists: President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon...

However that was nullified when Kiir sacked Angelina Teny the wife of Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon as Defence Minister in March 2023 though she was later appointed Interior Minister in October (AC Vol 64 No 12 Forgotten but not gone)...

This has resulted in international scepticism and refusal to participate by opposition leader and First Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon and other key players...

Teny is the wife of Salva's arch-rival First Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon with whom he was once at war...

There was widespread consternation at their last meeting in 2019 when the Pontiff lay down and kissed his feet along with those of arch-rival Riek Machar at a peace-making retreat in Rome...

This is far from the position that the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) took with Kenya's backing when it designated Riek Machar later Vice-President of South Sudan and his allies in 2013 as 'coup plotters' who should not be recognised as interlocutors...

This is most clearly seen in the size of the administration since the return of opposition leader Riek Machar to Juba in February...

According to the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) a government of national unity bringing in the former rebels of Riek Machar and others was supposed to rule for an interim period to prepare for the first elections since independence...

Equally worrying is the attitude of Riek Machar's chief military commander the UN-sanctioned Simon Gatwech Dual to the delays...

Resentment has been building at the top of the armed forces since Angelina Teny the wife of Salva's arch-rival Riek Machar became defence minister in the new Revitalised Government of National Unity...

   Angelina Niajany Teny the wife of First Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon who was controversially appointed as defence minister recently refused to obey a summons to appear before the National Assembly's Covid-19 committee claiming that parliament was no longer constitutional under the peace agreement (AC Vol 61 No 7 A diversion for the premier)...

The new government is based on a six-strong collegiate presidency with Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon replacing fellow Nuer Taban Deng Gai as first vice-president and Taban becoming one of four (junior) vice-presidents along with existing Vice-President James Wani Igga Rebecca Nyandeng Garang and former South Sudan Opposition Alliance spokesman Hussein Abdelbagi Akol controversially selected by Salva from five competing SSOA candidates...