South Sudan parliament extends president’s term until 2021

Juba, (dpa), 13 July 2018 - South Sudan’s parliament voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the term of President Salva Kiir to 2021, a move that could undermine peace efforts in the world’s youngest country.  

Kiir has been president since strife-torn South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, and no elections have been held since.  

The legislation, which also extends the mandates of lawmakers by three years, is intended “to prevent a political vacuum,” Paul Younis Bojur, chairman of the parliament’s information committee, told dpa.  
It is expected that Kiir will sign the legislation into law in the coming days.  

Long-delayed elections had been tentatively set for this year but were called off once again amid the fighting.  

South Sudan descended into civil war in 2013 after Kiir accused rebel leader Riek Machar, then his deputy, of plotting a coup.  

The war has left tens of thousands of people dead, and about 4 million South Sudanese have fled the fighting.