South Sudan replaces election commission chief ahead of December vote

NAIROBI, Sept 16 (Reuters) – 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.

• The president, 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.

• “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 UN commissioners, Barney Afako, said in a statement last Thursday.

(Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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