South Sudan will hold elections in December, the information minister vowed on Tuesday, after years of repeated delays.

A 2018 peace agreement ended a five-year civil war in South Sudan. However, tensions have escalated in recent months after the arrest of First Vice-President Riek Machar in 2025.

Under the peace process, elections were supposed to be held in 2022 but were delayed to 2024 and again to this year.

"Elections must take place at the end of 2026, with no further extension," Information Minister Ateny Wek Ateny told reporters in the capital Juba.

First national elections

It would be the first national polls since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

Ateny said South Sudan was experiencing "relative peace", except for "some pockets of insecurity" in eastern Jonglei state.

The insecurity has displaced tens of thousands of people.