The United States on Wednesday said it was “gravely disappointed” with South Sudan’s failure to form a unity government by a Nov. 12 deadline and would “reevaluate” its relationship with the African nation’s government.
“We will work bilaterally and with the international community to take action against all those impeding South Sudan’s peace process,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement, adding that the United States would also seek “to establish a new paradigm to achieve peace and a successful political transition in South Sudan” with others in the region.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a similar statement on Twitter.
South Sudan is trying to emerge from a five-year civil war that killed tens of thousands and at its height displaced more than 4 million people.
Kiir’s government and various rebel groups signed a peace agreement in August 2018 that required the sides to form a unified national army and create a transitional government. But implementation has been stalled, in part by a failure to agree on the country’s internal political boundaries.
President Kiir angered opponents in 2015 when he divided South Sudan into 28 states, up from the previous 10.
The State Department said the U.S. will work “bilaterally and with the international community to take action against all those impeding South Sudan’s peace process.”
