StateAfricaSSDStable

South Sudan

The dominant signal this cycle is the US explicitly conditioning electoral support on democratic commitments while accusing South Sudan officials of corrupt diversion of assistance.

PF Score

20

1

Authority

30

Reach

13

PF ScoreLast 30 days

Under construction

20Overall1

The dominant signal this cycle is the US explicitly conditioning electoral support on democratic commitments while accusing South Sudan officials of corrupt diversion of assistance.

30Auth2

Kiir controls capital and funding; military and territory remain fragmented.

13Reach1

Aid dependency on US defines external posture; no independent projection exists.

Depth: None
Adversaries & Rivals0

No adversarial relationships

All conflicts

Riek Machar

leader of the SPLM-IO and has served as First Vice-President of South Sudan

Riek Machar is the leader of the SPLM-IO and has served as First Vice-President of South Sudan under successive peace agreements.

The East African·NewsJul 11, 2025

South Sudan's transitional government faces compounding power erosion: Machar's detention has frozen the 2018 peace framework, the US has conditioned electoral aid on democratic benchmarks Juba appears unwilling or unable to meet, and oil revenue collapse from Sudan pipeline damage has gutted fiscal capacity.

WideningMinor Update
ISS Today·Analytical / LongformMar 1, 2025

South Sudan's three concurrent stabilisation initiatives are structurally converging on the same failure mode as all previous post-2013 peace efforts: deferred implementation, incumbent advantage, and unresolved Kiir-Machar rivalry.

WideningMajor Update