South Sudan is set to extend its transitional government for a third time, the result of missed targets in election preparations and a realistic assessment that elections are riskier now than later.

Senior government officials gathered in Juba this week to ponder the problem, even as the UN Security Council was told of painful delays in implementing parts of the peace deal that would have made it easier to hold elections.

It is now almost a foregone conclusion that the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU), which is due to expire on September 22, will be extended and that the planned December 22 elections are no longer viable.

At a meeting of the presidency attended by President Salva Kiir and his five vice-presidents, including his former opponent Riek Machar, the parties to the 2018 peace agreement expressed doubts about the proposed election date.