Youth groups in South Sudan have called for nationwide demonstrations on May 15 and 23rd in response to the recent announcement that the two sides in the country’s civil war extended their May 12 deadline to form a transitional unity government, contravening a key requirement of the September 2018 “revitalized” peace agreement. The delays in implementing the peace plan and the government’s heavy-handed response to the planned protests risk a new cycle of violence. At the same time, news concerning the disappearance of a human rights advocate and an opposition official, and the government’s new contract to pay U.S. lobbyists nearly $4 million to undermine the very peace agreement it signed, are further evidence of just how far the parties must go to achieve lasting peace. In response to last week’s call by youth leaders for protests on May 15, the South Sudanese military occupied Freedom Square near the National Assembly and Presidential Residence in central Juba.