South Sudan seeks better working relations with U.S.

January 21, 2017 (JUBA) - South Sudan President, Salva Kiir is optimistic of better a working relation with the new U.S. administration led by Donald Trump, an aide said.

Tor Deng Mawien, the presidential advisor on decentralization and intergovernmental linkage said Kiir sent a congratulatory message to his U.S. counterpart.

“As the government and as the president himself, he [Kiir] looks forward for to improve better working relations with the new US administration,” the presidential aide said Saturday.

According to the South Sudanese official, Kiir has “a very clear vision and stance" on how he intends to approach issues of mutual interest with the new U.S administration.

President Kiir, his aide stressed, pledged to unite the country through the national dialogue he launched late last year to heal wounds and bring change in Africa’s newest nation.

"The position of the government has been from the very beginning that we will not punish, even those who do not agree with the government. We want them to come to the table and talk instead of using guns. Violence is the best way to address grievances”, further said Mawien.

One of the countries that recognized South Sudan’s independence on 9 July, 2011, the U.S. played a key role in helping create the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that laid the groundwork for the 2011 referendum on self-determination, through which the people of South Sudan overwhelmingly voted for independence.

Until now, several disputes between the two Sudans remain unresolved post-independence, including demarcation of the border, status and rights of the citizens of each country in the other, and the status of Abyei region.

Currently, the U.S. government remains the leading international donor to South Sudan, and provides significant humanitarian assistance to the hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese citizens displaced or otherwise affected since the start of the country’s crisis in December 2013.

(ST)