South Sudan president in SA to follow up on oil exploration agreement

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (R) waves as he attends a session at the National Parliament in Juba, on May 14, 2019. - South Sudan is in its sixth year of civil war. Last week, the formation of a power-sharing government was delayed from May 12 for six months, after implementation of a peace deal ran aground. (Photo by AKUOT CHOL / AFP)

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has arrived in Johannesburg for a state visit, and to follow up on a recent agreement signed between the two countries regarding oil exploration in South Sudan, according to a statement issued by the South Sudan presidency.

It is unclear whether discussions between the two sides will also include talks on South Sudan’s ongoing peace process, which has suffered setbacks over the last several years.

South Africa has played an active role in the world’s newest country, which ceded from the north in 2011.

The leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO), Dr Riek Machar, spent several years in exile in Pretoria before returning home after signing the revitalised peace agreement in Addis Ababa last year.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki travelled to South Sudan’s capital Juba in 2018 in his capacity as the African Union’s mediator on Sudan and South Sudan.

In his meeting with Kiir, the two men discussed the speedy implementation of the South Sudan peace deal, which has been monitored by regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), aimed at ending five years of a bloody conflict between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar.

– African News Agency (ANA)

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