South Sudan hailed for peace initiatives

EAST African Community (EAC) Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko has commended the South Sudan government for peace initiatives taking place.

Mr Mfumukeko said South Sudan was taking right steps to restore peace as the cornerstone of growth and stability and the continuing implementation of its commitments to Treaty accession.

The praise was showered on President Salva Kiir’s government in Juba during a two-day sensitisation workshop and training to members of the private sector and civil societies on opportunities and benefits of EAC integration agenda.

A communiqué released by the Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department at the EAC Secretariat, Mr Owora Othieno, said Mr Mfumukeko, who was represented by Principal Gender and Community Development Officer Generose Minani noted that the private sector and civil society operations could only be meaningfully anchored on predictable stability and policy consistency at social, economic and political levels.

He appreciated cooperation programmes EAC was implementing with support from GIZ in South Sudan in line with the roadmap to fast track the new partner state’s integration into the EAC.

He noted that the implementation of projects and programmes focusing on building the capacity of PSOs and CSOs to enable their effective regional engagement were prioritised in the forgoing roadmap.

The secretary-general called on stakeholders to take advantage of the information shared during the workshop to build their capacity and skills to be able to effectively engage and benefit from the opportunities available in the region and build lasting partnership with their counterparts in the wider EAC.

The training and sensitisation workshop was jointly organised by the South Sudan’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs, the EAC Secretariat and the GIZEAC Programme within a framework of the approved EAC Consultative Dialogue Framework (CDF).

The workshop, whose objective was to share information, impart skills and capacitate stakeholders in the two sectors to benefit from regional integration of RSS into the EAC, concluded with recommendations on a need for focused workshops for related clusters of civil society and private sector associations in South Sudan, availability of simplified documentations on the projects and programmes of the community and their implementation frameworks in the country.

Others were to seek opportunities for attachments in EAC for South Sudan focal persons in apex associations, mobilisation of resources to train trainers to sustain the training momentum in South Sudan for CSOs and PSOs and learning visits in the region for benchmarking.

Participants also agreed that financial and technical support be offered to the ministry responsible for EAC affairs to implement the CDF framework and create a dialogue framework in RSS for PSOs and CSOs.