Five heads of state confirmed for South Sudan’s 2nd independence anniversary
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July 3, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan announced on Wednesday that at least
five heads of state will attend the nation’s second independence
anniversary on 9 July, following the country’s secession from Sudan in
2011.
JPEG - 33.2 kb
A youth holds the flag of South Sudan as he waits for the start of
independence celebrations in Juba, South Sudan, Saturday, July 9,
2011. (file photo/AP)
Abdon Agau, the secretary general of the government told a news
briefing on Wednesday that five presidents - Uganda’s Yoweri Kaguta
Museveni, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, Rwanda’s Paul Kigame, Somalia’s
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Botswana’s Ian Khama - would attend the
celebrations in Juba.
Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, whose country has
hosted post-separation negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan will
also attend the event.
The official also added that the Juba government hopes that Sudan will
be represented at the event despite Khartoum not responding to the
invitation sent by organising committee.
Sudan was the first country to recognise South Sudan’s independence
and president Omer Al Bashir attended the celebrations on 9 July 2011.
However, since the relations between Khartoum and Juba have plummeted
over a host of unresolved issues, including oil, security, border
demarcation and disputed areas such as Abyei.
Bashir was invited but did not attend the event last year. He did
visit this April after the signing of Implementation Matrix for the 27
September 2012 cooperation agreements between the two countries. but
last month he threatened to block the export of Southern crude through
the north, accusing Juba of backing rebels north of the border.
Agau, who is heading the organising committee said preparations were
underway to get the venue ready for the celebrations.
South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly in favour of secession in a
referendum held in January 2011, and the world’s newest nation, after
its independence in July of the same year, quickly became the 193rd
member of the United Nations and 54th member of the African Union.
The joy of independence has been tempered over the last years by
internal conflicts, corruption, tensions with Sudan and increasing
attacks on the press.
Last month a think tank placed South Sudan fourth on its annual list
of failed states, a ranking that has been disputed by the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) - the former rebels who have
governed in Juba since 2005.
Reacting to the report a leading SPLM member said that it was "unfair"
to compare the two-year-old nation "with countries which have had
their independence thirty or fifty years ago”.
(ST)
ST - Juba "unhappy" with 4th place inclusion in failed states index
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