President Kiir Not Attending AU Summit: Minister South Sudan's President Salva Kiir is not attending the African Union Summit in the Ethiopian, Addis Ababa, the government Spokesperson has said. 30 January 2014
By Francis Apiliga Lagu *Juba-30, January 2014 (Gurtong) -- *The 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union opened on Wednesday and the current crises in South Sudan and Central African Republic are expected to take centre-stages of the discussion on peace and stability in the African continent. South Sudan has been represented to the African Union Assembly by the Vice President James Wani Igga. "The President is not going for the African Union Summit. The Vice President James Wani Igga went for it yesterday," said Michael Makuei, the south Sudanese government spokesperson. Mr. Makuei said the president is not attending in person because "there are more important issues for the president to attend to than the AU conference." Commenting on the state of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed between the government and anti-government forces led by former vice president Riek Machar, Mr. Makuei said SPLA are in total compliance but the rebels are not. "Our forces are abiding by the cessation of hostilities agreement but rebels are attacking our forces especially in Upper Nile and Jonglei states," he said. "Our forces have been standing their grounds, they are defending themselves. IGAD should have set a mechanism for monitoring but they did not. This should have been the body to launch our complaints to. We suggested this to IGAD but unfortunately it did not happen." Mr. Makuei urged citizens who have remained in UN bases to return home and live their normal lives without fears, saying the situation is back to normalcy. "I appeal to them to come and live their normal lives like the rest of the citizens. These people come out, go to banks, market and go cook in the UN compound. I don't know the type of insecurity they are talking about when they are allowed to do these things and go back safely. My advice to them is they should come and go to their homes. They will be safe there," Makuei appealed. Ms. Valerie Amos, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator on Wednesday said many of those seeking protection at the UN bases fear they may be targeted and some have already requested to be evacuated to the areas of origin or outside the country. Makuei however urged the general public to know that "the government is determined to bring peace and stability to the country". "We are trying our level best to ensure peace prevails in South Sudan and those affected by this unfortunate crisis will be served and relief services will reach them wherever they are," he said. Posted in: Home<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/1/Home.aspx> , Foreign Relations<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/5/Foreign-Relations.aspx> , Governance<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/6/Governance.aspx> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14opCVWqxZ2nLb0gktY65BSCZepsn468%3Ds8AKXW6eUdSRnw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
