Kiir names street after Pope Francis ahead of first-ever visit from Vatican

JUBA, JANUARY 28^th 2023 (SUDANS POST) – President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his first deputy Dr. Riek Machar Teny on Saturday evening inaugurated a new street in the nation’s capital Juba and named it after visiting Pope Francis.

The street – which is now H.H Pope Francis Road – begins at the Kololo Junction right to the Vatican embassy in Juba.

It also passes along the embassy of the European Union and that of the United States.

Kiir and Machar who had signed a peace agreement in September 2018 made an inspection visit within the capital to purposely open the new wrote ahead of the visit next week by Pope Francis to the country.

“President Salva Kiir Mayardit, joined by first vice president Riek Machar Teny and vice president for services cluster Hussain Abdel Bagi Akol, and other senior government officials, oversaw the preparation for the Ecumenical Peace pilgrimage by Holy Father Pope Francis,” the presidency statement said.

Speaking minutes ahead of the inauguration of the street, the president said the road has been named His Holiness H.H Pope Francis Road and noted that “the road was named after the Holy Father as a gift by South Sudanese to Pope Francis.”

Kiir’s security advisor Tut Gatluak who is the head of the implementation committee of the slow peace process called on the people of South Sudan to “open their hearts and receive the blessings of peace and reconciliation that comes with the papal visit.”