![South Sudan President Salva Kiir speaks to the press at the State House in Juba, during South Sudan's independence anniversary, on July 9,2019. [Photo via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/gettyimages-1154697213-2048x2048-1.jpg?resize=1431%2C725&ssl=1)
Kiir and his first deputy Dr. Riek Machar Teny were opening a newly paved road in the capital Juba when a senior government official announced government return to the Rome peace talks with holdout opposition groups.
Speaking following the inauguration of the road, presidential affairs minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the president has lifted the restriction on the Rome peace process and declared Friday as a public holiday for citizens to attend prayers at Dr. John Garang de Mabior Mausoleum.
“His Excellency President Salva Kiir Mayardit has lifted the restriction on Rome peace talk with holdout group of Thomas Cirilo, Pagan Amum and Paul Malong,” he said.
“President Salva Kiir Mayardit also declared Friday as a public holiday for the citizens to attend the prayers at Dr. John Garang Mausoleum,” he added.
Along with the Bishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Pope Francis is expected to visit South Sudan from 3rd to 5th February 2023.
The visit – which is expected to boost forgiveness among the bitter South Sudanese leaders – is the first of its kind in South Sudan since becoming an independent country from neighboring Sudan in 2011 following decades of deadly conflict.
The world was touched in 2019 when Pope Francis vowed to kiss the feet of the two leaders.
In his owner, the two men named a street in Juba as “H.H. Pope Francis Road” saying they decided to name the road after the Holy Father to serve “as a gift by the South Sudanese to Pope Francis.”
Cogratulations