Kiir snubs US-Africa summit, to be represented by foreign minister

JUBA – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit will not attend the United States-Africa summit which will commence tomorrow in Washington between President Joe Biden and nearly 50 African heads of state, a top diplomat has said.

South Sudan’s deputy foreign minister Deng Dau said the president will not attend the conference and has instead dispatched the minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation Mayiik Ayiik Deng to the United States.

“The minister of foreign affairs has already traveled to Washington. Mayiik Ayii is the one representing the country and President Kiir,” Dau said in an interview with the independent Radio Tamazuj on Monday.

Senior United States officials have said that the summit will focus on coronavirus pandemic, the climate change, effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the African economy and also the expansion of the US-African partnership in all fields.

“We expect some of the outcomes to be deepening and expanding reflection of our long-term US-Africa partnership while we advance our shared priorities to amplify African voices,” says Robert Scott, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs said earlier month.

“The United States prioritizes our relationship with Africa for the sake of our mutual interests and our partnership in dealing with global challenges,” Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs and former US ambassador to South Sudan, told reporters before the summit.

“We are very conscious, again, of the Cold War history, we’re conscious, again, of the deleterious impact of colonialism on Africa, and we studiously seek to avoid repeating some of the mistakes of those earlier eras.”