JUBA – Senegalese President Macky Sall who is also the Chairperson of the African Union has arrived, in an unannounced visit, to South Sudan’s capital Juba and is expected to hold talks with President Salva Kiir Mayardit on bilateral relations, officials said.
“The President of Senegal who is also the Chairperson of the African Union H.E Mack Sall has arrived in Juba for one-day state visit and he will meet President Salve Kiir Mayardit to discuss bilateral ties,” one gov’t official said on condition of anonymity.
The official further said other issues that will be high on the table is the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement that has seen setbacks over what the international community including the United States calls lack of political will to implement the deal.
MACHAR INVITED TO RECEPTION
When contacted by Sudans Post, the Press Secretary in the Office of the First Vice President, Puok Both Baluang, confirmed the arrival of the Senegalese president and said FVP Dr. Riek Machar Teny was at the airport for during the arrival of the Senegalese head of state.
Other sources however told Sudans Post separately that the high-level meeting was being dominated by the roadmap that was submitted to President Kiir on Friday which aims at setting timeframe for implementation of the pending tasks and pave ways for elections.
Several signatories to the agreement have however said they have not taken part in the writing of the roadmap and voiced their concerns over the unilateral actions on the peace agreement by the SPLM party with SPLM-IO, the main rival to Kiir’s party, saying it would have to scrutinize the roadmap and make an official statement.
YAKANI WELCOMES VISIT
For his part, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, welcomed the visit by the Senegalese president and said the African Union can play a big role in persuading the parties to fully implement the agreement.
“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Senegalese President to the Republic of South Sudan who is also the incumbent chair of the African Union,” Yakani told Sudans Post.
“We are aware that African Union has a big role to play in helping the South Sudanese parties in transforming the current situation where we are in to a political stable situation through the implementation of the R-ARCISS,” he added.
Yakani further urged the Senegalese president to meet the South Sudanese leaders in order for them to develop an inclusive roadmap for the implementation of the remaining tasks of the 2018 agreement which he said will pave way for credible elections.
“Let me take this opportunity by asking the president of Senegal who is also the chair of the African Union that he should meet our political leaders. Our political leaders right now are in a critical moment where they need to develop a roadmap to implement the pending tasks of the R-ARCISS,” he said.
“We have seen already conflicting messages coming from our parties around the development of the roadmap. So we hope the chairperson of AU who is the president of Senegal can play a big role to build consensus among our parties to develop a roadmap that is genuine and realistic, and can be implemented especially [on] the pending tasks around the transitional security arrangements and the question around transitional justice and at the same time a roadmap where they can commit themselves to deliver tasks that will lead the country credible and peaceful elections,” he added.