Achai Wiir intervenes to help South Sudan regain right to vote at United Nations

EDITORIAL NOTICE: A day after the publication of this article, businesswoman Achai Wiir denied that he had helped the government to pay its UN arrears following its exemption from voting right in New York for not paying its fees. The ministry of foreign affairs has also denied the businesswoman had helped in paying the arrears. We therefore disregard this piece and apologize, but we will keep this story for another 24 hours to help readers access this editorial notice!

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JUBA – South Sudan government regained its right to vote at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Thursday reportedly after Juba-based philanthropist and businesswoman, Achai Wiir, intervened to clear South Sudan arrears following withdrawal of the right to vote at the world body over failure of the world’s youngest country to pay its membership fees.

In January, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to the President of the UN General Assembly that South Sudan – along with nine other states – have not paid their membership arrears for more than two years, effectively scrapping their right to any vote at the important world body.

The amount due was $22,804.

In a statement on Friday, UN General Assembly spokesman, Brenden Varma, said the world’s youngest country has remitted its membership arrears and has since regained its right to vote at the most important organization.

“South Sudan has made the necessary payment to reduce its arrears,” Varma told the press in New York on Friday last week.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning, a ‘well-informed’ foreign ministry official said the money was made available after Achai Wiir voluntarily asked the government to allow her to intervene to clear the amount the country owed to the United Nations, after an appeal from unnamed citizen to get her by government’s side.

“The government was about to clear those cash and it was very hard to send the money. Ms. Achai intervened and cleared the costs through friends in the United States. This was because she said a citizen appealed to him to help the government,” the foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

“It was not because the government has no money, but because she wanted to help and his assistance is legitimate as long as he is a citizen,” the official added.

The UN charter stipulates for suspension of the voting rights when countries fail to pay their membership fees. Beside South Sudan, several other countries also lost their rights in January, including Iran, the Central African Republic and Congo Brazzaville.