Kiir not attending AU heads of state summit, to delegate foreign minister instead

JUBA – President Salva Kiir Mayardit is not attending this year’s African Union heads of state and government summit which is taking place in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa from February 5^th to February 6^th 2022, a senior government official has said.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Friday, Deng Dau, the deputy minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, said South Sudan’s foreign minister Mayiik Ayii Deng will lead the South Sudan delegation for the important AU meeting instead.

The senior South Sudan government official said the foreign minister will – along other African leaders – try to find solutions to the many African problems at the 35^th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly of the heads of state and government.

“The minister will be travelling to Addis Ababa soon to attend the AU meeting,” Deng told Sudans Post.

The session of African ministers of Foreign Affairs kicked off on Wednesday at the headquarters of African Union in Addis Ababa, covering physically for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.

Deng said South Sudan took part in the 40^th ordinary session of the session of African Union Executive Council.

“We have attended the meeting what they called permanent representative committee meeting in Addis Ababa on Thursday,” Deng said.

A two-day ministerial meeting precedes the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and discusses a host of issues including the financing of the continental body and the scale of assessment and contribution for member states, African candidatures within the international system and the implementation of agenda 2063.

The summit will be held under the theme, “Building Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent: Strengthening Agriculture, Accelerate the Human Capital, Social and Economic Development.”

The meeting came amid coups in African countries, especially in the West African region. In the past 18 months, four coups have taken place in West Africa. The latest being an attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday this week.