January 3, 2023 )The heads of state of the regional bloc, IGAD, will be meeting before the end of this month to discuss the status of the 2018 peace and the deteriorating security in South Sudan.
On Monday, Kenya’s President William Ruto noted on his Facebook page that he received a call from Sudan’s leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and discussed the security situation in South Sudan and the larger east African region.
Al Burhan is the current chair of the heads of state and government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the body which mediated the Revitalized Peace Agreement signed in 2018 to end the five years of civil war which began in 2013.
“Received a call from the President of Sudan Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan where we discussed relations between our two countries. In his capacity as the Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government, we further deliberated about the security situation in the Eastern Africa region, and specifically in South Sudan,” stated Ruto in a post he shared on his Facebook page yesterday.
The Kenyan leader visited South Sudan in December last year for the first since becoming president in September 2022. Addressing the media during his visit, Ruto noted that President Salva Kiir acknowledged Kenya’s support for the peace process in South Sudan.
“We committed to hold a special IGAD Summit focusing on South Sudan before the end of this month to assess the status of implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan” and address any emerging issues,” he noted.
“We also appreciate President Salva Kiir’s special message recognising Kenya’s support in seeking solutions to emerging challenges in South Sudan, searching for durable peace and in delivering humanitarian assistance to the affected communities,” he said.