PRETORIA, May 27 (NNN-SANEWS) — Deputy President Paul Mashatile said South Africa will continue to support peace missions in South Sudan.
Responding to oral questions in Parliament about his role as the President’s envoy on South Sudan, he explained that the mandate of the Special Envoy to South Sudan differs from that of South Africa’s Ambassador.
“The latter deals with normal bilateral relations between the two countries. The Special Envoy on the other hand is tasked with assisting in the search for durable peace in South Sudan.”
The immediate task of the Special Envoy, Mashatile said, is to help the parties to the Transitional Government of National Unity in South Sudan with the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
The power-sharing agreement was signed between the warring parties in August 2018 in a bid to end the five-year civil war.
“The work of the Special Envoy contributes to the effort to silence the guns.”
According to the Deputy President, it also seeks to complement Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) in the search for peace in South Sudan, the region and the wider African continent.
In the coming weeks and months, he announced that he will engage with various parties to the conflict. These include South Sudan’s neighbours, members of the AU High-Level Ad Hoc Committee for South Sudan, also known as the C5, which South Africa chairs and other relevant players.
“The attainment of peace in South Sudan will help to stabilise an already strained Horn of Africa region, with its various levels of social and political conflicts within and between countries.
“Peace must also lead to the development effort, which should, in turn, contribute to the material upliftment of the people. It should also help to address a plethora of social and political problems, including stemming the phenomenon of migration.”
Deputy President Mashatile described South Sudan as one of the world’s most fertile pieces of real estate with abundant water, which goes to waste yearly.
“Apart from oil, the country’s precious rare earths and other minerals have similarly hardly been exploited. South Sudan has all it takes to become one of the economic hubs in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. But only if we can bring peace.” — NNN-SANEWS
