UN, AU call on S. Sudan to form transitional government

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

The UN Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council called on South Sudanese rival sides to form a transitional government in the country in compliance with their agreement.

The call came during the 13th Annual Joint Consultative Meeting between the Peace and Security Council of the African Union and the United Nations Security Council that opened on Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

In May, the African Union Commission announced a six month extension to the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity, which was already long overdue after the 2018 agreement by South Sudanese parties.

On Sept. 11, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and the opposition agreed that they would form the government on Nov. 12 and the date was immediately endorsed by the international community.

“South Sudanese should respect the November 12 deadline to form the transitional government of national unity,” said South Africa’s Ambassador Jeremiah Kingsley Mamabolo, who currently chairs the United Nations Security Council.

“Situation in South Sudan have significantly improved,” he said.

On Saturday, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his main rival Riek Machar met in the capital Juba.

“South Sudanese are ready for peace,” Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, the UN’s representative at the AU, told the meeting, urging the South Sudanese political leaders “not to disappoint the people”.

South Sudan slid into crisis when Kiir sacked Machar as vice president in Dec. 2013 on suspicion of plotting a coup.

The country plunged into a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands lives and forced four million people to migrate from their homes.