Egypt vows to continue supporting war-torn S. Sudan

The Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has assured his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir of his country’s support in efforts to ensure peace in the young nation.

Kiir, the spokesperson for Egypt’s presidency said, called El-Sisi to express his country’s keenness on continued cooperation in various fields, in light of the special relationship between the two nations.

The South Sudan leader, according to Bassam Rady, also updated his Eqyptian counterpart on the political and security developments in his country, lauding Egypt’s role in boosting South Sudan’s stability.

El-Sisi, AhramOnline reported, said the North African country would support all efforts to overcome the conflict in South Sudan so as to consolidate security and stability.

He further said that Egypt will also continue to assist development efforts in South Sudan, pointing to Cairo’s strong relations with Juba.

In November last year, rival factions of South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement signed a unification agreement to rebuild trust and confidence among them.

The deal, dubbed the “Declaration of Unification”, was signed in Cairo under the auspices of President Al-Sisi and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni.
In January 2015, delegates from three factions of the SPLM party signed a 12-page agreement in Arusha, Tanzania, laying out key steps toward reunifying the party.

Those who signed include the party loyal to President Salva Kiir, the SPLM-in-Opposition and which is led by former vice president Riek Machar, and a third made up of party officials who were detained when the conflict began in December 2013.

The SPLM, South Sudan’s ruling party, was initially founded as the political wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The party, in the aftermath of the civil war that broke out in the country in mid-December 2013, split into the SPLM-Juba faction headed by Kiir, SPLM-IO led by Machar and that of the ex-political detainees.