Juba, South Sudan
May 10, 2022 — South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, received Felix Antoine Tshisekedi, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Juba on Sunday to discuss bilateral ties between the two countries.
The two leaders held a meeting on a wide range of bilateral and multilateral issues concerning the Republic of South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the Presidential Press Unit, President Salva Kiir Mayardit congratulated President Tshisekedi and the Congolese people for their Country’s recent admission to the East African Community.
“.. The President expressed that Congo’s joining of the East African Community provides an avenue for enhancing mutual cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, infrastructure development and movement of people across the borders of the two Countries”,the statement reads.
Since trade and movement of people cannot take place in an environment of rampant insecurity, the two leaders briefly touched on the issue of security and agreed that they both need to work jointly to restore stability along the border areas
“.. On the international arena, both leaders discussed their collective concerns pertaining to the expected rise in the prices of essential commodities due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. President Kiir and President Tshisekede agreed on the need for a unified African position on the current conflict in Ukraine, which calls for a negotiated settlement to the conflict”,The Presidential Press statement added.
On his part, President Felix Tshisekedi invited South Sudan to join the rest of the East African Countries in the fight against the negative forces that are obstructing strengthened cooperation, peace and security within the region.
“.. President Felix Tshisekedi said, African Union Policies don’t allow and encourage sanctions to its member states, and pledged to engage the International Community to have sanctions lifted on South Sudan since they do not benefit the implementation of the Revitalised Peace Agreement, but instead delay the implementation process of the Peace Agreement”,statement further elaborated.
According to the statement, President Felix Tshisekedi said, they discussed approaches to strengthen the security between South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo especially at the borders, and they agreed to put peace and security in the two Countries as a top priority in order to bring development to the two nations.
President Felix stressed that they also talked about the construction of a road connecting South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo in order to enhance food security in the two Countries for the welfare of the people of the two nations.
Democratic Republic of Congo was fully admitted last month to East Africa Community marking the 7th member state in East Africa Community after Republic of South Sudan.
