African Union appoints high representative for South Sudan
June 2, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has on Tuesday appointed former Malian president, Alpha Oumar Konaré, as the AU high representative for South Sudan to coordinate an “African action” in the peace process aimed to stop the ongoing civil war in the young nation.
The newly appointed high representative is charged with responsibility to facilitate and coordinate various regional and international efforts geared towards ending the war.
“In the discharge of his responsibilities, the High Representative will maintain close contact with the South Sudanese parties and other stakeholders; interact with the IGAD leaders, other African stakeholders and the members of the ad hoc High-Level Committee, to facilitate a collective and coordinated African action, in the search for a negotiated solution; and work with the United Nations and other international actors, in support of the African-led efforts,” partly reads the statement.
It also explained this was in furthering the same spirit of the commission in working to operationalize the AU high-level ad hoc committee which was established by the Peace and Security Council (PSC) at its 47th meeting on 5 December 2014 in order to support the mediation of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The statement further revealed that AU summit will take place in mid-June on Johannesburg, South Africa, and that the ad hoc committee will as well meet on the margins of the summit.
“The High-Level ad hoc Committee, which comprises the Heads of State and Government of Algeria, Chad, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa, will meet on the margins of the next AU Summit, scheduled to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, in mid-June 2015,” it said.
The high representative for the war-torn South Sudan has an “outstanding” experience. He was president of the Republic of Mali from 1992 to 2002, chairperson of the AU commission from 2003 to 2007 and chairperson of the AU high-level panel for Egypt between 2013 and 2014.
He was also described in the statement as a leader with long standing commitment to pan Africanism and therefore a major asset in the search for a solution to the conflict that is tearing South Sudan apart.
Recent approaches by IGAD and AU suggest that the continent is backing away from the previous idea of imposing peace on the warring parties to now encouraging them to further negotiate and end the war through a negotiated peaceful settlement.
(ST)