South Sudan President makes debut at the U.N.
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- Category: International
- Published on Saturday, 24 September 2011 04:19
- Written by The New Sudan Vision (NSV), www.newsudanvision.com
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UNITED NATIONS (NSV) – South Sudanese president Salva kiir Mayardit was among a handful of world leaders who addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. In making his debut speech, President Mayardit did not leave the world leaders guessing as to what his country needs or faces. He asked them for support.
“The Republic of South Sudan stands in dire need of all the help it can get,” Mr. Mayardit told the United Nations General Assembly in his first address to the UN since South Sudan won independence from Sudan on July 9.
The president spoke in relative terms, putting in perspective what development partners should expect when they think of South Sudan, saying that it will a while before South Sudan is able to “march out of the abyss of poverty.”
“In most post-conflict situations, nations would normally expect to rebuild. This is not the case for us. Even before the ravages of war could set in, our country never had anything worth rebuilding,’ Mr. Mayardit said.
“Hence we characterize our post-conflict mission as one of construction rather than reconstruction and we therefore hope that the overwhelming outpouring of support and sympathy that greeted our independence … will translate into tangible development assistance, ” he added.
Less than three months since becoming independent, South Sudan still faces issues such as on the border disputes and oil infrastructure.
And on Friday, in front of world leaders, president Kiir made clear that the two countries of South Sudan and Sudan will continue to live in good relations, provided both countries do not interfere in the affairs of each.
But he called on his neighbors in the north to speed up work on border demarcation as a way to begin such a good relationship.
The state of insecuirty in South Kordofan and Blue Nile was not lost on the president and he made reference to the June agreement as one that “could go a long way in promoting the restoration of peace in the areas bordering South Sudan.”
President Kiir was not the only leader to give first speech to UN body on Friday. He was joined by prime ministers of Japan and Sri Lanka.
Friday was also different in that it was the day Palestinians submitted their formal bid for statehood.
Although the Israelis-Palestinian question remains a major controversial issue at both the UN Security Council and the General Assembly , the leader of Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and his team have urged the UN to consider Palestine for full membership, citing the examples of Kossovo and South Sudan, two countries that recently became independent and were granted swift recognition as UN member states.
