It is my distinct honour to address the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session today on behalf of His Excellency Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan. I wish to congratulate the President, His Excellency Mr. Csaba Korosi of Hungary, on being chosen to lead the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly. The Government of South Sudan welcomes his motto,
“Solutions through solidarity, sustainability and science”. We stand in support of sustainable policies and positive social transformations.
We commend the Secretary-General for convening the Transforming Education Summit, which successfully concluded this week. I am pleased to report that South Sudan is committed to transforming its education system by increasing its budgetary allocation for education to 17.5 per cent of the national budget. This investment in education will enable us to build more schools and improve teachers’ pay and thereby put the country on track to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2030.
The Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, signed on 12 September 2018 between the Government and opposition groups, ended the internal conflict in South Sudan. The parties are committed to the implementation of the Peace Agreement, which has improved security in the country. Thanks to the relative peace, internally displaced persons and refugees have been voluntarily returning home, although more formal reintegration remains a challenge, owing to limited resources. Nevertheless, the Government is doing whatever it can to resettle the internally displaced and refugees.
On the same note, I am pleased to inform the General Assembly that the command structure of the national unified forces has been established. This is a major leap towards transformation and regularization of the forces. Since the unification of the command structure in April 2022, there has been a de-escalation in clashes between the South Sudan Peoples’ Defence Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition. In addition, the first batch of 53,000 national unified force personnel successfully graduated on 30 August 2022. I am equally pleased to inform the Assembly that the parties to the Peace Agreement have agreed on a road map to complete the remaining tasks in the Agreement, which will pave the way for peaceful, fair and credible elections at the end of the transitional period in 2025.
Through thoughtful and targeted actions, South Sudan has been able to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The health effects of the pandemic in South Sudan have been surprisingly less pronounced than expected, marked by very low morbidity and fatality rates. As of 9 May 2022, only 17,513 confirmed COVID-19 cases, which includes 138 deaths, were reported since the start of the pandemic. The current vaccination campaign continues to be effective, with the coverage of 45 per cent of the entire population over the age of 18.
Despite this positive health news, the pandemic has had negative effects on the economy, starting with dramatic declines in domestic production and revenue collection, followed by a rising cost of living. These economic consequences are far-reaching, severely weakening, for example, human-capital formation, especially in education, as the lockdown deprived school-age children of learning opportunities.
In April 2016, South Sudan ratified the Paris Climate Agreement, which seeks to solidify a global response to the threat of climate change by keeping global warming to well below 2°C. South Sudan has strategized to build on nature-based solutions and green infrastructure and to foster socioeconomic recovery pathways centred on climate change and natural disasters. It recently became evident to us that climate change is real, with the impacts of climate change and global warming now manifesting in various part of South Sudan. For example, 70 to 80 per cent of South Sudan has been affected by floods for the last three years in a row.
In its analysis of food insecurity between the periods of February to March 2022, the Government of South Sudan estimated that 6.83 million people — 55.3 per cent of the population — are facing acute food insecurity. Some 2.37 million people are in a state of emergency. The severe food insecurity is worsened by the combination of added shocks, including flooding, prolonged drought, physical insecurity and the effects of COVID-19.
South Sudan is surrounded by countries afflicted by conflict. As part of its obligation to promote peace and stability in the region and beyond, South Sudan successfully played a mediating role in the armed conflict in the Sudan, which resulted into the signing of Juba Peace Agreement in 2020. South Sudan stands ready to mediate in the current conflict between the Sudanese Army and the Forces of Freedom and Change in the Sudan so that the country can finally enjoy lasting peace. Recently, South Sudan also offered to mediate to resolve the tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia over their disagreement on the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. We further demonstrated willingness to mediate in the internal conflict in Ethiopia between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front. Furthermore, the Republic of South Sudan made itself available to play a mediating role on the border issue between the
Republic of the Sudan and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
By participating in efforts to bring about regional peace and stability, South Sudan has demonstrated its reliability as a partner in the quest for regional and international peace and security. Furthermore, the Republic of South Sudan is contributing a battalion of peacekeeping forces to the Eastern Africa Standby Force seeking to bring peace to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The current war between Russia and Ukraine is very unfortunate and devastating to the lives and livelihood of the citizens of both countries and beyond. The war has led to a severe humanitarian crisis where millions are in dire need. This war has not only affected the two warring parties, but it has had far-reaching effects on the global economy. From the moral point of view, the Government of South Sudan calls on Russia and Ukraine to cease all forms of hostilities and resolve the dispute through diplomatic and constructive dialogue so as to avert further consequences.
The Government of South Sudan appreciates the critical humanitarian and technical support made by States Members of the United Nations, and it looks forward to that support continuing. To mitigate the effects of flooding on the population and their livelihoods, South Sudan is donating $10 million to the World Food Programme to alleviate the suffering of the affected displaced communities. However, we need the support of the international community to reach all the flood- and drought-affected areas and communities. The President of the Republic of South Sudan will convene a conference of all the humanitarian organizations in South Sudan to coordinate humanitarian activities. The Government of South Sudan is committed to providing security and protection to relief workers. Together, we can save our planet by playing our roles and by supporting each other to mitigate the effects of climate change and come up with alternative methods and solutions based on available protocols.
Finally, the implementation process of the Revitalized Peace Agreement is facing numerous challenges, and sanctions imposed by international partners on individuals and entities are a disservice to the process. As we make progress in the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, we call upon the international community — and the United Nations in particular — to revise the individual and targeted sanctions and the arms embargo imposed on my country, in order to enable the successful completion of the remaining provisions of the Peace Agreement outlined in the new road map.