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South Sudan hails relations with Ethiopia, Kenya

Xinhua, November 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Sudan said on Monday that its East African neighbors Kenya and Ethiopia are critical peace guarantors of its signed peace agreement to end more than two years of conflict.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mawien Makol Arik told Xinhua in Juba that following the visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Oct. 28 and Kenya's significant role in peace building efforts and supporting capacity building in the civil service are critical in building strong relations between these countries.

This came in the aftermath of both Ethiopia and Kenya threatening expulsion of senior South Sudanese rebel officials allied to ousted First Vice President Riek Machar from their capitals of Addis Ababa and Nairobi respectively.

Kenya recently followed up on its threat by deporting to Juba last week Machar's spokesman James Gatdet Dak in a twist of events that have left the Sudan People's Liberation Army-in opposition (SPLA-IO) officials crying foul.

Dak was deported to Juba on the pretext of his Facebook post, welcoming the controversial sacking by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of Kenyan General Johnson Mogoa Kimani Ondieki, who was the head of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) peacekeepers prior to his sacking.

"The decision (sacking) that took place was of the United Nations and not South Sudan. We are still to work with Kenya because we cannot do without them," Arik added.

Kenya in the aftermath of the sacking of General Ondieki threatened to withdraw its 1,300 peacekeepers and also withdraw entirely from the peace agreement signed in 2015 it helped broker under the regional body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to end more than two years of fighting between Machar's SPLA-IO and troops loyal to President Salva Kiir.

"They (Kenya) have to be engaged and involved in the peace process," Arik said.

Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan have played a central role in peace building in the oil-rich impoverished country torn apart by conflict since its outbreak in December 2013. Endit