Theme: COVID-19

On 9 July 2021, South Sudan commemorated its 1o-year anniversary as an independent, sovereign state. The celebrations across the country were quiet. The exuberant scenes of 2011 gave way to pensive stocktaking as South Sudan emerges from a vicious cycle of civil war and a weakened economy brought to the brink by the COVID-19 pandemic. What has remained however is the resilience of the people of South Sudan, and their ability to look toward a future of peace, stability, and development. Their hope rests on the permanent ceasefire which has continued to hold since 2017, and the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), signed in 2018 following the breakdown of the previous peace agreement.

One cannot stabilize the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) without building a trustworthy and effective local and national political leadership, desecuritizing the national political narrative, and depoliticizing national security operations.

IGAD upgraded its presence in various IGAD Member States namely; Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda to full time presence instead of ad hoc engagements or small liaison offices, while Djibouti remains the seat of the Secretariat and the Executive Secretary. The IGAD presence in the Republic of South Sudan started with a liaison office at the sub-national regional government of southern Sudan in 2005 to follow up on the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), and upgraded to a small Juba Liaison Office after South Sudan’s independence on 9 July 2011.

The 9th of July 2021 marks the first decade of independence of the Republic of South Sudan and the challenges of nation-state building. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) paved the way for separation of Southern Sudan from the Sudan in 2011 through a referendum for self-determination. Though the parties pledged to make unity of the Sudan attractive, the people did not believe.