Outgoing United States Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs visited Juba but failed to meet President Salva Kiir or any government representative.
Before travelling to Ethiopia, Linda Thomas-Greenfield was in Juba on Wednesday for a one-day visit, to discuss issues of mutual concern including humanitarian assistance with the international organisations working in the country.
Thomas-Greenfield, who, in the wake of the swearing in of Donald Trump as the 45th US President today, was probably carrying out her last assignment as a US government official, concluded her visit to South Sudan by meeting only the US embassy staff and a selected number of editors from South Sudanese newspapers and radio stations.
“I am disappointed that I cannot meet the President or other member of his government,” Thomas-Greenfield reportedly told the journalists.
The American diplomat, said her one day trip was meant to emphasise Washington’s position on deployment regarding the UN Security Council authorized Regional Protection Force and continued support to the full implementation of the shaky peace agreement.
She also said the national dialogue announced by President Salva Kiir last month should be inclusive.
“It has to be one in which people feel confidence in the process,” she told editors from the US funded Eye Radio, UN’s Radio Miraya and independent The Juba Monitor newspaper in a brief encounter in Juba on Wednesday.
“So it is not just the process that is being controlled by the government but is an open process that everyone who is participating makes some contribution to how it will be organized,” she said.
The National Dialogue announced by President Kiir will be headed by former political and religious leaders.
President Kiir appointed the steering committee of more than 50 members without consulting his rivals from the armed SPLM In Opposition or any other political parties, attracting criticism of attempting ‘to negotiate with himself’.
