South Sudan President Salva Kiir left for the Vatican Tuesday to attend a “spiritual retreat”, the presidency announced Tuesday.
President Salva Kiir, his first vice president and other opposition leaders were invited to attend the retreat together at the Vatican on April10.
“The president has traveled this morning to the Vatican for the spiritual retreat organized by the Vatican,” Kiir’s spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said.
“The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the leader of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland will be there to attend the prayers in the Vatican and other church leaders,” he added.
According to Ateny, the divided opposition umbrella could not agree on its nominee to travel to the Vatican to attend the spiritual retreat.
“The SSOA has no designated vice president, so they are not part of those who were invited to travel. The SSOA has not agreed on Changson Chang to be the designated vice president, therefore they could not agree on who should travel to Rome for this retreat,” he said.
“The designated vice president Dr James Wani is her to lead the country while the president is away,” he added.
The presidential spokesman pointed out that the retreat will include moments of prayer to push forward the peace process in South Sudan.
The trip comes less than a month after President Kiir travelled to the Vatican, and he asked the Vatican’s help to raise funds needed to implement the revitalized peace accord.
In September 2018, President Salva Kiir and several opposition groups signed a peace deal to end South Sudan's five-year civil war.
The deal calls for a functional unity government by May.