South Sudanese President Salva Kiir returned home yesterday from the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa, an annual summit in Ethiopia which was attended also by his counterparts from around the region.

The forum is an annual two-day event for African leaders from government, business and civil society. It is organized by the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University.

The event was held in the resort city Bahir Dar outside the Ethiopian capital. Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin disclosed to the press yesterday at Juba Airport upon return from the forum that during the summit Kiir met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

He also mentioned that the theme of the retreat this year was “the impact of illicit financial flows, especially on peace and security, on human security and especially also on natural resources and governances, and how the illicit finances when they flow affect all these things.”

“The topic was basically how to resolve this issue of illicit financial flows that will impact on the security in our content, impact on peace, impact on our resources, impact on governance,” explained Barnaba.

He described the two-day meeting as ‘successful.’

The forum was chaired by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who happens also to be the head of the African Union inquiry panel on South Sudan. 

Photo 1: Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn (center) with Rwandan President Paul Kagame (left) during the forum (Tana Forum/Facebook)

Photos 2, 3, 4: President Salva Kiir returning to Juba on Sunday, 27 April 2014

Photo 5: Vice President James Wani Igga (in blue suit) chatting with the new SPLA Chief of Staff Paul Malong whilst awaiting the arrival of the president.