The Norwegian government has announced that it is ready to support development projects under a power-sharing government of President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, pointing to hopes of a return to peace in the country.
Per the terms of the IGAD-brokered peace agreement signed in August, Kiir will remain president for at least another three years while Machar will take the position of first vice president. This ‘transitional’ government has yet to be formed, however, and the peace agreement defines the current period as the pre-transitional period.
Norwegian Ambassador in South Sudan Tone Tinnes on Wednesday explained the position of her country regarding the recent South Sudanese peace agreement and the proposed transitional government.
“Norway through Troika has been supporting this country for a long, long time and we are also supporting the peace process and we will continue to work with the transitional government in implementing the peace agreement,” she said.
Tinnes added: “And we hope that this peace means that the country and the transitional government can focus its efforts and resources on improving the quality of lives for the people of South Sudan and not on the senseless conflict. We will continue to support not just those efforts for peace but also South Sudan’s development as the world’s newest nation.”
Tinnes was speaking on the occasion of a Norwegian donation of $7.7 million to FAO South Sudan. The FAO Deputy Representative in South Sudan Abdoul Karim Bah said the money would allow FAO to provide emergency livelihood kits to families in remote areas. The support will target 80,000 vulnerable households with crop seeds, fishing tools and farming tools, he said.
Since the indepedence of South Sudan in 2011, Norway has provided millions of pounds of funding to the government and to non-governmental organizations working in the country.