South Sudan’s presidency has denied existence of a diplomatic row with Ethiopia following rumours that Juba had accepted an Egyptian request to support Ethiopian rebels during a recent visit of President Salva Kiir to Cairo.

Kiir's visit to Egypt recently sparked reports that he had agreed to support Ethiopian rebels so they could hamper the construction of the dam.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj yesterday, Ateny Wek Ateny, South Sudan’s presidential spokesman, said the report about a diplomatic crisis between the two countries are baseless.

He pointed out that the government of Ethiopia had issued a statement denying any diplomatic row with South Sudan.”The foreign ministry of Ethiopia had issued a statement, and we also issued our statement, so there is no any problem between South Sudan and Ethiopia,” said Ateny.   

Anthony Kon, South Sudan's Ambassador to Egypt, denied reports that South Sudan and Egypt signed security agreements during President Kiir’s visit to Cairo recently.

“There are doubts from people, but the President’s visit to Cairo was normal, there were no meetings except the joint meeting between the minister of education Yien Oroal and the Egyptian side,” said Kon.     

Meanwhile, Mohammed Tawakul, an expert on the affairs in the Horn of Africa, predicted that the diplomatic crisis between Egypt and some IGAD countries could be one of the topics to be discussed at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa on Sunday.

Photo: Ethiopian Prime Minister during his visit to Juba in October 2016(Radio Tamazuj)