President Salva Kiir Mayardit is in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to attend the 28th extraordinary African Union summit.
The objective of the summit, according to a statement from his office, will focus on African development and youth. The statement says Kiir is expected to have sideline meets with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres on the peace implementation in South Sudan. President Kiir was accompanied by five Ministers and two Presidential Advisors. The President will be in Addis for three days.
While in Addis, he will be briefed by ambassadors and some of his officials of the work did during pre-summit consultative sessions and dialogues, which started before his arrival between African and world delegates. He would then participate at the AU head of state and governments’ summit on 30 January.
Organized under the theme “Harnessing the demographic dividend through investment in the youth, the summit would be an opportunity for Kiir to hold sideline meetings with other leaders during the two-day continental assembly.
The South Sudanese leader is also expected to meet Ethiopian prime minister, who doubles as the IGAD chairperson, Hailemariam Desalegn, to discuss on bilateral and regional matters, notable issues which attract the attentions of their citizens and national security.
It is not clear what the two leaders would discuss. Observers say the two leaders might discuss recent rumours that Kiir had signed a “deal” with Egypt during his recent visit to Cairo to enhance cooperation between the two countries.
The deal remains speculative, though media reports claim Kiir had agreed for “Egypt-backed” Ethiopian rebels to operate in South Sudan soil to launch attacks and thereby sabotage Ethiopia’s massive Nile dam project from being completed. Egypt, according to the Sudan Tribune report, fears Ethiopia’s over $ 4 billion dam project would eventually diminish its historic water rights.