A top UN official visiting Juba proposed on Wednesday that women’s groups should participate in the South Sudanese political talks hosted in Addis Ababa.

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka said after meeting President Salva Kiir that she urged the inclusion of women in the peace process.

“I came here to engage both with government and with women on the full participation of women and inclusion in the political talks that are continuing in Addis Ababa,” she said.

Ngcuka was speaking at a press conference at the end of a two-day visit to Juba. “At the beginning of the talks we reached out through IGAD to the government as well as the opposition forces to urge the inclusion of women in line with our Security Council Resolution 1325,” she said.

She proposed that women should “participate fully in times of conflict in peacemaking, in the negotiations and the discussions, in the implementation of the outcomes of the peace process, in monitoring and evaluation and in all other related modalities.”

Explaining the discussions she held with various officials, including a brief meeting with the president as well as the cabinet minister, finance minister, and other ministers, she said, “The thrust was really about the support for women, the call for peace.”

According to the website of UN Women, the organization is “dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.” The UN agency was created in 2010.

Photo: Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo (UN)

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