January 5, 2023 (JUBA) – South Sudan and neighbouring Uganda have agreed to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries.

This was reached during a meeting on Saturday between President Salva Kiir and Uganda’s Vice President Jessica Alupo in the capital, Juba.

South Sudan’s Minister of Presidential Affairs, Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the two leaders discussed how the existing bilateral ties can be expanded.

For her part, Alupo applauded President Kiir for hosting the ecumenical peace pilgrimage and inviting his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni.

The Vice President, who represented Museveni, said Uganda will continue supporting the implementation of the peace agreement in South Sudan.

On Friday last week, Pope Francis called on South Sudanese political leaders to end the bloodshed in the country and embrace peace.

The Pope made the call following a closed-door meeting with Kiir in the capital, Juba.

“No more bloodshed, no more conflict, no more violence and mutual recriminations about who is responsible for it, no more leaving your people athirst for peace,” he remarked on Friday.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby called on political and church leaders to be generous and preach God’s words to the people they lead.

“We need leaders who care about the values by which our country lives and who care about the conditions in which people live and to act unto their faith in work among the most vulnerable and marginalized,” he said.

South Sudan broke away from neighbouring Sudan in 2011, but plunged into civil war in 2013 with ethnic groups turning on each other. Despite a 2018 peace deal between the two main antagonists, spells of inter-ethnic fighting have continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians.