AU dispatches Panel of Wise to South Sudan to help tackle ongoing instability

The African Union (AU) Commission is dispatching a high-level delegation of the AU Panel of the Wise to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, to deal with ongoing instability in the country.

The panel will engage with all stakeholders to enhance mediation efforts and support the full implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), the AU said in a statement issued Monday.

The AU calls on all parties to uphold all the provisions of the R-ARCSS, the statement said, adding that the pan-African bloc remains actively engaged with regional and international partners, including the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the East African Community (EAC) and the United Nations, to support South Sudan's transition to durable peace and democracy.

It said that after cordial direct talks with President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf addressed the evolving political situation in South Sudan and the recent violence in Nasir County in the country's Upper Nile State.

Dozens of people were killed, and several senior officials, including First Vice President Riek Machar, have been detained since clashes erupted in January between the South Sudan People's Defense Forces and opposition fighters.

South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, signed a peace deal in 2018 that ended a civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar. Nearly 400,000 people died in the civil war.

Relations between Kiir and Machar, who have dominated South Sudan's politics for decades, remain strained.

The clashes and latest political tensions between the two leaders have unsettled many citizens and the international community.