South Sudan government signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Egypt to enhance military cooperation between the two countries.
The agreement followed a visit of South Sudanese Minister of Defense and Federal Affairs, Chol Thon Balok to Egypt for the Egyptian Defense Expose Summit in 2023.
Speaking during a press conference after Friday’s Council of Ministers’ meeting, Michael Makuei Lueth, the Minister of Information mentioned that South Sudan had expressed concerns about the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council.
He said the military cooperation agreement will soon be put into effect.
“The MoU will be operationalized in the near future, as the Egyptian Minister of Defense will be invited by his South Sudanese counterpart to attend a meeting. Afterward, they will be able to implement the agreement.,”
Makuei further emphasized that South Sudan had greatly benefited from the cooperation, although they had not made any requests or applications for purchasing equipment due to the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council.
Last year, the United Nations Security Council extended the arms embargo against South Sudan.
A civil war in South Sudan erupted in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup. The conflict soon turned into an ethnic war, pitting Kiir’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer tribe, as well as other groups. The war has resulted in the death of an estimated 400,000 people, the displacement of over four million people, and the creation of a humanitarian crisis that has left millions of people facing famine and disease. Several attempts to broker a peace deal have failed, and the warring parties have repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreements and the human rights of the civilian population.