S. Sudan diplomats kicked out of AU meeting over membership arrears
African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa (Photo credit: AU website)
June 18, 2020 (SSNN) – South Sudan diplomats have been kicked out of an African Union (AU) meeting over failure by the world’s youngest country to pay membership fees to the continental body for three consecutive years, the South Sudan mission to the AU said.
The South Sudan embassy in Addis Ababa and the country’s mission to the African Union said in a letter addressed to the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation back home that they were embarrassed when they were expelled out of an AU meeting held on Tuesday over the arrears.
In the latter dated Wednesday, June 18, 2020, the mission said the country had been sanctioned at the AU over failure by the war-torn nation to pay an accumulative membership fees of over $9 million which have not been paid by the country for three years.
“The mission would like to inform your esteemed offices that our country, South Sudan, has been sanctioned due to lack of payment of its contribution to the African Union: AU budget and peace fund,” the letter obtained by South Sudan News Now partly reads.
Letter of the South Sudan mission to the African Union to the ministry of Foreign Affairs in Juba (File: Obtained by South Sudan Now)
“Today, we were barred from participating in the AU meeting of yesterday, June 16, 2020. It was [a] dramatic and embarrassing scene when the chairperson of the meeting stopped the proceedings to inform South Sudanese diplomats that their participation was illegal, as Republic of South Sudan has been sanctioned following the consecutive three (3) years of none payment,” it added.
The letter clarified that the amount owed by South Sudan to the African Union is $9,191,234.04.
Facebook Comments