By Stanley Ugagbe
Following its failure to pay its annual contributions amounting to over 9 million U.S. dollars, the African Union (AU) has suspended South Sudan from the continental body.
The Nigerian Canadian News gathered that South Sudan’s mission to Ethiopia wrote to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on informing its government that the East African country was sanctioned after it failed to pay financial contributions for three consecutive years.
In their response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the suspension of South Sudan from the pan African body.
However, Hakim Edward, deputy Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, said the sanctions do not deprive South Sudan of its AU membership but it only suspends the country from participating in AU meetings.
In a statement, Edward said “We would like to confirm to the public that South Sudan is one of the countries that have been sanctioned by the AU due to lack of yearly financial contributions”.
He added that “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to assure the public that it is coordinating with the ministry of finance to resolve the matter not only with the AU but with other regional bodies”.
Local reports have it that South Sudan has a lot of unpaid arrears to regional, international, and global bodies it subscribes to. Also, the country is yet to clear its arrears to the East African Community to which it owes about 24 million dollars.
Recall that South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan on 9 July 2011, joined the African Union on 27 July 2011, becoming the 54th member.
It would be recalled that a year ago, the AU’s Peace and Security Council voted to suspend Sudan from all AU activities until a civilian government has been formed. The decision followed violent military action against pro-democracy activists who helped toppled the government of Omar Al-Bashir.
Records have it that the council made the announcement after a meeting in Addis Ababa of the member states of the pan-continental body. The country’s membership was restored after the ruling military council and opposition groups agreed to share power in a transition to democracy.
