South Sudan applies for IPU membership

The newly independent South Sudan has applied to join the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and pleaded with the world body to exert pressure on the Khartoum regime, if the continent is to avoid any possible return to war between the two nations. James Wani Igga, the speaker of South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly (NLA), reportedly told delegates at the 126th IPU Assembly meeting in Kampala, Uganda that his country is set to abide all the conditions governing the IPU membership. “My delegation has come with full mandate and determination to join this renowned world body. [Hence] We are tabling our application to the IPU secretariat at once and without delay,” Igga is quoted in Uganda’s New Vision. North and South Sudan fought over two decades of a bloody civil war before it culminated into the 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA); a document that gave provisions for a self-determination referendum for southerners six years later. In July last year, South Sudan became a fully-fledged country after its population overwhelmingly voted for separation in a referendum globally recognized in line with internationally agreed principles. The NLA speaker also cited delays in demarcation of the North-South Sudan borders, the dispute over the oil-producing Abyei region and the current tension around the oil fields as some of main challenges currently facing the world’s newest nation. He further reiterated South Sudan’s commitment to abide by conventions of the United Nations, African Union and other regional bodies, provided the country is given membership status. He said his country is committed to multiparty democracy, affirmative action and decentralization and modes of governance. Established in 1898, the IPU is the international organization of Parliaments, considered the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy.