ID worked with the Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GRSS) from late 2009 until January 2014, helping South Sudan’s leadership to make the case internationally that the self-determination referendum agreed to in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement had to be held on time, and that its result needed to be respected.  ID also supported South Sudan on its engagement with the UN Security Council in the run-up to independence and assisted with negotiations on South Sudan’s UN membership process.  Following South Sudan’s independence in July 2011, ID worked with the Foreign Ministry in Juba as well as South Sudan’s missions and embassies in New York, Brussels, Washington DC and elsewhere to help improve the effectiveness of South Sudan’s diplomacy and ensure a coordinated approach to the country’s engagement with international partners.  ID works only with governments and political actors that are committed to democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights, and that oppose unlawful violence.  ID regularly assesses its beneficiaries’ performance against these ethical criteria.  In the days following the outbreak of violence in South Sudan in December 2013, ID became concerned about serious allegations from a variety of credible sources regarding the carrying out of extrajudicial and targeted killings.  Independent Diplomat therefore decided to suspend its work with the Government of South Sudan in January 2014.

Photo (top of page): ‘The Day South Sudan was Given a Voice’ – Pagan Amum, then Secretary-General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Minister for Peace in the Government of Southern Sudan, addresses the UN Security Council in 2010. This was the first time a representative of South Sudan had ever addressed this important body. ID’s Carne Ross and Andrew Lewis are seated behind Amum. Photo Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe..