S. Sudan Fm Due İn Egypt To Prepare For Kiir Visit

South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin will travel to Cairo on Wednesday to discuss regional issues with Egyptian officials and prepare for an upcoming visit to the North African country by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.



"[Egyptian] President [Abdel-Fattah] al-Sisi has invited President Kiir to visit Egypt," Marial told reporters at Juba International Airport on Tuesday upon his arrival from New York.



"The president accepted the request and that is why I will be travelling to Egypt tomorrow at the invitation of the foreign affairs minister of Egypt in order to see the arrangements for the visit," he said.



Last week, Kiir met al-Sisi on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.



"After the minister comes back from Cairo, it will then be decided when the president will go," South Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mawein Makol Arik told Anadolu Agency.



"But the minister will also be discussing with the Egyptian minister of foreign affairs other issues of regional concern and the peace talks [between South Sudan's warring camps]," he said.



"The minister will also hold meetings with other [Egyptian] ministers and government officials," Arik added.



He expected discussions to touch on the Nile River and water-sharing issues.



"Surely that is one of the issues which will be tabled," Arik said without elaborating.



Egypt and South Sudan are two of 11 African countries that share the waters of the Nile River.



By Okech Francis



englishnews@aa.com.tr



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