SA’s Deputy President Mashatile meets AU’s Panel of the Wise on South Sudan peace efforts

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His Excellency Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile, in his capacity as a Special Envoy to South Sudan, met with two members of the African Union (AU) Panel of the Wise, for them to brief him on their regional diplomacy efforts to build consensus and support for the Government of the Republic of South Sudan in the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
The AU Panel of the Wise is one of the critical pillars of the Peace and Security Architecture of the AU and its work complements the efforts of the C5 and the Tumaini Initiative in their efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict in South Sudan. In particular, the Panel of the Wise will apprise Deputy President Mashatile of South Sudan’s state of readiness to hold elections, which according to the R-ARCSS roadmap are supposed to be held this year.
The current Panel of the Wise is comprised of the following members serving three-year terms from each of the AU’s five regions: H.E. Domitien Ndayizeye, former President of Burundi and Chairperson of the Panel of the Wise, H.E. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former Deputy President of South Africa, H.E. Amre Moussa, former Foreign Minister of Egypt and former Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Hon. Lady Justice Effie Owuor of the Republic of Kenya, and Professor Babacar Kante of the Republic of Senegal.
The two members of the Panel of the Wise are former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and former Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Hon. Lady Justice Effie Owuor of the Republic of Kenya. They are accompanied by Dr Akok Madut, Head of Mediation and Dialogue Division of the Department of Political Affairs, AU Peace and Security; Ms. Netsanet Tekeda Alemu, Coordinator of the Panel of the Wise Secretariat, and Ambassador Luigi Pepani, Advisor to former Deputy President Mlambo-Ngcuka.