Juba warms up to Dar ties at Addis

Special Correspondent in Addis Ababa

THE South Sudanese government has appealed to Tanzania to provide training for its labour force in health and agriculture sectors. The youngest country in the world also wants Kiswahili teachers because it plans to start teaching the language in its schools.

The country’s Vice-President, General Taban Deng Gai, made the appeal during a meeting with Tanzania Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan on the sidelines of the 29th ordinary session of the African Union (AU)’s Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Gen. Taban Deng also expressed gratitude for Tanzania’s efforts in restoring peace in that strife-torn country, particularly through the East African Community (EAC), to which South Sudan is the newest member.

He appealed to Tanzania to ‘bear with us’ as it struggles to restore peace. The South Sudanese leader informed Ms Samia that Tanzania was among key development partners, and called for more support to address security challenges and improvement of social amenities.

At the occasion, the Tanzanian VP assured Gen. Taban Deng that Tanzania would be on hand to support that country to maintain peace and security as well as provision of social services for its population.

“However, for the co-operation to be fruitful the foreign affairs ministries of the two countries should draft a joint co-operation framework which will give details on areas of bilateral relations and their implementation given the fact that the young nation faces a number of challenges,” she stated.

She also urged the foreign affairs ministries of these countries to put in place some joint co-operation framework as soon as possible for the benefit of people from the two countries.

However, Ms Samia said she was deeply touched with the rate of maternal deaths in South Sudan and appealed to the Juba government to put in place conducive infrastructure and medical supplies to address the challenge.

On famine, the Tanzanian VP was impressed that the government in Juba was making efforts to obtain food from Tanzania for its population. Ms Samia as well praised the President of South Sudan, Mr Salva Kiir, for his efforts in addressing security and political crisis in that country.

Meanwhile, Ms Samia also met and held talks with the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Anerood Jugnauth, where she used the opportunity to woo investors from Port Louis to Dar es Salaam.

“Tanzania will continue to cement its co-operation with Mauritius and learn from it how Dar could improve its own tourism and sugar production,” she remarked. On his part, the Mauritius PM assured Ms Samia of continued bilateral co-operation for the interests of people from the two countries.