Africa Youth Month: African Union Special Envoy on Youth Pay Solidarity Visit To South Sudan
The African Union Special Envoy on Youth, Ms. Aya Chebbi, during a 3-day solidarity mission to South Sudan to commemorate the Africa Youth Day revealed that “Young people of South Sudan are demanding the dialogue to be intergenerational; we urgently need solidarity between generations to ensure co-leadership in the peace process”.
She added that the goal of the mission was to advocate for the ratification of the African Youth Charter, exploring modalities for the operationalisation of the Youth centre of excellence and innovation alongside the youth framework on silencing the guns campaign. During this visit she engaged youth groups, government officials, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
To ensure youth inclusion at all levels of governance in South Sudan the AU youth Envoy to present the Report on Greater Inclusion of African Youth in Public Service and Governance to the Vice President for Gender sector H.E Mme. Rebecca Nyandeng Garang during the Inter-Ministerial Meeting held on 2nd November where they two delegates discussed discuss various programs under the youth and gender cluster as well as the ratification of the Africa Youth CharterRecalling that the South Sudan national dialogue was initiated by President Salva Kiir in 2017, with the aim of approach to solving conflicts and attaining peace sustainability in South Sudan, the AU special envoy on youth visited Rumbek, where voluntary disarmament has taken place in Lakes State, accompanied by the Minister of Youth Dr. Albino and Minister of Labour Hon. James Hoth Mai and the Governor and state officials.
She also has the opportunity to Rumbek, she visited young entrepreneurs, young peace builders and artists as part of the African Union theme of the year 2020, “Silencing the Guns”Ms. Chebbi was also invited to join the South Sudan National Dialogue conference which was attended by the Vice President for Services sector, General Haseeb Abdul Baqi, and the Vice President for Gender sector H.E Mme. Rebecca Nyandeng Garang, as well as the diplomatic corp where she urged South Sudan leaders to increase youth participation in the Transitional Government of National Unity.
As a representative and advocate for the voices and interests of African youth, during her visit, she took the opportunity to host two round tables discussion at both the Defy Hate Compound and the University of Juba, where youth shared their experiences especially during COVID-19 pandemic, their challenges including concerns in participating in the decision making and peace processes.
She also announced the launch of the Sauti صوتي Blog and Publication, South Sudan chapter, making it the first country to domesticate the Sauti صوتي project. The Sauti blog is a platform to give space to young African women to feature young African women initiatives, support young African women creative and feature their artworks and lastly showcase and reinforce the linguistic diversity of Africa.
