President Salva Kiir will not be attending the extraordinary summit of the IGAD heads of state and government on Monday in Addis Ababa, the Press Secretary in the Office of the President has said.

On Wednesday, the chairperson of IGAD, Hailemariam Dessalegn called for the emergency summit to discuss the situation in South Sudan.

He said the meeting is expected to discuss the worsening security and humanitarian situation which has sharply increased the number of IDPs and refugees.

Those invited included President Salva Kiir, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, and Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed of Somalia.

However, President Kiir’s Press Secretary, Ateny Wek Ateny says the President will not be in Addis Ababa on Monday for the summit. Ateny says the President will have other commitments inside the country.

“The President will not be attending the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and governments of the IGAD, rather, the President will be sending an envoy to represent him. Today (Thursday), the Minister in the Office of the President, Mayiik Ayii will be traveling to Addis Ababa to deliver a letter written by the President to the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Dessalegn; telling him that he has other very important things that the nation would want him to do before that date,” Ateny said.

Mr. Ateny says the President in the letter to be delivered to IGAD chairperson, Hailemariam Dessalegn, requested for a different date so he can attend the summit in person.

He, however, says President Kiir’s envoy will convey his message at the summit to the rest of the IGAD leaders.

The forthcoming IGAD’s 31st Extraordinary Summit on South Sudan will aim at reiterating the call by the region for the warring parties to renounce violence and find peaceful solutions to their differences through dialogue.