President Salva Kiir returned to Juba after participating in the 38th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, where Djibouti’s Foreign Minister was elected Chairman of the AU Commission.

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf defeated Raila Odinga, a former prime minister of Kenya, and Richard Randriamandrato, an ex-foreign minister of Madagascar, in a vote at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

The AU has 55 member states. Presidents or heads of government pick the commission’s leader, who is effectively the chief executive of the Addis Ababa-based secretariat running the AU

Upon the arrival of President Salva Kit, the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Amb. Chol Mawut Ajongo, said” the summit addressed the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, with a call for the new chairperson to prioritize resolving these issues.”

While in Addis Ababa, President Kiir reportedly “held several sideline meetings with his counterparts from Tanzania, South Africa and others to discuss strengthening bilateral relations between South Sudan and the respective nations.”