South Sudan has joined the rest of the African countries in celebrating Africa Day for the first time.

The theme of the day is “Year of Women Empowerment and development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”.

It is celebrated annually on May 25 to mark the founding of the Organization of African Unity in 1963, now called African Union.

“What they need is a level platform in order to elaborate who they are as women. So the year of women’s empowerment is also a year of women validation,” said Mashood Issaka, Senior Political Officer with African Union.

However, South Sudan celebrated the day under the theme, “Peace can happen in 2015”

Bufoj William is one of the organizers from the ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The program is political but we will focus on peace because of the problems in the country,” Ms Bufoj said.

“So we said we will just focus on the solution for the problems and the problem itself.”

The event was attended by representative from African Union, Women Association and government officials.