Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Barnaba Marial

The government says it is not lobbying for South Sudan to join the League of Arab states.

Last week, the Minister of Foreign Affairs attended a summit of the Arab League nations in Kuwait.

Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the country is seeking stronger bilateral cooperation from Middle East countries.

He told Eye Radio’s Dawn Program that South Sudan has no intention of joining the Arab economic bloc.

“I don’t know where the people got this thing,” said Mr Marial, “there are no such implications from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or from the government or whatever to join the League of Arab states.”

“What I know is that the Republic of South Sudan is part of the international community and we have relations with the Arabs countries.”

Summit of the Arab League nations in Kuwait

“What happened is that the League of Arabs states invited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to go and brief them about the recent failed coup attempt in the Republic of South Sudan,” he said.

“So, I went there in order to explain the government’s position and what we are doing about this rebellion led by the former Vice President.”

Dr. Marial said the government has established embassies in Saudi Arabia, United Arabs Emirates and Kuwait to improve trade and other bilateral relations with the Arab world.