From May 17 to 23, 2018, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs Xu Jinghu led a delegation to attend at invitation the follow-up meeting of the second phase of the High Level Revitalization Forum on South Sudan Peace Agreement held by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.

Xu Jinghu delivered a speech on behalf of the Chinese side at the opening ceremony of the meeting and expounded China’s principled stance on the issue of South Sudan. Xu Jinghu emphasized that when advance the peace process in South Sudan, we should focus on the key points and follow the principle of starting from the easier issues to the more difficult ones and adopting an incremental approach so as to implement relevant agreements and consensus which had already been reached at the forum. The top priority at the moment is to effectively cease fire and stop violence and to improve the humanitarian situation. Special Representative Xu Jinghu reiterated that the Chinese side supports the IGAD in continuously serving as the main channel for mediation on the issue of South Sudan, and called on all the mediators in international community to strengthen coordination and cooperation with IGAD and increase humanitarian aid to South Sudan. The statement of the Chinese side received positive comments from all participants of the meeting.

During the meeting, Special Representative Xu Jinghu made extensive contacts with representatives of all the warring parties in South Sudan and representatives of all relevant parties in the region and international community, exchanging in-depth views on the current situation and the peace process in South Sudan.

Since December, 2017, the IGAD has presided over three sessions of High Level Revitalization Forum on South Sudan Peace Agreement in Addis Ababa and mediated for resolving conflicts in South Sudan, which has made some progress. On the sidelines of the meeting, all the warring parties in the South Sudan signed a statement, in which they promised to immediately implement the agreement on ceasefire and stopping violence signed last December, agreed to continue consultations on government governance, reached consensus on the basic principles for troop station of all parties and signed the restructured document on the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangement Monitoring Mechanism under the IGAD framework.