Igihe.com has reliably learnt that the US Congress has just approved Susan Page as the new and the first United States’ ambassador to South Sudan, which became independent last month.
Currently serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs, Page is an experienced hand on American diplomacy in Africa.
She has worked on Sudan and Rwanda with the United Nations and on African issues at non-governmental organizations.
Earlier today, US president Barrack Obama had nominated Page due to her extensive experience in the U.S. foreign services, having worked in Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and Botswana.
South Sudan government headed by Salva Kiir seceded from the North on July 9, and was shortly admitted to the United Nations as its 193rd member.
In a referendum held in January following two decades of conflict, the people of southern part of Sudan overwhelmingly voted for independence, dividing Africa’s largest country into two.
Despite the partition, North and South Sudan have a lot of work remaining to put in place, such as arrangements on security, citizenship, international treaties, economics, a soft border and natural resources.
They include the amount of oil proceeds to the North during a transition period before they lose most of their revenue from the South’s oil, and problems of ownership of the pipeline and other complicated structural issues in how to run the oil sector when countries divide.
The United States has offered to host in September a major development and private investors’ conference for Southern Sudan.
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