At today’s meeting between the UNMISS chief David Shearer and the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, the former stated that "the UN and UNMISS itself is here to help the people" and the latter, through his representative, confirmed that he will have a separate meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa at the end of the month.

During the meeting at the President’s office in Juba, Mr. Shearer reiterated the Mission’s commitment to supporting efforts to bring peace to the people of South Sudan.

“I stressed to him that the UN and UNMISS itself is here to help the people, and my job will be done when UNMISS can leave”, Mr. Shearer told journalist after his meeting with President Kiir, adding that UN agencies would then stay “to provide technical assistance”.

Ambassador John Andrugu Duku, Director for International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented President Salva Kiir at the media stakeout. Mr. Duku talked about moving forward by changing “our narratives” and focusing on “positive things” rather than “negativities”.

“So the people of South Sudan will open a new chapter with the UN. It does not mean that this new chapter mean stopping what has been going on, but it will mean that we have to change the narratives. There has been a lot of negativity, and we don’t want to focus on those negativities. We need to focus on positive things, on how the UN and the government can work together to save the people of South Sudan”, the Ambassador said.