By David Lumu
President Yoweri Museveni has left for South Sudan to attend the 3rd independence anniversary celebrations of a country that has spent most of its childhood time embroiled in political-related conflicts.
Sarah Kagingo, the Presidential assistant in charge of communication confirmed that: “President Museveni has left for Juba to attend the 3rd Independence Anniversary celebrations of South Sudan.”
The presence of Museveni at the celebrations is vital given the fact that he has played a pivotal role in ensuring that peace prevails in the volatile state, especially when he dispatched the UPDF to secure Juba and other areas.
Museveni has been credited for saving the world’s newest country from sliding into a genocide-riddled state.
However, some regional political observers are saying that South Sudan has little to celebrate since several nationals are leaving outside the country in refugee camps following the thorny war that erupted in December last year after a bitter split between rebels linked Dr. Riek Machar and the government led by President Salva Kiir.
In a statement released on Wednesday this week by the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, it is estimated that half of South Sudan’s 12 million people could be either “displaced internally, refugees abroad, starving or dead by the year’s end.”
Yet despite the gloomy future, many Africans still think that South Sudan can use the celebrations today to re-think its future and also normalize the internal contradictions that have elements of power struggles.
Other leaders present in South Sudan are IGAD member heads-of-state and international dignitaries.
Museveni in South Sudan for Independence celebrations