South Sudan/EU — Declaration by the EU and its Member States

Dec­la­ra­tion by the EU and its Mem­ber States on the Repub­lic of South Sudan’s inde­pen­dence, 9 July 2011
The Euro­pean Union (EU) and its Mem­ber States warm­ly con­grat­u­late the peo­ple of South Sudan on their inde­pen­dence.

The EU has con­sis­tent­ly sup­port­ed the imple­men­ta­tion of the 2005 Com­pre­hen­sive Peace Agree­ment, cul­mi­nat­ing in the Ref­er­en­dum on self-deter­mi­na­tion for South Sudan. The Ref­er­en­dum was con­duct­ed peace­ful­ly and cred­i­bly and its out­come was a true reflec­tion of the demo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly expressed wish­es of the peo­ple of South Sudan. On this his­toric day, the EU and its Mem­ber States wel­come the Repub­lic of South Sudan as a new inde­pen­dent state.

The world’s newest state will require inter­na­tion­al sup­port to estab­lish itself as a secure, peace­ful and pros­per­ous coun­try, able to meet the needs and expec­ta­tions of its peo­ple. The EU and its Mem­ber States have been work­ing to sup­port the devel­op­ment of South Sudan since 2005 and look for­ward to fur­ther devel­op­ing a close and long-term part­ner­ship with the Repub­lic of South Sudan and its people.

The EU and its Mem­ber States will con­tin­ue to sup­port a peace­ful tran­si­tion in South Sudan. As the Repub­lic of South Sudan comes into being, we express the hope that South Sudan’s lead­ers will take full advan­tage of the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty they have before them.

The EU and its Mem­ber States encour­age South Sudan’s lead­ers to embrace plu­ral­ism and diver­si­ty and lay the foun­da­tion for a demo­c­ra­t­ic, fair and inclu­sive soci­ety, based on the rule of law and respect for human rights and fun­da­men­tal freedoms.

The EU com­mends the Gov­ern­ment of Sudan on its deci­sion to recog­nise the new Repub­lic of South Sudan with imme­di­ate effect. 

Source:
Coun­cil of the Euro­pean Union 

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