AU to admit South Sudan as 54th member

ADDIS ABABA - South Sudan will be formally admitted in the African Union (AU) as its 54th member state on Monday.

According to a statement issued by the AU on Wednesday, a ceremony to mark the formal admission of South Sudan is scheduled for 10 am in the Plenary Hall, the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It will be followed by a flag-raising ceremony.

The AU Commission received on July 26 the requisite number of member states affirmation consenting to the admission of South Sudan to the African Union.

This is in conformity with the provisions of Article 29 of the Constitutive Act relating to AU membership.

The ceremony will be attended by Jean Ping, the chairperson of the AU Commission, Deng Alor Kuol, the minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of South Sudan and the members of the diplomatic corps.

South Sudan became an independent state on July 9 after a referendum, which was included in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the government of Sudan. The provisions of the CPA involved the sharing of oil revenues and the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan.