Diplomacy

PRIME MINISTER Hun Sen extended his “most cordial felicitations” to new South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Saturday following the African state’s declaration of independence, following decades of bloody civil war.

In a letter dated Saturday, the premier congratulated Africa’s 54th state on “the joyful occasion of the proclamation of the Independence of South Sudan, marking a definite end to one of the longest armed struggle in African history”. “The path of a new nation building will certainly be arduous,” he wrote, adding that under the new president’s leadership he had “no doubt” South Sudan would find peace, stability, happiness and prosperity.

Hun Sen wrote that he looked forward to building friendly relations with the new republic, while a letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed Cambodia’s full recognition of South Sudan and vowed to continue demining operations in the war-torn country. Cambodia has sent some 520 peacekeepers to Sudan on five missions since 2006. They have primarily undertaken demining activities, clearing tens of thousands of explosives.