The federal government will open a new embassy in South Sudan in a sign that Ottawa plans to take a bigger role in the conflict-torn African state.
Canada’s former head of office in Juba, Nicholas Coghlan, will become the new ambassador. Previously, Canada had only a diplomatic office in the country and was officially represented by the Canadian ambassador to Kenya.
The status of Canada’s embassy in Khartoum, the capital of neighbouring Sudan, has not changed.
Oil-rich South Sudan split from Sudan after holding a referendum in 2011, making it the world’s newest country. But hopes for its future have faced in recent months, amid a violent conflict that broke out after a political power struggle between rival groups.
The federal government, which supported South Sudan in its early days of independence, has been accused of abandoning the country in recent years. Ottawa disbanded a special task force focused on peace and development and no longer appoints special envoys to advocate for the region.
Earlier this year, Amnesty International called on Canada to “come off the sidelines” and take a more active role in the country. Alex Neve, the head of Amnesty International Canada, told The Globe and Mail in July that Canada had lost political influence in Sudan and South Sudan. “We’re not seen as a key backer or interlocutor with respect to any of the international processes that are under way,” he said at the time.
A statement from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, issued on Friday, said Canada would continue to support a UN mission to South Sudan and called for political leaders in the country to commit to peace and national unity.
Canada officially named South Sudan one of its top 25 development priorities when it revamped the list last spring. Sudan was also removed from the list at that time, a formal acknowledgement that Canada’s interests in the region lay in the southern, breakaway state.
South Sudan has significant oil wealth, but remains among the world’s least developed countries.
The current conflict began late last year after President Salva Kiir accused his former vice-president, Riek Machar, of trying to orchestrate a coup. The political dispute led to armed clashes along ethnic lines that left tens of thousands of people dead and forced more than a million from their homes.
An internal report by the Canadian government said in 2013 that it would be important to continue providing aid to South Sudan – even as aid to neighbouring Sudan was scaled back – to avoid “future, more costly interventions.”
