UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for South Sudan David Shearer (R) speaks to journalists during a press conference on the situation in Sudan and South Sudan at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 26, 2019. The UN envoy for South Sudan said Wednesday that while the political crisis in Sudan does not have a direct impact on South Sudan's peace process, but concerns remain over its potential influence. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy for South Sudan said Wednesday that while the political crisis in Sudan does not have a direct impact on South Sudan's peace process, but concerns remain over its potential influence.
UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for South Sudan David Shearer told a press conference that the unrest in Sudan and the removal of its former President Omar al-Bashir do not have a "direct impact in terms...of any instability," but in two key areas, "there is some concern of the instability in the north."
The pipeline that carries South Sudan's oil export runs right through Sudan, and the export accounts for close to 90 percent of South Sudan's income, "so that's obviously of concern," he said.
In addition, as Sudan had been "instrumental" in bringing about the peace agreement for its southern neighbor's warring parties last September, with the situation in Khartoum, "that element now is absent" in the ongoing South Sudanese peace process, said Shearer.
On April 11, Omar al-Bashir was removed from Sudanese presidency by the military amid massive protests. A Transitional Military Council was subsequently formed to run Sudan.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July 2011, but the country descended into civil war in late 2013.
A peace deal was signed in August 2015, but renewed violence broke out in the capital Juba in July 2016.
On Sept. 12, 2018, the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan was signed in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, which has led to relative calm in the country.
