Anil Nautiyal, currently the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, has been named the new Ambassador of India to the Republic of South Sudan.
Anil Nautiyal, presently serving as Joint Secretary in the ministry, has been named the new Ambassador of India to the Republic of South Sudan, according to a press release from the Ministry of External Affairs. It is anticipated that he will assume his duties shortly.
Anil Nautiyal will succeed Vishnu Kumar Sharma, who is assuming the role of India's ambassador to South Sudan. South Sudan was under the joint British-Egyptian administration as part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan from 1899 to 1955. Following two civil wars (1962–72 and 1983–2005), it became an autonomous region within Sudan, known as South Sudan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in Nairobi in 2005 between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. The event was graced by E Ahamed, who was the Minister of State for External Affairs at the time. This led to autonomy for the southern region, with a South Sudanese independence referendum scheduled for six years later.
After a referendum in January 2011, South Sudan became independent from Sudan on July 9, 2011. India was among the first nations to acknowledge the new country, and the then Vice President Hamid Ansari participated in the Independence Day festivities in Juba on July 9, 2011.
The Indian consulate in Juba, established in October 2007, was elevated to embassy status in March 2012. Following the outbreak of civil war in December 2013, a renewed agreement to resolve the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan was signed by the opposing parties in Addis Ababa on 12 September 2018.