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On Monday, 15 August 2011, South Sudan will be formally admitted in the African Union (AU) as its 54th Member State.

A ceremony in commemoration of the formal admission of South Sudan to the African Union is scheduled at 10:00am in the Plenary Hall, the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It will be followed by a Flag Raising Ceremony.

The Commission received on the 26th of July 2011, the requisite number of Member States affirmation consenting to the admission of South Sudan to the African Union. This is in conformitywith the provisions of Article 29 of the Constitutive Act relating to AU membership. In further compliance with the provisions of the Constitutive Act, the Flag Raising Ceremony will be preceded by the official deposit of SouthSudan’s Instrument of Accession to the Constitutive Act of the African Union.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Jean Ping, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Sudan, Mr Deng Alor Kuol and the members of the Diplomatic Corps will be in attendance.

South Sudan became an independent state after the referendum on 9 July 2011. The referendum was included in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 by between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. The provisions of the CPA involved amongst other the sharing of oil revenues and the right to self-determination for the people of South Sudan.

Journalists are invited to cover the commemoration of the formal admission within the Union and the Flag Raising Ceremony on Monday 15th August 2011 at the AU Headquarters. Journalists who are not accredited to the AU are advised to present an identification document to the AU Security Officers in order to enter the premises.