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LAGOS, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday appealed for peace and calm in South Sudan.
The Nigerian leader made the appeal when he received the AU Envoy on the Peace Fund, Donald Kaberuka, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation's capital city.
He said what was happening in South Sudan was extremely disturbing and a very dicey situation.
He added that the AU leadership had a crucial role in stabilizing that country and other African countries on the brink.
"What we can do urgently to stabilize South Sudan is very important as African leaders meet in Kigali, Rwanda this month and later in September at the UN," Buhari said.
The president pledged that Nigeria would continue to fulfill its financial obligations to the AU to ensure peace, stability and security on the continent.
According to him, supporting peace operations, under the auspices of the AU in several countries affected by conflict remains a foreign policy priority for his administration.
Earlier, Kaberuka said funding AU-led peace support operations which had remained a challenge for member-countries was further compounded early this year with the EU cut in its allocation to the AU Mission in Somalia by 20 percent.
According to him, the AU summit in Kigali is expected to agree on a road map of alternative financing for AU-led peace support operations, including a proposal for African nations to fund 25 per cent of the Fund's budget while UN contributes the balance. Enditem
