US Senator Christopher Coons shared with the Counci on Foreign Relations the details of a recent meeting he had had with South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

Coons, the Delaware Senator and head of Foreign Relations committee, said a troubled Kiir had told him that he was US President Donald Trump’s friend.

The senator added that Kiir had told him he was looking forward to the time the two heads-of-state would meet and discuss bilateral relations.

But Coons said he had told Kiir, the president of the world’s youngest nation, the blunt truth about Trump’s ‘knowledge’ of him.

“I had a very blunt conversation with Salva Kiir, someone who could do with more blunt conversations.” Coons told council.

“Salva Kiir told me Trump was his best friend and he looked forward to visiting the White House. I told him he’s never heard of you.”

He equally faulted Kiir’s handling of the conflict and the treatment of the opposition in the national dialogue process.

“That is the, I think, potential tragedy here. A slow rolling tragedy is the mistaken perception of the president of a young nation that he’s not responsible for finding a path towards peace, towards opening an effective national dialogue and towards welcoming the opposition into a process that will actually reconcile the country.”