The Sri Lankan Daily Mirror published an article on 19 January 2012, with the headline 'Vijitha Yapa meets Vice President of South Sudan'.

'Vijitha Yapa, senior journalist from Sri Lanka, met Dr Rick Machar Teny, Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan. They were at an international conference held in mid January titled Making Democracy Real where Mr Yapa presented a paper on the future of Sri Lanka's democracy. Mr Yapa said it is not a question of who is right after a bitter war but what is left. "It is from there that we need to pick up the pieces and work towards reconciliation". He said that more than preaching to Sri Lanka, countries need to assist Sri Lanka in ensuring democratic rights and a future for all her people.

'Dr Rick Machar was interested to hear of Sri Lanka's initiatives for reconciliation with the minorities after the 30 year war.'

The article goes on to describe the challenge on national reconciliation and good governance that South Sudan is facing. It also gave more information on the Making Democracy Real conference, including the special video message sent by Aung San Suu Kyi to the conference delegates.