Washington, DC,
October 25, 2021 – Citing ten years of frustration, wasting of billions of American taxpayers’ money in donations, high corruption, killing and displacement of over 4 million of their own citizens, the United States of America establishes a new policy through the U.S. Senate and the Secretary of State to develop and install new leaders in the world’s youngest nation, South Sudan, while accusing the current leaders of having failed their people, looted their resources and exterminated millions of innocent lives
“have consistently failed to uphold their responsibilities to create the conditions for peace and prosperity, have prioritized self-preservation and corruption over the needs of the people they represent, have acted in bad faith in the implementation of cease-fire and peace agreements, and have betrayed the cause of freedom, resulting in the loss of millions of innocent lives.” Reads part of the new revitalized American policy towards South Sudan.
The new policy which was introduced to the Senate by Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced resolution S380 on 23 September., aims to restore United States diplomatic leadership between South Sudan and the United States alongside European and African partners to reflect the realities of the conflict in South Sudan and ways to resolve it.
“restores United States diplomatic leadership with regard to South Sudan alongside European and African partners, reflects the realities of the conflict and the political context in South Sudan [and] increases diplomatic efforts to urge regional actors, particularly in Kenya and Uganda, to investigate assets of corrupt South Sudanese elites and ensure Kenya and Uganda are no longer havens for conflict- and corruption-related proceeds.” The Statement further reads.
According to the two senators, the new policy will be led by the Secretary of State, UNMISS and other U.S. funded actors on the ground in South Sudan.
“Secretary of State to lead a comprehensive interagency process to develop a revitalized United States policy toward South Sudan that (A) identifies a broader range of South Sudanese political and civilian stakeholders, beyond President Kiir and First Vice President Machar, with whom the United States may work for the promotion of peace, democracy, development, accountability, transparency, and anti-corruption efforts.” Res. 380 continued.
“calls on the United States Mission to the United Nations(UNMISS) (A) to demonstrate renewed United States leadership with regard to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan to orient the peacekeeping mission toward increased effectiveness, clarity of purpose, and eventual drawdown;” it further added.
The United States lawmakers are frustrated that South Sudan continues to shrink despite numerous efforts to save the young nation from becoming a failed state, unfortunately, South Sudan has gone from good to worst in just 10 years.
“Despite years of fighting, 2 peace agreements, punitive actions by the international community, and widespread suffering among civilian populations, the leaders of South Sudan show little motivation to build sustainable peace, and critical provisions of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan remain unimplemented;” The U.S. lawmakers said.
“The conflict in South Sudan resulted in the deaths of at least 383,000 people from December 2013 to April 2018, according to a report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and caused one of the worst displacement crises in the world with 1,600,000 internally displaced persons and 2,200,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the region as of May 2021, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees” The added.
“South Sudan ranks 185th of 189 countries in the 2020 Human Development Index, performed the worst of 180 countries on the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index, is perennially one of the most dangerous countries in which aid workers operate, received the lowest ranking in the Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report every year from 2015 to 2021, and has been on the Child Soldiers Prevention Act list for 10 years in a row;” The further reiterated.
For the last one month, the lawmakers have been lobbying to get the new policy passed by the senate and it was adopted on October 19th leaving responsibility on the Secretary of State and partners on foreign relations to ratify it.
Speaking after the passing of the resolution, Senator Risch said the new resolution will serve as the blueprint to re-calibrate the U.S. bilateral relationship with South Sudan.
“S. Res.380 serves as a vital blueprint to recalibrate the U.S. bilateral relationship with South Sudan and act more decisively in the interest of its people,” he added.
