Why US is Concerned About South Sudan Political Record

SATURDAY JULY 13 2024

South Sudan's President and EAC chairman Salva Kiir Mayardit. PHOTO | PCS

By FRED OLUOCH

South Sudan this week celebrated its 13th independence anniversary by generating worries to both concerned Africans and faraway allies like the United States, signalling a fall from hope with which the world once saw this youngest nation on the continent.

The country marked Independence Day on July 9 with little fanfare. But it also elicited concerns after the Transitional National Legislative Assembly passed controversial amendments to the National Security Service (NSS) law. Those changes mean the National Security Service can arrest and detain suspects for long periods without need for a court warrant.

Matthew Miller, US State Department Spokesman, said the Washington was concerned with those changes and asked President Salva Kiir not to sign it into law.

“Enactment of this law would degrade political and civic space in South Sudan,” he said on Wednesday.

“The transitional government must act with urgency to create an environment in which the South Sudanese people can express their views openly and without fear.”

The Assembly, formed after the 2018 peace agreement is composed of representatives from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the warring sides it had bickered with until the Intergovernmental Authority on Development mediated a peace deal in Addis Ababa.

On July 3, the Assembly passed the amendments, with a vote of 274 to 114. Rights groups have said the amendments only continue a legacy of censorship, surveillance and repression.

South Sudan’s Ministry of Justice had previously publicly agreed to limit the NSS powers of arrest and detention. But the new Bill included situations like “emergency circumstances” and “crimes against the State,” the latter of which is not defined.

“Vaguely defined provisions on ‘emergency circumstances’ and ‘crimes against the State’ open the doors for abuses, the law should be revised to precisely define and circumscribe any derogations from international human rights principles,” argued Donald Deya, CEO of the Pan African Lawyers Union, a lobby of human rights legal professionals on the continent.

In South Sudan’s decade-old history, rights watchdogs have often complained that the country’s security services overreach their mandate, including by abducting suspects in neighbouring countries, and detaining them at the NSS headquarters in Juba, infamously known as the Blue House.

One such incident involved rights activists Samuel Dong Luak and Aggrey Ezbon Iddri, who were picked up from Nairobi and deported to Juba. They died under mysterious circumstances but rights watchdogs directly accused the NSS.

“South Sudan is in the midst of a delicate political transition, which only increases the urgency of creating a legal and political system that allows citizens to speak freely and participate in political processes,” said Dismas Nkunda, Executive Director at Atrocities Watch Africa, a rights watchdog.

This year is especially critical for Juba: It is marking another year without holding elections.

But it must also work on ending a transition by holding the elections. Initially scheduled for December, it remains uncertain as stakeholders in government haggle on whether that is possible.

“President Kiir has an opportunity to make a significant impact by curtailing the NSS broad powers and fostering a more rights-respecting environment in South Sudan,” Halima Ahmed, Research Associate with Af4HA added.

Freedom is one thing Juba has mostly missed ever since it gained independence. After two deadly wars after independence, leaders agreed on peace among themselves, creating a coalition government that was initially meant to last until last year in February. They decided to extend it by 24 months.

On July 9, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State said South Sudan should not depart from the hope it gave its people and the world: That of establishing a democratic, just and peaceful society.

“The United States calls on South Sudan’s leaders to take the steps necessary to meet these expectations and to guarantee their people a future of peace and the ability to choose their leaders through genuine and peaceful elections,” Blinken said.

“We urge the transitional government to start using public financial resources transparently for the good of all the people of South Sudan. We also call on the transitional government to create an environment that is conducive for the effective provision of international donor assistance, including by reducing the costs and risks faced by those trying to help the South Sudanese people.”

Juba’s situation is that it has only been able to partially implement the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), which brought together the government and its former enemies on the battlefield. There has been some success in the attempts to integrate opposition troops and create a single national army.

The aftermath of that war continues to be felt today, with thousands of people still in need of humanitarian assistance, which was recently worsened by incessant flooding.

On Independence Day, President Salva Kiir appealed to the country’s citizens to focus on development and improving economic growth.

“I encourage the staff of the Bank of South Sudan to cooperate with the staff of our institution to advance the positives of the government. I urge other government institutions and citizens to focus on development and improving economic growth,” said President Kiir at the anniversary that has not been celebrated for three years the line.

Amaju Ubur Yalamoi Ayani, as a specialist in international relations and diplomacy, says the 13th Anniversary saw some improvements in the country’s security and relative peace and calm in various parts of the country.

“Our distractors had already written us off, even before the proclamation of our independence. They say we will slip into civil war as soon as our flag is hoisted. They justify that by arguing that we are incapable of resolving our problems through dialogue,” said Ayani.

Whether peace is absence of conflict in South Sudan is debatable. But even when peaceful, South Sudan itself has been forced to take in more than 560,000 people fleeing Sudan war, worsening its humanitarian crisis. More than 7 million individuals, or more than half of the population, were already in urgent need of food assistance, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Since September 2023, most civil servants have not received their salaries. Professionals with monthly salaries ranging from $10 to $50, such as teachers, doctors, and security guards, have also experienced protracted payment delays.

Before independence, one US dollar was worth two South Sudanese pounds; today, that value is at a historic low of 3,250 pounds. The world’s most oil dependent nation now faces a struggle to tap revenues from donors to boost the economy. But some of those donors have tied any financial support on improving democracy record at home.