South Sudan: Undemocratic Rule Will Lose South Sudan U.S. Support, Envoy
Says
25 September 2012
Juba - The US government has expressed its deep concern about the governance
of South Sudan and has warned that failure to uphold democratic principles
will result in the "immediate loss" of US foreign assistance.
The statement comes a week before South Sudan's president, Salva Kiir flies
to the US to attend the annual General Assembly at the UN headquarters in
New York. Kiir is expected is to meet with various leaders at the sidelines
of the meeting, including president Barrack Obama.
American ambassador to South Sudan Susan Page said in a letter seen by Sudan
Tribune on Sunday that "democracy is a hard earned, but lost easily. It is
easy to become impatient with the pace of change and imperfect democratic
processes, and want to force that change along by undemocratic means."
She notes forcing this change undemocratically "will not only crush the
dream of a young nation, but it will also lose the support of the United
States, one of the strongest partners and supporters of South Sudan and its
people".
Page explained that American people and friends of South Sudan were enthused
when its independence was gained and started talks on how best to offer
their assistance.
Since attaining independence in 2011 South Sudan has been facing
difficulties in its governance. There have been embezzlement scandals and
human rights contravention allegations.
Kiir published an amnesty to government officials in June accusing them of
taking US$4bn from the nation's coffers.
The country's vice president, Riek Machar has called on the international
community to the nation to build its institutions and instil effective
systems of accountability and transparency to tackle the corruption problem.
In July a publisher agreed a civil recovery order of US$17.7m for securing
education contracts in South Sudan by buying off officials
Human Rights Watch's August report describes the South Sudanese military as
"responsible for unlawful killings, torture, and looting of civilian
property." It is also critical of the proliferation of arbitrarily detained
prisoners and the suffering of women in forced / early marriages and
domestic violence. It also noted that " South Sudan's leaders have stated
their commitment to ratify major human rights treaties, but have yet to do
so."
Page explained that the US administration provided a total of over US$1bn to
South Sudan in 2011- 2013 to support good governance, agriculture, economic
development, education, the environment, conflict mitigation and
reconciliation, health, rule of law, human rights, security sector reforms,
and civil society development.
However, she noted that the funding "is not a gift; it is an investment in
the world's youngest country and newest democracy's success following
decades of strife".
Page explained that the US is dedicated to providing support to the new
nation's aims to ensure its commitment to citizen participation and
political plurality, equality and tolerance, accountability and
transparency, free and fair elections, economic freedom and opportunity,
human rights protection and enforcement of the rule of law.
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Received on Tue Sep 25 2012 - 17:53:58 EDT
