Why South Sudan's President Salva
Kiir and IGAD Must be Sidelined
I dedicate this to my dear Cousin Dr. Ding Col Dau Ding, a brilliant caring Neurosurgeon and Medical Doctor/humanitarian — taken from us too early. Somehow his death I see connected to this sick, murderous regime and President, ruling by the gun and lust for power, money...see his eulogy
Table of Contents:
TRIBALLY INCLINED
RUTHLESS
DEFIANT W/ INTENT
IRRATIONAL
DENIAL OF FACTS and REALITY
WHOSE FAULT IS THE WAR?
The Second Civil War – July 2016
ARREST, SEARCH AND SEIZURE POWERS TO SPIES?
— Inadequate Accountability
— Oversight
JUBA’S ANTI-FOREIGNER CAMPAIGN OVER THE YEARS
WHY SOUTH SUDAN THEN? AND WHO IS SALVA KIIR?
WHY THE REGIME OF SALVA KIIR IS DEAD!
SPECIAL SECTION: SALVA KIIR - THE MURDERER-IN-CHIEF
— Executive Vice President Assassination Attempt led by Juba
WHY THE END OF THE WAR SEEMS SO FAR AND PEACE SO ELUSIVE
—
The fact that (INU) South Sudan broke away from Sudan was not really the most choice of everybody, but (INU) the majority what they decide in a democratic situation, people have to go with it.”
(INU is an interjection word like "Umm")
(AUDIO EXCERPT – S. SUDAN PRESIDENT KIIR ON 1 NOVEMBER 2017 IN KHARTOUM ON THE 98.83% VOTE FOR SELF DETERMINATION IN JANUARY 2011 BY HIS COUNTRY) — listen at 0:47 seconds here
The above quote in my view finds President Kiir regretting the vote for democracy by
the people that costs them war – virtually since the 1956 Independence of Sudan
— and the death of over 2 million Southern Sudanese, the enslavement of
thousands and destruction of one of Africa’s most promising and fertile areas. A
revealing point of sadness, bathed in the blood of millions.
And so, my premise in this piece is
to reveal the true nature of President Kiir and his Transitional Government
which I believe is: 1) to wage a war of annihilation against long-time opponents 2) the ethnic cleansing of Nuer, Shilluk,
Bari and all other tribes from Equatoria 3) to consolidate and enhance his influence,
as well to extend his Dinka tribe’s power — based on an ethnic doctrine of
supremacy. I note a deep-seated motive is a long-held revenge for the Bor Massacre).
The African Union Obasanjo Final Report
of 2015 confirms that secret preparations for War were under way by Kiir and
his supporters; recruitment of a private army from the region of the President
and then Bahr al Ghazal Governor (later Army Chief of Staff) Paul Malong. Of
note, the report asserts through interviews with the President himself and
other military officials that those recruits were outside of normal military
command and funded via ‘private sources’ (Para 54, 55, p. 22) with an exact
number not known, but credible sources say around 15,000 troops.
A focal point for the ICC and
accountability in this civil war is in one sense simple and clear, for in South
Sudan, Command Responsibility of
Government forces falls solely to Salva Kiir Mayardit as both the Head of State
and the Commander-in-Chief of SPLA (the Army/military).
Mr. Kiir holds the active military
rank of General and is formally the highest military commander in South Sudan;
with his SPLA Chief of General Staff, at the time being General Paul Malong,
now removed; his Minister of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs is Kuol Manyang; and
the Minister of National Security, Obuto Mamur (whose office is part of the
Presidency), all these men report directly to President Kiir.
So to further stress the point
regarding the military chain of command hierarchy, one finds President Kiir — not
his chief of staff or his minister of defense — issues decrees to appoint and
promote senior military officers or demote them. As well, there is clear
evidence, according to the UN Panel of Experts, see the January 2016 report,
that President Kiir also has de facto command responsibility over the different
armed groups/militias used by the Government to execute the war in the various
areas of the country.
Add the powers given to him or
outright taken by the President from the 2011 Transitional Constitution, namely
the power to appoint/remove governors, legislators, diplomats (yes, he
appoints/rejects Ambassadors too!) and all public ministry officials, judges.
President Kiir firmly and absolutely controls the military,
political/diplomatic and judiciary spheres of late with the aid of a 2015
draconian national security law, opposed by many international organizations
like Amnesty International because it gives national security officers broad
authority to: search and seize; arrest and detain (without a warrant). See Sections
12 and 51of the law — contradicting the 2011 Transitional Constitution which only
allows “information gathering, analysis and giving advice to relevant
authorities.”
Yet, despite the visible and absolute
military command line going straight to the top, there is a supporting cast
mixed into the South Sudan List of Warmongering Actors which include public
and private persons who assists and advise President Kiir, namely, the Minister
of Information Michael Makuei Lueth ((US-sanctioned);
General Paul Malong (US-sanctioned and UN Expert Panel-confirmed co-architect
of the 2013 and 2016 wars); imposed 1st VP Taban Gai (2016 Co-plotter, his
influence came post-2016 war); Minister of Defense Kuol Manyang (long-time Kiir
ally and former Jonglei State governor); Minister of Petroleum Ezekiel Lol
Gatkuoth (a 2016 War Co-plotter, a one-time devoted Machar intimate) said by IO
sources to have primarily orchestrated the VP coup d’état with Gen. Taban Gai
and near assassination of First VP Dr. Riek Machar.
Key as well is a little known
Presidential adviser for Security Affairs named Tut Kew Gatluak, said to wield great
influence and trust from President Kiir in security matters and the former SPLM
National Secretary for External Relations Susan Jambo (served as diaspora focal
point and principal SPLM party crusader/inciter — Plus,
a troublesome body called the Jieng
(Dinka) Council of Elders (JCE) mentioned as a “self-identified tribal group” by
the UN Panel of Experts in their January 2016 report, which the panel says has
become influential, unofficial advisers to President Kiir (the US equivalent of
having the KKK as presidential advisers, visiting the White House and all!). See
below the list of names representing the various Dinka communities across the
country (Dinka sub-clan representatives) published in one of the regional
newspapers. Click here for
published list, which includes Chicago
Bulls NBA Superstar Luol Deng’s father Aldo Ajou Deng who has written
articles and interviewed on the JCE and his involvement, see here,
The UN Panel of Experts' report of
September 2016 (S/2016/793) confirms my view about the principals prosecuting this
war. It indicates that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the
President confirmed the members of the “national security council”, those with
primary responsibility for security decisions and planning military operations.
It consisted of the following
individuals: the President, Kiir; the Minister of Defence and Veterans’
Affairs, Kuol Manyang; the SPLA Chief of General Staff, Malong; the Minister of
Information, Michael Makuei Lueth; the then
Minister of Finance, Deng Athorbi (whom Kiir replaced with Stephen Dhieu Dau,
currently the Finance Minister, in July); the Minister for National Security,
Obutu Mamur; the Director of the Internal Security Bureau of the National
Security Service, Akol Koor; the Director of the External Security Bureau of
the National Security Service, Thomas Duoth; and the Presidential Adviser for
Security Affairs, Tut Kew Gatluak. No members of the Machar’s SPLM-Opposition
or Former Detainees (FDs) were involved.
Special note: the former ruling
party SPLM National Secretary for External Relations Ms. Suzanne Jambo should
be linke in as a key person who carried out grassroot and diaspora mobilization
of support for President Kiir's policies and actions. The saddest part here is
Ms. Jambo, a lawyer and women/human rights activist, had been considered a
national female role model for women before the war; and her emails (2014-2016)
and diaspora and grassroot work supporting the state policies of President Kiir
— A policy using of rape and sexual assault as a weapon of war. See some of her
public emails sent to South Sudanese in the diaspora here.
On August, 26, 2011, President Kiir
formed his post-independence cabinet which was made up of 42% from his Dinka
tribe while giving all the strategic posts (oil, defense, finance) to his “Dinka
Rek” tribal clan.
He awarded his home state, Warrap,
ten ministerial posts plus added the National Chief of Security, the Chief
Justice of South Sudan Supreme Court and the Governor of the Central Bank of
South Sudan. The Greater Bahr al Ghazal region was awarded twenty ministerial
posts of a total 29, in which ten of them went to Warrap State alone. On 9
March 2012, President Kiir appointed ambassadors, giving the majority share to
his tribe, which meant 53% of the nation’s ambassadors were Dinka.
The President's tribe which was only
about 25% of the population yet controlled 55% of national power at the start
of Independence in 2011 while the other 63 tribes had to share whatever was
left. The following two must-read paragraphs below as well as the statistics in
this section come from one of the most controversial South Sudanese, Gordon
Buay, a once-hated rebel official later made a South Sudan Army General and in
2014, an ambassador, currently serving as the Deputy Head of Mission at the
Washington, DC South Sudan Embassy. Of late, His Excellency has been mentioned
as a social media inciter by the UN Panel of Experts in their November 2016 report,
p. 20. Yet Ambassador Buay’s earlier insight and analysis is quite accurate in
this March 2012 Sudan Tribune article (here) about
the dangers of Dinka domination in South Sudan:
Since the independence of South Sudan last July, we have
been witnessing a very dangerous form of ethnic domination which would surely
lead the South to become a failed state. Prior to July, 2011, Dinka elite
controlling power began to practise ethnic discrimination and marginalization
within the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) that was formed after the
conclusion of the CPA on January 9, 2005. But so many people didn’t notice the
gravity of the situation thinking that the practice would be addressed after
the independence of the South. Many South Sudanese focused on the
implementation of the CPA and the exercise of the right of self-determination
and ignored the glaring practice of tribalism in each ministry of the GoSS.
When the ministries were set up in 2005, there were
practices of tribal exclusions that made a lot of people to question the
underlying policies and vision of Dinka elite. For instance, the Ministry of
Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development which was under the guidance of
Michael Makuei Lueth employed mostly Dinka Bor. Majority of employees of the
Ministry were from Dinka tribe. The same thing to the Ministry of Finance and
Economic Development which was also dominated by Dinka tribe. Filling
ministries with one’s tribe—a practice mostly demonstrated by Dinka
ministers—continued up to now and many ministries in Juba are dominated either
by one tribe or a clan depending on where the Ministers who set them up in 2005
came from. Majority of employees in the Ministry of Finance are from Dinka
Bhar-el-Ghazal because Arthur Akuein Chol, who was the GoSS Minister of Finance
and Economic Development in 2005, hailed from that region.
I agree with Ambassador Buay, His
Excellency has pinpointed a major agitating factor in the diverse ethnic
society contained within South Sudan. This was the beginning of the problem,
which festered into a bruising heinous war, again, when it was ignored.
No one in South Sudan is allowed to
criticize — whether a friend of President Kiir or supporter of his government,
even his family is not left unscathed. On 1 April 2015, unidentified gunmen
abducted the President’s relative Peter Mayen, leader of the People’s Liberal
Party (PLP) at his home in Juba. The perpetrators held him in 2 locations blindfolded,
repeatedly beating him brutally with their fists — and kicking him. He was
released days later on April 8. Mr. Mayen had earlier criticized the government
some weeks before his abduction.
A reporter in 2011 wrote an opinion
article about the marriage of a daughter of President Kiir in his publication, and
then the Destiny newspaper had its office shut down. The reporter and his
editor were arrested by national security officers but the editor was beaten
and tortured, then he was forced to go dine with the President at his house so
the Head of State could improve his public image. They were released without
charges after two weeks in custoy. See here
The quote in the beginning of this
blog shows the nature of President Kiir, accommodating to a fault, manipulative
to a tribal vision, rigid and brutal to all who dare to oppose his myopic view.
This is a view from which he will not move. Recall, the IGAD Plus peace deal or
ARCSS was agreed to by all, including President Kiir grudgingly; SPLM-IO leader
Dr. Riek Machar and Former Detainees leader Pagan Amum both signing the peace
agreement unconditionally in Addis Ababa on 15 September 2016. President Kiir
declined to sign the peace accord that day and was given 15 days to consult on
the peace deal before signing.
United States National Security Advisor
Susan Rice asked President Kiir to sign the peace agreement before IGAD's 15
day deadline without reservation or condition. However, President Kiir did sign
9 days later, but added 16 reservations showing his displeasure (intent)
at the beginning to not implement the peace accord, see his below comments from
the signing ceremony. So we see from Day 1 until now a lack of will on his part
and the entire government to truly bring peace to the country, just revenge and
power consolidation. See reservations here:
"With all those reservations that we have, we will sign this
document."
"The current peace we are signing today
has so many things we have to reject."
"It
is showing [supposed recent rebel attacks] that what we are doing here is not
accepted by the other side," Kiir said. He added that he believed
negotiations on the deal should continue. "It is not a Bible, it not the
Koran, why should it not be revisited?"
2013: President Kiir dissolves the
national cabinet and all South Sudan’s ruling party’s SPLM structures (except
his office!) on 15 July 2013 [that is, Disbands the party and Government, one
with 97% dependence on oil]
See: South Sudan president sacks
cabinet in power struggle
The October 2015 AU
Obasanjo report, the African Union report of its commission of enquiry into
South Sudan, revealed human rights abuses and war crimes by the parties to the
conflict. It found no evidence of a coup attempt and concluded that fighting
within the Presidential Guards triggered the violence, resulting in a state
policy involving acts of violence, and gross human rights abuses orchestrated
against civilians. On 28 October 2015, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mawien
Makol denied the report conclusions.
In April 2017, U.S. Senator
Chris Coons and his colleague Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee visited the world’s largest refugee settlement in
northern Uganda which houses thousands of South Sudanese, then Senator Coons
visited Juba and met with President Salva Kiir. Here is the transcript of key
parts of a United States Institute of Peace (USIP) event audio he spoke at:
Coons: . . . why should the U.S. continue to try so
hard to deliver humanitarian assistance through many partners and NGOs when
your Govt and your forces are blocking access using hunger as a weapon of war (listen
at minute 6:34).
He [Museveni] has not been constructive in
pushing Kiir to take responsibility for his country and lead a Peace process
that is real (on audio, listen at minute 7).
When I meet with President Salva Kiir and
initially pressed him hard on what was going, in the country, on the violence,
he initially denied there was anything going on, he said there's really no
conflict - what are you talking about - this is all propaganda. It is some man
in S. Africa, sitting in a hotel calling people and telling them, Umm,
Kiir: you need to tell the press...
Coons: I said Mr. President, with all due respect, I
was in a refugee camp in Uganda and saw thousands of people - women who had
lost their husbands or brothers or fathers who had been raped who had been
beaten this is not the result of a few phone calls from men sitting in hotels
in other countries - this is deep conflict that is affecting your whole country
(listen at minute 12:08).
I said I thought there was no problem...he said
well there may be a problem, but it's being exaggerated, it's a fiction (listen
at minute 13:00).
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 (listen at minute 13:34).
Senator Coons shared his
frustration in June 2017 with Slate
columnist/ freelance AP journalist Justin in an interview about his April 2017
interaction with President Kiir:
“That level of fantasy, or willful denial of
really hard circumstances, it’s pretty hard to take [Kiir].”
Since the war start high ranking
party members helped to spread propaganda and stir hatred among the populace
and diaspora such as President Kiir’s party appointee, the SPLM National
Secretary for External Relations Susan Jambo. Here is one of dozens of public forum
emails the SPLM Party Secretary sent to South Sudanese worldwide which show a
dangerous element: provocative content and the fact it came from a senior party
official which could ignite racial hatred at one tribe, the Nuer in this case:
To:SPLA_VET-Diaspora@yahoogroups.com;
splm-global-network@googlegroups.com
From: suzannejambo@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:01:02
+0300
Subject: [SPLA_VET-Diaspora] Fwd: [sudans-john-ashworth]
Embracing victimhood to celebrate victimisation
FYI.
Suzanne Jambo
Begin forwarded message:
From: John Ashworth
<ashworth.john@gmail.com>
Date: April 22, 2014 at 10:42:11 AM
GMT+3
To:Group<sudans-john-ashworth@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] Embracing victimhood to
celebrate victimisation
Reply-To:sudans-john-ashworth+owners@googlegroups.com
Embracing victimhood to celebrate
victimisation
By Juliana Bol
April
21, 2014 - It was a bit disturbing to hear news of our citizens in the IDP
camps (where they are seeking protection and shelter)celebrating the recapture
of Bentiu -in light of what this recapture actually occasioned.
200 civilians [allegedly]
killed in a mosque. Non-Nuer civilians and foreign nationals targeted and killed.
Nuer men and women in a hospital killed for not being supportive or rather
celebratory over the rebel forces ‘success’. Hate speech broadcast on a local
radio station, calling for the rape of women . . .
(this is an excerpt, for the rest of
email exchange, see the emails of Secretary Jambo in a separate document here)
Besides the armed Principals and
their armies, the Obasanjo Report points fingers at the United States, Britain
and Norway (the Troika) for creating “a politically unchallenged armed power”
and also blamed the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the
eight-country East Africa trading bloc known as IGAD, saying that these formal
bodies “ushered in an unaccountable political class” that ruled by the gun. One
cannot argue with this point given the number of displaced persons and believed
dead, estimated over 300,000 according to the African Union.
Later UN reports (January 2016) make
it clear the reins of power were contained in a small inner circle including
President Kiir, Army General Paul Malong and Akol Koor of National Security and
select others, who waged an aggressive war targeting civilians and destruction
of whole communities, a different picture painted by the SPLM Secretary Jambo
of a peace loving, forward thinking and well-meaning SPLM leadership.
The UN Panel of Experts (September
2016) were able to piece together the events surrounding the start of the war
through interviews with first-hand witnesses and other sources. It was clear
from the large scale of the hostilities, which saw the deployment of Mi-24
attack helicopters, coordinated with ground troops and reinforced by armored
units — that the war was directed at the highest level of the SPLA command
structure, i.e., President Kiir and General Malong! As well, several senior Army
officers confirmed that only the President and the Army Chief of Chief General
Paul Malong had the authority to order the deployment of the attack
helicopters. General Malong was specifically mentioned by several military and
political leaders as having commanded the start of the war on the 10th
and 11th of July 2016, with President Kiir’s full knowledge.
While the 2011 Transitional
Constitution of South Sudan provides a mandate of the National Security Service
(NSS) for “information gathering, analysis and advice to relevant authorities,”
the now approved 2015 statute gives the NSS broad authority in regard to search
and seizure, arrest and detention (Sections 12 and 51). The law was
controversial during its passage through Parliament in 2014 (see my blog then).
At one point it was passed without a quorum present, and due to public pressure
the President had to send it back to the Legislature for further review before
in 2015 it became law due to technicalities. Amnesty International described
the bill as such:
The NSS Act of 2014 grants the NSS sweeping powers to arrest
and detain, without ensuring adequate judicial oversight or safeguards against
abuse. Despite the obligations of South Sudan under international law, the Act
does not provide for basic human rights, such as detainees being held in
official places of detention, the right to counsel or the right to be tried
within a reasonable period of time. The law effectively gives a carte blanche
to the NSS to continue and extend its longstanding pattern of arbitrary detentions
with total impunity (AI, April 2016, AFR 65/3844/2016).
The law states a National Security
Service member can only be removed for misconduct for offenses that would land
them the death penalty or life imprisonment!! Really, so they can do virtually anything
and get away with any crime that doesn't lead to a death/life sentence.
Torture, beatings and other human rights abuses are acceptable in this strict
authoritarian regime.
The law says that complaints against
the National Security Service must be given to body to resolve, which is inappropriate
in my view, for why would an organization which has a grievance registered
against it resolve a complaint that makes it look bad? Does one expect an
offending agency to punish itself, particularly one that has a history of abuse?
As well, the law says if a complaint is given to another government
institution, it has to be forwarded to the National Security Service for
settling. In such a climate, whistleblowers will have a hard time, possible
harassment, threats and risk much to reveal problems within an organization.
Banned foreign journalists — June
2017
Increased foreigner visa fees to $10,000
— March 2017
Harassed/threated foreign UN staff —
September 2016 (Confidential UN report 8 September)
Expel foreign workers’ order
published in newspapers — September 2014
Banned foreign (taxi drivers) or to own/ride
motorbikes — September 2013
It is a sense of duty
which pushed nations like the United States, Norway toward involvement in South
Sudan. Me, it was marriage to one of its citizens in 2002 — and over the years I have
learned much about the culture, people and leaders. Using my post-graduate
education in policy-making; advising and engineering experience from the military
and government — I helped to develop policies, structures and foundational
frameworks before South Sudan’s Statehood, and afterwards — so I know much of its
customs and laws and flaws — And their leaders!!!
The imposition of Salva
Kiir as president was indeed accidental, for the global plan or hope was that
the general and chairman of the ruling SPLM party, a Iowa Phd graduate in
Agricultural Economics — John Garang de Mabior — would steer the aspiring
nation through the minefield of state-building and development challenges – but instead the world got a
middle school-educated long-time Army intelligence officer called Salva Kiir
with weak social skills and feeble proficiency in politics/global affairs.
So, upon the tragic
death of Dr. John Garang, Salva Kiir was chosen by proxy to be the next party
leader, ergo, Vice President of Sudan and President of the Government of
Southern Sudan (GoSS) now the Republic of South Sudan (with unlimited powers
<to abuse, kill, mismanage> his devoted officials believe).
Once Mr. Kiir’S entrance
onto the seat of power the country plummeted to the bottom of State performance
due to poor policy, economic and military decisions, most tinged with a
tribal/ethnic bias. If you had visited any ministry pre-Independence, you would
have noted the entire staff was the same ethnicity/tribe as that minister; if
he were Dinka, all the employees were Dinka which was the case at the Ministry
of Justice under the notorious Michael Makuei Lueth (now US-sanctioned as a
peace obstructer and inciter), who served earlier as the top lawyer for both
the provisional government and ruling party since the 1990s.
The current South Sudan
Minister of Information Michael Makuei Lueth (now-sanctioned and quieted)
believed his nation was the epicenter of the new cold war, between USA and
China, with his advanced conspiracy theory that the U.S. was planning to remove
President Kiir and replace him with Dr. Riek Machar.
While Mr. Makuei was
patently wrong on regime change, he had it right that South Sudan was
strategically important to both global powers for varied reasons: Security,
economics and geopolitics for USA and for China, growth via infrastructure
construction, markets and raw materials. An example is found right before the
2013 War started, China exported 77% of South Sudan's crude oil (around 14
million barrels) double what it took from Nigeria during that period.
At the time before the
start of the conflict, the Export-Import Bank of China was to offer $2 billion
dollars in loans and credit to South Sudan for building six roads, including a
1500-mile modern highway that connected Juba, the capital, with Sudan’s main
port plus build bridges across the Nile River. As well, it was going to build
schools and hospitals in every county of the young nation; a national stadium, government
conference center and hydropower plant.
But instead of accepting
such positive historical development, Juba preferred to War again, to kill,
rape, burn villages and its people. The international community gave South
Sudan around $20 billion dollars in gifts and assistance (the USA gave over 8
billion dollars) while the regime received $10 billion dollars in oil revenue.
Now it bottoms every major global indices in nation building, quality of live,
corruption, education and health.
Since the start of the
December 2013 civil war, what has transpired by all accounts one of the most
heinous and brutal wars in modern history with sexual violence on an unseen
scale according to Ken Scott, a war crime prosecutor who worked on Lebanon and
Bosnia tribunals. The casualties in this latest war range between 50,000 to
300,000 victims according to the African Union. Though many believe the figure
is higher, even saying 50,000 Nuer tribesmen and women were killed in the first
week of the war. I was told by persons who were hidden inside Juba during the
chaos that they saw huge dump trucks leaving the capital city of Juba full of
bodies.
The hypocrisy rings
loudest when applied to President Obama administration’s blind eye to the Kiir government
violating citizens’ rights unceasingly. So while the former US ambassador to
the United Nations, Samantha Power, who became prominent arguing for
intervention in nations to avert genocide (says New York Times on 4 January
2014) yet despite her hearing privately first-hand of the heinous assaults on
several women at UN Juba's PoC 3 camp during a 3 September 2016 visit (she even
cried those women told me as she listened to their stories). Still Ambassador Power
and the Obama Administration allowed tremendous abuses by Kiir forces
(culminating in massive sexual violence and ethnic murders as noted in the July
2017 Amnesty report).
In Jan 2014, roughly 180,000 South Sudanese were driven from their homes by
fighting and an estimated 45,000 internally displaced Persons (IDPs) held up at
U.N. compounds.
However in November 2017, roughly 4 million South Sudanese have been
driven from their homes, including 2.1 million located in the five neighboring
countries with 1 million just in Uganda while we have 1.9 million IDPs in South
Sudan and over 200,000 living in United Nations protection camps across the
country (mainly Nuer tribesmen and women and people of the Equatoria region).
The problem of South Sudan has been
long known among the global community, particularly the United Nations. In May
2014, a UN Mission in South Sudan report summed up the troubles of the nascent
republic:
35. The SPLA has dominated every critical aspect of life in
South Sudan beside the military establishment, notably the Government and the
SPLM. This has seriously undermined governance and state institutions, making
it difficult to establish the rule of law. Further, a lack of professionalism
and proper training in the SPLA, coupled with weakness in command and control,
has made accountability difficult. By contrast, other governance institutions have
been much weaker, with little ability to demand accountability of the SPLA. The
national law enforcement and justice systems suffer from a serious lack of
capacity and South Sudan has a long history of impunity for past crimes.
36. Maintaining social cohesion among the more than 60
ethnic groups in South Sudan has also been an immense challenge. Ethnicity has
often been manipulated to foster discord when it served political interests.
Unresolved discord among numerous groups has assisted this, and indeed, many
communities have a long history of conflict. Of note, ethnically-targeted
killings between the Nuer and Dinka in the current conflict have revived
memories of the ‘Bor massacre’ of 15 November 1991, when an estimated 2,000
Dinka civilians in Bor were killed by Nuer fighters from Mr. Machar’s
SPLA-Nasir faction with the help of armed Nuer youth known as the ‘White Army’.
37. As the national elections scheduled for 2015 appeared on
the horizon, political rivalries and ethnic grievances put pressure on the SPLM
senior leadership, which largely depend on ethnic-based constituencies. In
March 2013, Vice-President Machar disclosed his ambition to replace President
Kiir as Chairman of the party.
It is evident by his actions since
attaining the presidency that President Kiir has only wanted to be a
leader-for-life. He has never wanted reform, bore out by his 2008 declarations
against party restructuring at the SPLM National Convention; his 2011 fight
with VP Machar over a more egalitarian transitional constitution; his dismantling
of the party and government in July 2013; his wars (2013, 2016) and objection/written
reservations to the 2015 peace Agreement.
The level of corruption and
mismanagement is such that South Sudan’s designation as a sovereign state is made
invalid. No global or regional body should further validate this current
government as legitimate, nor listen to Juba or its neighbors’ justification
for its continuance. The principle of Aggravated State Responsibility forces
the global community of nations to take action against a nation void of concern
for its citizenry; and a President with no respect for the Rule of Law and
morality.
Let me list the Regime’s most
infamous actions and those of its corrupt IGAD friends’ too. The Kiir Regime is
a malignant cancer that infects all, including its neighbors with a toxic
poison that causes them to emulate its heinous actions and State policies of
assassination, sexual assault, torture, scorched earth tactics (burn homes, crops,
livestock) to retain power:
1) The murder/torture of
the head of Kenya's electronic voting system — days before the August 2017
Vote.
1a) South Sudan’s role model and
Peace Agreement Guarantor: Kenya — is no bastion of Justice (Rule of Law). Note
election violence in October and mob lynching in northwestern town of Kakuma of
a suspect, see
Election protest, students gassed,
here
Burning the suspect, here
(In the video, the smoke you see rising is from
the suspect’s burning body in the police compound)
2) The looting of US
taxpayers’ funds for personal use amounting to billions of US dollars. Since
the start of the December 2013 war around 2 to 3 billion has been spent on
humanitarian assistance. The USA has given $11 billion to this country to help
it, yet no development, roads, education or healthcare.
3) Target American
citizens for torture, murder, rape such as NJ Congressman Chris Smith’s
constituent who was gang-raped by Kiir soldiers on 10 July 2017. Washington
kept silent about the incident for more than a month until it was revealed by
the AP’s report.
>>>>>See BBC interviews at<<<<<<
goo.gl/Ds6s1v
NPR (All Things Considered) < Caution – these
are emotional to hear> :
Interviews
with Jesse Bunch, American male shot in the leg:
Bunch
describes Anti-American sentiment; drunkenness of South Sudan soldiers
4) Shot over 100 rounds
at the two SUVs of 7 US diplomats (including the Deputy Head of Mission James
Donegan) in their highly identifiable diplomatic cars with widely known
“number 11” plates (with the US flag posted on the front windshield) on 7
July 2017.
4a) Shot the car of US
Ambassador Charles Twining, putting two large holes in his car window on 14 November
2014.
5) Threatened, robbed
and beat a US citizen on 28 May 2016. Two Juba policemen threatened to kill a
former US soldier if he did not give up his media tablet, mobile phone and
cash.
6) USA Failed to Prevent
Ethnic Cleansing in Yei, South Sudan | burning homes, slaughtering of men,
women and children. The AP investigation is based on more than 30 internal or
confidential documents from the U.N., Obama White House or State Department and
dozens of interviews with current or former officials and civilians.
7) Uganda is suspected
of smuggling gold from war zones in Congo and South Sudan in contravention of
the 2010 Lusaka Declaration as a signatory to the agreement. The accord helps
to manage and restrict the spread of conflict minerals. In a 5 June 2017 report
by Global Witness called "Uganda: Undermined" it quotes gold dealers
who reveal they're obtaining conflict minerals (gold) from South Sudan and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
An investigation of
eighteen months based on interviews with industry experts, miners, executives
and government officials portrays a grim picture of the sector. George Boden of
Global Witness, told CNN in June 2016:
"Our investigations show that Uganda's
mining sector is characterized by corruption, mismanagement and high level
political influence . . . "Impunity is endemic and attempts at reform have
all failed in the face of entrenched interests."
The country had gold
exports of $340 million in 2016, Between 2009 - 2015 Uganda's gold exports went
from 0 (zero) to $40 million according to Reuters via the country's central
bank yet it has only small mines and no commercial ones but produces around 1.1
to 1.5 tons of gold each month — So where did all this gold come from? South
Sudan is a highly likely source I believe.
What is problematic for
the recently opened African Gold Refinery (AGR) and Uganda is the revelation that
its first gold refinery is partially owned by a Belgian expatriate, a former
minister with connections to President Museveni who inaugurated the refinery on
20 February 2017. Its establishment was negotiated to obtain millions in tax
relief and incentives by Musenveni's relative, the brother-in-law to President
Museveni's younger brother General Salim Saleh who worked for AGR earlier.
Saleh was sacked by his brother, President Museveni, as the commander of the
Army, suspected of corruption. So Mr. Saleh’s involvement in this
corruption-filled cesspool of mining is not surprising while taking advantage
of conflicts.
“It’s a very high
compliance [gold] refinery. We do due diligence for every customer who comes
in,” Alain Goetz, the chief executive officer of Africa Gold Refinery (AGR),
said to Reuters.
Goetz said that AGR
would carefully select its customers, comply with the law and label their gold
accordingly.
“Of course we want to
sell to American companies, we will sell to American companies. With the
compliance and the third party auditing, we’ll comply with all the regulations
. . . including labeling,” Goetz said.
8) The Letters of credit
(LC) Scandal as well as the infamous Dura Saga Scandal were some of the largest
and most costly corruption scandals in South Sudan history. In the Dura Saga
the South Sudan government paid the equivalent of nearly a million dollars
(other reports by Sudan Tribune say the figure is several billion dollars and
former Cultural Minister Dr. Jok M. Jok said the amount is $4 million) were
given to domestic contractors to supply state governments with food to head off
a projected famine in 2008 yet the food was never delivered.
For example, $2,177,226
was paid to Hamco Ltd for transport of 40,000 bags of sorghum grains for which
no record of delivery exists.
In the LC case, high
government officials lost 15 million USD and embezzled millions of hard-to-obtain
dollars and likely transferred by officials to private businesses and interests
instead of allowing the money to go to appropriate businesses buying food,
medical supplies and fuel for the needy.
8a) One of the areas
where senior officials and elites took great advantage of their positions and
access was the foreign exchange market or currency speculation. When economic
problems arose after the January 2012 oil shutdown and subsequent civil war in
December 2013, restrictions were put in place to control dollar availability. The
elites (politicians and businessmen) had virtually unfettered access to Central
Bank dollars which allowed them to make money via arbitrage since the exchange
rate officially was 3.16 while the black market rate in 2015 was as high as 15
South Sudanese pounds.
Given the dire lack of
foreign currency, dollars mainly, the Central Bank of South Sudan would project
to release $1.3 million weekly, but in reality only about $450,000 USD was
released —the rest
taken by elites, sold by them on the black market and exchanged back for
dollars at the Central Bank for a significant profit,
For example for every one dollar an official
sold on the black market, that elite could get 15 South Sudanese pounds in
return, then exchange it back at the Bank’s official rate of 3.16 making a
profit of 400 percent. This area was so lucrative in South Sudan the IMF
reported in 2013 that there were 79 private FOREX bureaus which was nearly
equal to its neighbor Kenya, which had an economy five times larger than South
Sudan.
9) A July 2012 audit of
government accounts from 2005 to 2006 by Auditor General Steven Wondu revealed
$1.5 billion was unaccounted for, it disappeared without any records.
10) Between 2006 and
2012, the country spent $1.7 billion on road construction, but only 75
kilometres of roads had been built or paved. Yet the USAID built in 1 ½ years
the 192 kilometers Juba-Nimule highway (the country’s first paved road) for
only $229 million dollars.
11) 6 December 6, 2016 —
South Sudanese expulsed U.S. journalist Justin Lynch, a freelancer for The
Associated Press. South Sudan National Security Service officers repeatedly
said to him that his reporting was too critical of the South Sudan government.
12) Murder of U.S. journalist Christopher Allen by govt forces, said he was a white rebel, article here.
A Dinka militia, the Mathiang Anyoor, according to the African
Union’s 2015 Obasanjo report, was recruited by President Kiir and General Paul
Malong, committed atrocities in Juba and elsewhere with the start of the war in
December 2013 (it is believed 50,000 were killed in Juba).
The SPLA Chief of General Staff, Paul Malong, was a central
figure in the perpetuation and expansion of the war, including the conflict in
greater Equatoria. After the fighting in Juba in July 2016, he oversaw the
operation to hunt down 1st VP Machar and the SPLM/A-Opposition cadre
and forces in Central Equatoria.
The extension of the war is a grave threat to neighboring countries.
For example, after a long series of skirmishes at the 2016 war start between
SPLA and SPLM/A in Opposition in Central and Western Equatoria after 1st
VP Machar fled from Juba, he and some 750 soldiers and civilians entered the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Panel of Experts confirmed that, on 13 August, the Army
launched an incursion into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. An estimated
800 to 900 South Sudan troops from Division VI crossed the border and engaged
in a battle with SPLM/A-Opposition. On 17 August, two MI-24 helicopters also
crossed the border, travelling nearly 6 km into Congolese territory and again
attacking SPLM/A-Opposition positions. As the Panel noted in its report of
September 2016 (S/2016/793), while the helicopters were under Malong’s direct
command, it is unlikely that they were deployed without President Kiir’s full
knowledge and approval given the gravity of an operation that encroached into
the territory and airspace of another nation (November 2017 Panel of Experts Report)
In January 2017 the former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan and South
Sudan Donald Booth spoke to a USIP audience about his efforts to end violence
in The Sudans. He noted emphatically the central role of President Kiir in the
civil war that started in December 2013, adding Kiir’s removal of the National
Cabinet and Vice President in July 2013 helped in sparking the war. Of serious
note is Ambassador Booth’s comment about President Kiir’s hunger for power and
his inability to accept differing viewpoints. The Envoy says:
So too was the eagerness of Salva Kiir to
eliminate alterative points of view and consolidate his own power.
The is available at minute 9:36, here
In a speech to SPLM party members on 19 October 2016, President
Kiir alluded to the predominantly Dinka character of his Army by asking
rhetorically that, if “Nuers have left with
Riek Machar and Equatorians have refused to join the army, how should I get
other people to join the army?” He also railed against Equatorians, whom he
blamed for instigating instability in an attempt to encourage United Nations’
intervention in the country
and, saying “we will not just sit in Juba, we will go out”. President Kiir threatened
go in the field to take personal command of the counter-insurgency campaign in
Yei, Central Equatoria against the ‘Equatorian’ militia forces.
UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein expressed concern at the 19 October 2016
statement made by President Kiir, widely interpreted as ethnically driven. Around
100 staff members of several humanitarian organizations originally from the
Equatoria region (members of the targeted ethnic group) had to be evacuated to
safety.
On 16 August 2015, Kiir
was quoted by media gathered at the airport in Juba as he was departing for peace
talks in Ethiopia as saying “freedom of press does not mean that you work
against your country. And if anybody among them [journalists] does not know
this country has killed people, we will demonstrate it one day on them”. Four
days later, a journalist, Peter Moi, was killed in Juba; the perpetrators
remain unidentified. See, here
The former Deputy Chief of General Staff for Logistics Lieutenant General
Thomas Cirillo Swaka accused President Kiir of weakening the military by
“tactically and systematically transform[ing] the Army into a partisan and
tribal army”. He added that “it is a militia loyal only to its tribal
leadership in the person of President Salva Kiir Mayardit and then Chief of
General Staff Paul Malong Awan” who recruited them and that “it has truly
become a tribal militia establishment”. See UN Panel of Experts Report (April 2017)
The path to peace is so
challenging in South Sudan because the way is filled with obstacles placed in
the way by President Salva Kiir. The UN Panel of Experts put the problem
succinctly in its report:
Kiir’s co-optation of the Agreement by placing
his proxies in most positions reserved for SPLM/A in Opposition members within
the Transitional Government of National Unity has foreclosed a meaningful
political and reconciliation process, further dividing the country along tribal
lines, given that many non-Dinka communities — and Dinka alienated by the
regime — see no viable forum to express political dissent, pursue reform or
ensure their basic security. Provocative policy initiatives, such as Kiir’s
order of October 2015 to increase the number of states from 10 to 28, proposed
by the Jieng Council of Elders and supported and defended by political figures
such as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Michael Makuei, are
exacerbating these divisions.
If you wish to fix the
problem, one must undo the damage the Obama Administration and its biased
vassals Senator John Kerry, NSA Susan Rice and Ambassador Donald Booth did with
the UN, AU and IGAD’s support. A recent investigation by the Associated Press
(AP) reveals the West and African allies knew what was happening in South
Sudan, atrocities like the 2016 ethnic cleansing in Yei, eastern Equatoria — but
did nothing. The previous administration somehow preferred to have a barbaric
dictator whose soldiers shoot at our ambassador/diplomats; gang-raped our
American humanitarian workers; kill our journalist like 26-year-old Christopher
Allen rather then seek a more conscientious leader. “UN, US failed to prevent
‘ethnic cleansing’ in South Sudan” – click for AP report here
Enough is enough, only drastic
measures will persuade a war-crazed Army of undisciplined brutes. The Syrian
example comes to mind. If generals/genocidal maniacs and supporters see strong
action, that would change minds! But I leave the details to a U.S. President
who does not play around with tyrants like Kiir and North Korea’s leader Kim
Jong-un who are seeking a military cooperation as well, see S/2017/150 - Final
report of the Panel of Experts, 27 February 2017 – p. 46.
South Sudan regime, your day of reckoning
is coming…!
