By every conceivable measure, South Sudan is a nation in crisis. Though a peace agreement was signed in 2018, it is yet to be implemented. While visiting the country this month, the U.N. Commissioner on Human Rights in South Sudan warned that every passing day of inaction means not just time lost, but lives lost.
According to the World Bank, 80% of the South Sudanese population lives below the international poverty line, while only 1% of people have access to electricity. And in September, a United Nations Security Council delegation warned that another full-fledged civil war could break out there at any moment.
Global food security was among the priority issues discussed during the recent U.N. General Assembly in New York. With the prediction that South Sudan will experience famine unless billions of dollars in aid are not obtained immediately, it is among the countries being considered for urgent action. But it’s important to note that the multiple crises facing South Sudan weren’t of its own making.
Located along the Nile River, the land that is now Sudan and South Sudan was once part of the ancient Christian Nubian kingdoms. It was renowned for its arts and culture, had its own written language and enjoyed a high level of gender equality. Nubia eventually declined and fell to successive conquerors. Eventually, it revolted against Egypt. However, only a decade later, Britain, the ruling power in Egypt at the time, retook Sudan and placed it under joint Egyptian-British rule.
Sudan finally gained its independence in 1956. But independence did not give way to peace. A civil war, which was already underway between the predominantly Muslim north and majority Christian south, would last until 1972. During that time both sides handed out arms to civilians, including children, for self-protection. By the end of a second civil war, which lasted until 2005, an estimated 1.9 to 3.2 million small arms were circulating among the population.
In 2011, South Sudanese citizens voted to secede from the north and become their own country. While optimism was widespread and infectious, in 2013, yet another civil war had broken out in the fledgling country. By 2016, 6 million people in South Sudan were facing starvation. By 2017, the country’s economy was in tatters and a famine had been declared. By 2018, around 400,000 people had been killed and over 4 million displaced.
Despite the formation of a unity government in 2020, inter-community violence in South Sudan has increased. Human and civil rights are barely existent. A recent joint human rights report documented 131 cases of rape and gang rape, including of girls as young as 8. The country has also been declared one of the most dangerous places for aid workers.
In a declared effort to “choke off war funds,” the United States has imposed sanctions on the South Sudanese oil industry. These sanctions have prevented the country from using its natural resources (3.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves) to reduce its extreme energy poverty. While it’s tempting to see this as positive for the environment, South Sudan lacks the funds to transition to renewable energy without the ability to sell its gas.
The African Energy Chamber has urged the United States to remove its oil industry sanctions. The Crisis Group has stated that sanctions on South Sudan must be specific in their targets and time frames, and have clear off-ramps.
Violent conflict isn’t the only factor putting South Sudan in urgent danger of famine. Climate change has wreaked havoc on crops in the Horn of Africa even as the war in Ukraine compounds the global food security crisis. We must ensure that the United States, and other Western countries, don’t exacerbate the already dire situation and that they are held accountable for the role they have played in creating the crisis.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Ariel Gold is the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA, the oldest peace and justice organization in the United States. This column was produced by Progressive Perspectives, which is run by The Progressive magazine and distributed by Tribune News Service.
