The United Nations Security Council has just authorized an intervention force for South Sudan. The mandate of the force would prioritize the protection of civilians and act to bolster the tenuous peace process in the country.
A recent article issued by the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment looks at a number of factors that the author, Luuk van de Vondervoort, argues would enable an effective arms embargo in South Sudan.
This week, Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan and the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), swore in Taban Deng Gai as first vice president, replacing former Vice President Riek Machar. The move was denounced by Machar’s followers, and the Enough Project characterized Kiir’s action as a consolidation of power in violation of the peace agreement signed in August of last year.
John Prendergast and others speak on Manute Bol's activism for South Sudan independence.
Today, the Enough Project released its latest report, “A Hope from Within? Countering the Intentional Destruction of Governance and Transparency in South Sudan” by Enough Project Associate Policy Director Brian Adeba, documenting why the reformation of key government institutions is critical to the survival of South Sudan.
In April 2016, after considerable foot-dragging, opposition, and obstacles, the two main parties to the conflict in South Sudan that erupted in December 2013 formed a transitional government as mandated in the August 2015 peace agreement. Sustainable peace in South Sudan will continue to be elusive unless leaders make profound and fundamental changes to establish accountability and end impunity.
A new report published today by the Enough Project points to an intentional effort by South Sudan’s political elite to undermine state institutions in order to protect their corrupt extraction of national wealth and maintain power at any cost. As South Sudan’s tenuous peace agreement holds, the country faces a tipping point that could lead to a new outbreak of devastating armed conflict largely driven by competition between its leaders over the spoils of power.
The replacement of South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar with Taban Deng is a well-tested policy that dates back to the 1980s that the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party has employed to purchase the loyalty of groups opposed to it. Following a shoot-out between the bodyguards of President Salva Kiir and Machar earlier this month, relations between both men worsened, culminating in an attack on the latter’s residence in the capital Juba. Machar fled the city and said he would only return if regional peacekeeping troops were allowed in the country to act as a buffer between the two forces.
In a potentially destabilizing political move, South Sudan President Salva Kiir has removed First Vice President Riek Machar, replacing him with Mining Minister Taban Deng Gai.
Brian Adeba, Enough's Associate Director of Policy, discusses the crisis in South Sudan on Al Jazeera's 'The Stream,' which aired on July 18, 2016.
Just a day after South Sudan marked its fifth anniversary as the world's newest independent country, fierce fighting between rival factions has resumed, putting the already tenuous August 2015 peace deal in jeopardy. Hundreds are alleged to have been killed in the last few days, and thousands displaced.
The South Sudan peace deal is at grave risk due to the fighting in Juba, just one day after South Sudan marked its fifth anniversary as the world's newest independent country. Just as consequentially, the massive humanitarian aid effort is also being put at extreme jeopardy at a time when nearly five million people are severely food insecure. Command and control on both sides of the fighting appears to have broken down. Regional leaders are actively promoting a ceasefire, seemingly the only hope for preventing a return to full scale war.
South Sudan, Africa’s newest country, will usher in its fifth year of independence tomorrow. The country, already ravaged by conflict and poverty, is facing immediate threats of famine, economic implosion, and inter-ethnic war.
Recently, the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, called for global support to recover assets stolen by South Sudanese elites and deposited into foreign bank accounts or spent on purchasing properties in foreign countries. This is not the first time President Kiir has expressed a desire to tackle elite corruption in his country. In past cases, however, there has been no effective follow through, leaving the situation unchanged and the stolen assets in the hands of those who stole them.
In a recent op-ed, “South Sudan Needs Truth, Not Trials,” South Sudan President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar argue that the only way to bring South Sudan together is through “an organized peace and reconciliation commission with international backing.” In this process, they argue that anyone who tells the truth concerning what they saw or did would receive amnesty from prosecution, even if he or she did not express remorse.
The recent article by Radio Tamazuj "Founder of 'Enough Project' parent NGO tied to payments from S Sudan gov" (June 9, 2016) inaccurately implies that John Prendergast, Founding Director of the Enough Project, received funds from the government of South Sudan. This implication is wholly untrue, and the article is rife with factual errors.
Today, the Enough Project released its latest policy brief by Founding Director John Prendergast, “The Paper Tiger in South Sudan: Threats without Consequences for Atrocities and Kleptocracy”. Based on Prendergast’s testimony before a hearing in Congress last month, the brief outlines how the primary root cause for the atrocities and instability that mark South Sudan’s short history is that its government quickly morphed into a violent kleptocracy.
This policy brief adapts and expands on congressional testimony I delivered on April 27, 2016 before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations in a hearing on “South Sudan’s Prospects for Peace and Security.”
An Enough Project policy brief published today authored by John Prendergast, Founding Director of the Enough Project, presents the case for the U.S. and the broader international community to counter the violent kleptocracy -- rampant, high-level corruption linked to mass atrocities and armed conflict – in South Sudan. The brief argues that if this kleptocratic structure is left unaddressed, the fledgling peace effort stands little chance of success.
John Prendergast testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Africa's hearing on “South Sudan’s Prospects for Peace and Security.”
The Enough Project is no longer operational. Its mission is continued by The Sentry, an investigative organization providing new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts. Explore The Sentry’s work at TheSentry.org.