Opinion: The Paradox of Politics in South Sudan

November 17, 2019 Opinions

Opinion,

By: Peter Ayul Necding

Kelly Craft, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, meets President Salva Kiir Mayardit at the State House during a high-level visit by UN officials (Photo: Supplied)

Nov 17th, 2019 (SSNN)-It is not a secret that South Sudan politics is full of paradoxes. In this context, it might not be an exaggeration to say that U.S policies in South Sudan could be counted among those paradoxes.

As a matter of fact, it is very hard to find any substantial logic behind the statements of some senior American Officials. For example, it was really astonishing to hear Ambassador Kelly, the U.S Envoy to UN saying that they were disappointed by the statement of Dr. Riek Machar about the ceasefire, which was actually the truth, while at the same time, she was ready to believe the promises of President Salva Kiir, who could not implement the Revitalized- Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in fourteen months!!

Also, it was shocking to read the statement of U.S Government in relation to the formation of the Revitalized- Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) on the 12.11.2019. According to Mr. Pompeo: “The failure of President Salva Kiir & Dr. Riek Machar to form a unity government by November 12 calls into question their suitability to continue to lead the nation…” This statement from U.S Secretary of State can provoke many questions:

Why did the American Government want the formation of R-TGoNU by 12 November 2019 though they know that the Agreement was not implemented?
Presumably, the postponement of the formation of the R-ARCSS is an attempt to rescue the Agreement, why is U.S Government disappointed?
Why did the U.S. Government fail to put pressure on President Salva Kiir to implement the Agreement in letter and spirit in the last fourteen months?These questions and others can put someone in a dilemma about the trend of the diplomacy of the U.S.A Government in South Sudan.

After all, the fallacy of shared responsibility or shared blame cannot help in solving the problem of South Sudan at this critical time. It is strange diplomacy to continue to blame all the parties without distinction in the responsibilities that led to the failure.

In fact, Secretary Pompeo is asking the wrong question. The issue is not why the R-TGoNU was not formed? Instead, the most important question should be: Why the R-ARCSS was not implemented in the last fourteen months? And who is responsible for the failure to implement the Agreement?

In a nutshell, it is high for U.S Government to call a spade a spade. It is not business as usual, because the lives of millions of people are at stake in South Sudan and U.S Govenment should not repeat mistake of 2016.

Peter Ayul Necding is the SPLM-IO Representative to Australia. He can be reached through his email at pnecding@yahoo.com

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