[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 19 (Monday, January 31, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S405-S407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SOUTH SUDAN
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on January 6, 2022, I made a statement
about the extreme hardships and insecurity that are a daily reality for
the people
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of South Sudan, despite independence 10 years ago that held so much
promise and hope for that country. That independence came as a result
of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which took years of negotiations
facilitated by the United States, Norway, and the United Kingdom, and
it provided a roadmap for political stability, economic development,
respect for human rights, and justice.
Since then, two former warlords, President Kiir and Vice President
Machar, who were never elected, have dominated the political landscape
in South Sudan. It is they, throughout these critically important
formative years, who have had the executive power and the
responsibility to transform the aspirations of independence into
tangible improvements in the lives of their people. Ten years later, it
is fair to ask a simple question: What have they done?
I would answer that question with these questions:
After ten years, is South Sudan a country at peace where
the rights of the people are respected and their basic needs,
such as safe water, sanitation, food, shelter, and health
care are being met?
Has South Sudan's vast oil wealth been invested wisely in
public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, public
transportation, roads, and bridges after decades of civil
war?
Is the country's agricultural economy expanding and
reaching new markets?
Are children in school and are teachers receiving a decent
salary?
Are South Sudan's youth, who make up a majority of the
population, able to find jobs?
Do the security forces have the training, equipment, food,
and barracks they need to maintain the peace, and are
soldiers and officers receiving adequate pay?
Are government ministries led and staffed by trained and
honest professionals?
Is the Parliament defending the people's interests?
Is the judiciary independent, and the courts accessible and
trusted by the people? Have those who committed crimes
against humanity and other gross violations of human rights
been prosecuted and punished?
Have the many thousands of South Sudanese refugees and
internally displaced been able to return home to rebuild
their lives?
Is civic space being protected so civil society activists
and independent journalists can function without fear of
harassment or threats?
Has the necessary work been done to create the conditions
for transparent, free, and fair elections in which candidates
from all political parties can participate?
Has sustained progress been made in any of these areas?
I think the answers are obvious, and the people of South Sudan know
the answers. Despite billions of dollars in international aid and
billions of dollars in oil revenues, the government of South Sudan has
failed every test.
Today, South Sudan ranks as among the world's most corrupt country
and, despite its oil wealth, one of the hungriest country in the world.
We should remember that the Republic of South Sudan would not exist
were it not for the sacrifice of millions of South Sudanese who gave
their lives in the fight for independence. But it is also a fact that
had it not been for the support of the United States, South Sudan would
not be a Republic today.
I have been a U.S. Senator for 47 years, so I remember when South
Sudan existed only in people's dreams. I remember when John Garang
would visit the U.S. Congress seeking support. He was an inspiring
leader, and we supported him. I supported him. And we welcomed South
Sudan's hard-fought independence.
But since John Garang's tragic death in 2005, we have seen how greed
and personal ambition can thwart the aspirations of an entire
population.
The January 21 response of the office of the President of the
Republic of South Sudan to my statement of January 6 was as revealing
as it was predictable.
The office of the President accuses me of calling for ``regime change
through uprising and violence.'' Anyone who read my statement, as the
author of that accusation surely did, knows it to be absurd on its
face. There is not a single word in my statement that remotely suggests
what the office of the President accuses me of. Their resort to
fabrication and intimidation is the all-too-common tactic of
governments to deflect attention from their own failures. We have seen
it even in our own country.
The people of South Sudan have experienced far too much war, far too
much violence, far too much displacement, far too much insecurity, and
far too much hunger and misery. The last thing they need or want is
more violence, and nothing I have said would suggest otherwise.
There are countless examples. Just a few days ago, on January 23, 5
kilometers from Bor, the capital of Jonglei State, armed militia
reportedly slaughtered 35 and injured 17 civilians, including women and
children. Property was looted, and huts were burned down. The people of
South Sudan know too well that these violent acts are orchestrated or
condoned by the country's leaders. In a letter dated November 25, 2020,
addressed to the President of the U.N. Security Council from the Panel
of Experts on South Sudan, they reported the following:
Political and security disputes within President Kiir's
coalition have contributed to conflicts that have killed and
displaced civilians in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor
Administrative Area. Rival factions within the Government
supplied weapons to various ethnic militias from the
Government's stockpile. Between May and August, eight
humanitarian staff were killed, humanitarian facilities were
looted and destroyed, and thousands of civilians were
displaced at a time of widespread flooding in Jonglei and the
Greater Pibor Administrative Area.
The killings on January 23 were part of the same pattern, yet those
who bear responsibility for these attacks accuse advocates for peaceful
change of promoting violence.
Rather than falsely accuse me and South Sudanese civil society
organizations that have repeatedly demonstrated their commitment to
non-violence, the government should put a stop to these attacks and ask
itself the questions I have posed.
It should also reflect on the fact that U.S. S. Res. 380 passed
unanimously, with the support of 100 U.S. Senators, Democrats and
Republicans, less than 2 months ago. I remind the office of the
President what we said:
Whereas despite years of fighting, widespread suffering of
South Sudanese civilians, punitive actions by the
international community, and 2 peace agreements, the leaders
of South Sudan have failed to build sustainable peace, and
critical provisions of the Revitalized Agreement on the
Resolution of the Conflict [R-ARCSS] . . . remain
unimplemented;
Whereas the leaders of South Sudan have consistently failed
to uphold their responsibilities to create the conditions for
peace and prosperity, have prioritized self-preservation and
corruption over the needs of the people they represent, have
acted in bad faith in the implementation of cease fire and
peace agreements, and have betrayed the cause of freedom,
resulting in the loss of millions of lives; and
Whereas South Sudan has not held an election since its
independence and the current leaders of South Sudan were
appointed or installed through transitional arrangements
based on peace agreements.
That Resolution also urged the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury:
(A) to prioritize investigations into illicit financial
flows fueling violence in South Sudan;
(B) to work with the Secretary of State to update, on a
regular basis, the list of individuals and entities
designated under the South Sudan sanctions program, including
individuals at the highest levels of leadership in South
Sudan and from within the National Security Service; and
(C) to coordinate, in cooperation with the Secretary of
State, with the United Kingdom and the European Union on
South Sudan-related sanctions designations and enforcement.
So rather than make up falsehoods about those asking such questions,
including me, the People's Coalition for Civil Action, and other South
Sudanese activists and organizations that want nothing more than for
the promise of the R-ARCSS to be realized so the people of South Sudan
can enjoy the security and prosperity they are entitled to, I urge
President Kiir and Vice President Machar to put their country first.
Rather than falsely accusing others of violence or resorting to
provocations to create a pretext for persecuting and silencing them,
they should listen to them. They should listen to the voices of the
people, expressed in the National Dialogue, that South Sudan needs a
new beginning.
Rather than claim to have taken significant steps to put South
Sudan's failing economy on a solid footing, which fools no one, they
should open up the government's books so people can see the receipts
and expenditures.
Rather than hide behind the R-ARCSS to preserve the status quo, they
should implement it in letter and spirit, including by unifying rival
security
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forces, by promulgating a new constitution, and by opening up the
political space in the country.
Rather than make excuses to delay elections as they have repeatedly
done before, they should set a date, in accordance with the R-ARCSS,
for national and Parliamentary elections, and they should support a
roadmap for creating the necessary conditions for the refugees to
return and for multiparty democratic elections to succeed with the
support of the army. And without delay, they should declare their
unconditional commitment not to contest the next election and to
relinquish power as soon as South Sudan's newly elected leaders take
office.
The sad reality is that while the South Sudanese people won their
independence from Sudan, they remain captives of the same ruthless and
corrupt warlords who created so much ethnic conflict, bloodshed, and
misery during the civil war and who have not been held accountable.
They simply reinvented themselves as political leaders, with a stamp
of legitimacy from the international community, while continuing to act
like the warlords they are and always were.
They have shown no interest in implementing the R-ARCSS or any other
peace agreement.
They have shown no interest in the welfare of their people.
They have shown no interest in anything except holding onto power,
avoiding justice, and enriching themselves.
It is time to listen to the people of South Sudan and for the United
States to reassess its policy toward South Sudan. The White House and
the State Department need to recognize that the status quo in South
Sudan has been a dead end for years and consult with Congress on a new
way forward. As a first step, the U.S. should use the authorities that
already exist, including the Global Magnitsky Act, to sanction key
officials in South Sudan's National Security Service, which has long
functioned as a criminal enterprise that engages in extrajudicial
killings, arbitrary detention, torture, and other heinous crimes.
Real peace requires justice, and it requires respect for fundamental
rights regardless of ethnicity, race, or religion. It requires free and
fair elections and equitable economic development. These should be at
the heart of our policy.
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