[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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