Both Kiir and Machar the report says, “benefit financially from the continuing war and have effectively ensured that there is no accountability for their human rights violations and financial crimes”.
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A new report by a US -based watchdog group accuses South Sudan’s rival leaders of amassing wealth overseas amid a conflict in which tens of thousands have been killed.
At a news conference to present the report, they called on the global community to cut off the leaders’ financial flows through tougher sanctions.
The report by The Sentry, which was co-founded by actor George Clooney, says that in 2015 it began “to follow the money that has been and continues to be amassed” by networks loyal to either Kiir or Machar.
The report by The Sentry says President Salva Kiir, former deputy Riek Machar and those close to both men have looted the country in accumulating wealth that includes mansions and luxury cars overseas.
President Salva Kiir and some his top associates, along with Riek Machar, the country’s former vice president, have invested millions of dollars in real estate in Kenya, Uganda and Australia, according to a report by the Sentry, which investigates corruption and organized crime in Africa, following a two-year probe.
President Kiir children’s national identity cards published with the report indicated that they were describing their occupations as “son of the president” or “daughter of the president”.
The report said Mr Kiir’s family had been involved in a series of transitions involving government procurement deals and relationships with a foreign oil company.
Machar, who was picked up by MONUSCO with a leg injury on August 17 and later transferred to Sudan for medical treatment, is the only one of the group known to have left Congo. The group said it had obtained documents showing that Kiir’s 12-year-old son held a 25 percent stake in a holding company formed in February 2016.
Clooney said the group planned to lobby US President Barack Obama and other senior administration officials to impose sanctions targeted at South Sudan’s leaders and to freeze their assets overseas.
The flight of South Sudan’s main opposition leader and more than 750 of his supporters across the border into Democratic Republic of Congo will threaten regional stability if not properly handled, the DRC’s United Nations mission said on Monday.
Mr Prendergast, a former director of African affairs at the White House National Security Council, said the “fatal flaw” of the worldwide community was it did not pay enough attention to the “core rot” at the foundation of the new government.
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The newly independent country of South Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since 2013. It has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 800,000 to flee to neighboring countries.
