South Sudan’s devastating civil war has enriched senior officials directing the conflict, including the president and his main rival, a report charged Monday.
Advertisement
The newly-independent country of South Sudan has been mired in conflict since 2013, after political rivalry between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice-President Riek Machar, exploded into violence.
Nearly half of the population rely on food assistance for survival and more than 800,000 South Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries as refugees.
The report, which is titled War Crimes Shouldn’t Pay, is the culmination of a two year collaborative investigation involving staff at Clooney’s humanitarian organisation The Sentry, and the Not On Our Watch Project, a charity founded by George, Don and their Ocean’s Eleven co-stars Matt Damon and Brad Pitt.
Civil society activists who met with UN Security Council diplomats during last week’s visit to South Sudan are fleeing a government crackdown, groups said on Friday. This is despite South Sudanese law prohibiting constitutional office holders from engaging in business activities outside government while still in office.
Kiir’s office was not immediately available for comment. South Sudan’s top leaders’ principal vulnerabilities lie in their need to move stolen assets out of the country and park that money in accounts, properties or businesses.
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.
UN’s Ban Ki Moon has told the Security Council in a report sent late Thursday that the first advance teams of the new 4,000-strong force could begin arriving in Juba by the end of this month.
“Our intention is to find solution to the conflict”, he said from Washington, DC.
One in five of South Sudan’s 12 million people have fled their homes since war broke out nearly three years ago, triggering widespread hunger as farmers and markets have been unable to function.
Tens of thousands of Nuer have taken shelter in United Nations camps in South Sudan under often dire conditions as a peace deal signed a year ago threatens to fall apart amid continued fighting.
Hollywood actor George Clooney, who co-founded The Sentry with United States human rights activist John Prendergast, and other collaborators presented the project’s findings at a news conference in Washington, DC, on Monday.
Advertisement
The agency further said it was engaged in dialogue with the Sudanese federal civil registry to promote the issuance of birth certificates for South Sudanese children born in Sudan. After consulting widely with banking, finance and policy experts, we would propose a new approach to creating immediate and unprecedented leverage to counter mass atrocities in South Sudan.
