Nairobi (AFP) - South Sudan's floundering peace talks are being undermined by the economic interests of the regional states leading the process, an advocacy group warned Wednesday.
A report from the US-based Enough Project said neighbouring Sudan and Uganda were among those frustrating efforts to impose "targeted sanctions" to stop the civil war in the world's youngest nation.
"Willingness to take action on South Sudan has been undermined by a web of political and economic relationships linking regional elites' interests to those of South Sudanese politicians," said the report.
A lack of action at the regional level has left "funding flows for the conflict mostly untouched", the Enough Project said.
Asset freezes, travel bans and an arms embargo have not been effectively imposed either regionally or internationally, meaning the cost of continued conflict in South Sudan is not borne by the country's warring leaders but by its suffering civilians, the report argued.
Civil war began in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup.
The conflict was immediately ethnic, pitting Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's Nuer, and quickly spread. It has been characterised by ethnic massacres, rape and the use of child soldiers. A fifth of the population has been uprooted and nearly half face starvation.
Peace talks, led by regional bloc IGAD, have been going on in Ethiopia almost as long as the 18-month war, resulting in nine failed agreements and ceasefires, all broken within days or even hours.
Threats of sanctions have been repeatedly made -- both by IGAD and the UN -- but not implemented, except against a handful of battlefield commanders for whom EU and US measures such as travel bans and asset freezes are irrelevant.
The UN Security Council has adopted a sanctions framework for South Sudan but has so far failed to name anyone.
An African Union inquiry into human rights abuses was shelved in January. A leaked draft said Kiir and Machar were both responsible for "organised massacres" and ethnic killings and recommended they be barred from office.
- Stashing the cash -
According to the Enough Project, parties involved in the regional talks have interests that run counter to peace, while a complex web of political ties, alliances and friendships tests their willingness to take effective action.
Thousands of Ugandan troops backed by helicopter gunships are in South Sudan fighting for Kiir while Sudan is accused of supplying Machar's rebels with weapons. Neither wants an arms embargo.
Sudan also relies heavily on the dwindling supply of South Sudanese oil and the transit fees Juba pays to Khartoum for its transport through northern pipelines, while Kenya has strong trade ties to South Sudan, especially in banking, that could be jeopardised by economic sanctions, the group said.
"Political and economic interests linking elites across Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan have individually and collectively undermined peace talks and the region's will to enforce sanctions that would disrupt access to funds that sustain war," said the Enough Project.
Observers argue that economic sanctions targeting the top leadership of South Sudan's divided ruling party and army is the best way to force the individuals to negotiate peace in good faith.
An investigation commissioned last year by pressure group Avaaz, found that a host of South Sudan's leaders hold valuable assets in Kenya and Uganda.
At war in South Sudan, Kiir and Machar are nevertheless neighbours in Nairobi, with near-adjacent mansions on a guarded road in the upmarket Lavington neighbourhood. The investigation said South Sudan's elite were financially unsophisticated, preferring to invest in property or simply stash cash "in suitcases and buried in residences".
Responding to the report, Uganda insisted that it was militarily engaged in South Sudan in order to "give room for peace efforts".
"That report is laughable. Our efforts have been in the framework of the African Union and we have no reason to undermine the peace efforts in South Sudan," Uganda's junior foreign affairs minister, Okello Oryem, told AFP. "It's wrong for anyone to claim we are undermining efforts to bring peace."
Newer articles:
- South Africa refuses to arrest ICC fugitive Bashir - 14/06/2015 09:19
- Omar al-Bashir: ICC urges S Africa to arrest Sudan leader - 14/06/2015 00:57
- 14,000 S.Sudanese flee to Sudan in two weeks: UN - 13/06/2015 10:07
- Status of the South Sudan Peace Process - 11/06/2015 09:01
- South Sudan Struggles to Survive - 11/06/2015 00:55
Older news items
- Hundreds of thousands face starvation in South Sudan: Red Cross - 10/06/2015 08:15
- Life Inside A UN Base Where Thousands Shelter From South Sudan's War - 09/06/2015 20:48
- South Sudan’s Latest Talks Begin in Ethiopia - 09/06/2015 06:01
- South Sudan Errs in Expelling UN Aid Coordinator - 08/06/2015 18:51
- South Sudan: Will fresh talks bring peace? - 08/06/2015 08:13
Latest news items (all categories):
- South Sudan needs ‘civic education’ before elections, says bishop - 16/01/2025 16:42
- South Sudan parties set to resume peace talks in Kenya - 16/01/2025 16:39
- Abandoned but not forgotten – the invisible crisis in South Sudan - 16/01/2025 16:35
- The SAF has committed barbaric atrocities against South Sudanese refugees in Wad Medani - 16/01/2025 16:27
- Syria 2025: The historical Syrian project: From revolution to a modern inclusive civil state - 16/01/2025 16:10
Random articles (all categories):
- The West Fails to Social Engineer South Sudan - 19/09/2019 11:09
- 700 LDUs to be deployed along Uganda-South Sudan border – Brig. Gen Kabongo - 11/05/2020 04:48
- South Sudan peace talks delayed as rebels deny massacre - 22/04/2014 18:00
- South Sudan's Stab At Nationhood - 10/07/2013 23:05
- South Sudan parliament summons Central Bank governor over dollar shortage - 15/05/2015 15:54
Popular articles:
- Who is the darkest person in the world, according to Guinness World Record? - 25/10/2022 02:34 - Read 61782 times
- No oil in troubled waters - 25/03/2014 15:02 - Read 22308 times
- School exam results in South Sudan show decline - 01/04/2012 17:58 - Read 21496 times
- NDSU student from South Sudan receives scholarship - In-Forum - 29/09/2012 01:44 - Read 19063 times
- Top 10 weakest currency exchange rates in Africa in 2023 - 19/07/2023 00:24 - Read 18825 times