South Sudan Leaders Sending Millions in Ill-Gotten Wealth Abroad, Report Says

NAIROBI, Kenya—South Sudan’s leaders have transferred millions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth outside the country while waging a civil war that has left nearly half the country’s people homeless or in urgent need of humanitarian aid, a nongovernmental group said Monday.

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, said a report by The Sentry, a watchdog group that investigates corruption and organized crime in Africa, following a two-year investigation.

In violation of South Sudanese law that bars officeholders from engaging in commercial activity, these powerful political figures and their immediate relatives have large ownership interests in local oil, construction, security and gambling businesses, the report says.

The report accuses the two leaders of perpetuating conflict in South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, to amass personal wealth.

“The leaders of South Sudan’s warring parties manipulate and exploit ethnic divisions in order to drum up support for a conflict that serves the interests only of the top leaders of these two kleptocratic networks and, ultimately, the international facilitators whose services the networks utilize and on which they rely,” it says.

Mr. Kiir’s presidential salary is about $60,000 annually. Mr. Machar drew a government salary $54,000 annually until he was ousted in July following a collapse of a power-sharing agreement. He is now in neighboring Sudan.

A spokesman for Mr. Kiir didn’t immediately reply to calls and messages requesting comment. A spokesman for Mr. Machar said he would study the report and respond to it later Monday.

Since December 2013, the two political rivals have pitted their tribes and armies against each other in conflict that has cost thousands of lives. About 1.6 million of South Sudan’s 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes, and some 5.2 million are urgently in need of humanitarian assistance, including food, according to the United Nations.

In its report, The Sentry recommended the freezing of the assets of Mr. Kiir, Mr. Machar and a number of generals. It said the wealth of South Sudanese leaders should be treated as ill-gotten and fall under legislation to combat terrorism financing.

The United Nations and the U.S. have imposed financial sanctions against six South Sudanese senior military commanders from both regular government forces and fighters loyal to Mr. Machar.

But The Sentry’s two-year investigation found that one of the two men under U.N. and U.S. sanctions was still able to make major financial transactions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Sentry’s investigation also found that children of the South Sudanese leaders are living abroad, playing crucial roles in their families’ financial networks and documenting their lavish styles on social media.

The report alleges that the 12-year-old son of Mr. Kiir holds a 25% interest in a holdings company. His identification documents list his occupation as “Son of President.”

Foreign donors have supplied billions of dollars in aid to the South Sudan since the war started, with the U.S. providing topping the list with $1.6 billion in assistance.

The Sentry was founded by Hollywood actor George Clooney and John Prendergast, a former official in the Clinton administration. It is affiliated with the Enough Project, another nongovernmental organization.

Write to Matina Stevis at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.^[1]

References

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