McDonnell: Looking
for the Real Bastards in South Sudan
by Faith J. H. McDonnell 21 Apr 2017
In late March,
speaking with barely controlled anger, Dutch Minister for International Trade
and Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen told Dutch TV, “The leaders of South Sudan
are bastards who starve their own people!”
Ploumen is justified to feel passionate about African
babies dying from hunger. Australia’s SBS on March 31 declared
the minister “isn’t one for holding back.”
But Ploumen chose to not hold back on the wrong target in
South Sudan’s so-called “civil war” that has devastated the nation and its
prospects for the past three years. The minister was primarily referring to the
democratically-elected President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, omitting
criticism of rebel forces causing displacement of populations and exacerbating
a famine by preventing adequate access for humanitarian agencies.
U.S. and other politicians, journalists, and humanitarian
organizations usually mutter diplomatically that “both sides are at fault” or
“all players in the conflict commit atrocities,” while privately condemning
President Kiir’s administration and the South Sudan Army. Ploumen, though,
didn’t even try to pretend to see any moral equivalence. The Big Man in his
cowboy hat from W (fairly certain Kiir has cast off the hat that former Secretary of
State Kerry, that old Texas cowhand, gave him
to displace deliberately the Bush hat)
was in her sights.
These misleading accusations feed on the fact that every
narrative about South Sudan is full of confusing acronyms and terms (SPLA,
SPLA-IO, GONU, rebels, civil war, etc.) and unattributed actions.
The Government of South Sudan that Kiir leads was renamed
the Transitional
Government of National Unity, (GONU) in April 2016. A global
coalition, including the United States, the African Union, the UN, and others,
pressured South Sudan’s leaders into sharing power and leadership with all of
their unelected rivals, including the former Vice President Riek Machar. Kiir’s
government cooperated with the dictates of internationally imposed leadership
as demanded, and has made concession after concession of its own sovereignty
for the sake of pursuing peace with rebels like Machar.
Machar has attempted to take over South Sudan by armed
rebellion and by a campaign of deception and demonization worthy of Saul
Alinsky. He has been aided in
this by the Islamic Republic of Sudan (Khartoum), just as he was
during Sudan’s civil war in the 1990’s, when he and
other current “opposition leaders” tried to take control of what was
then southern Sudan. In that
rebellion, he was responsible for the death of more southern
Sudanese than were the Khartoum jihadists.
A great lesson: stage a violent coup attempt as Machar
did in December 2013, be responsible for the death
and displacement of hundreds of thousands and for encouraging other
leaders to leave the government and join the rebellion, and the international
community will reward you by supporting your
‘right’ to be part of the government.
There is calamitous food insecurity in South Sudan.
100,000 citizens are at risk of starvation and half the population, 5.5 million
people, face severe food insecurity this summer, according to the World Food Program. Many issues cause this food
insecurity, including the displacement of populations by South Sudanese rebels’
attacks and the inability for humanitarian aid to reach affected populations
because of the threat from those same rebels, but not deliberate starving of
the citizens by the government.
News stories say “fighting,”
“civil
war,” and raids
by “the military” have caused enormous
displacement. True enough. But most often, it is the attacks and
terror inspired by the rebels – often supported or at least encouraged by the
Khartoum regime – or the ensuing firefights between the rebels and the Army
that cause people to flee.
In addition, few news stories explain that much food
insecurity is actually within
the UN “Protection of Civilians” (POC) sites in country. POC’s and refugee
camps are overcrowded
and food is scarce. GONU
officials have urged citizens to return home in peaceful areas
where cultivation
is taking place. But the UN’s drumbeat of tribal
conflict has frightened many South Sudanese and discouraged them
from going home.
Finally, there is the claim
of humanitarian groups and the UN that the government “denies access” to them
in areas where people are starving. But according to a trusted, well-placed
source, stacks and stacks of access request forms, photos of which will soon be
available publicly, have been approved by the GONU.
The UN is well aware that the requests for access denied
are in areas controlled by rebels, not the GONU. The government has neither
control nor the ability to protect the humanitarian agencies from attacks and
kidnappings by rebel militias aligned with Riek Machar or with others that have
taken advantage of the nation’s instability to try to grab power for
themselves.
Last November, the UN pushed the GONU until it finally
gave access to an area under rebel control. Naturally, the rebel forces of Riek
Machar (the SPLA-IO “In Opposition”) ambushed the group. The UN called for help
and the real SPLA, the South Sudan Army, came to the rescue. But the SPLA lost
16 of its own men because of this reckless action by humanitarian groups whose
loyalty to the rebels is not returned by the rebels. The incident resulted in a
notable lack of reports featuring quotes from UN officials expressing their
gratitude to the GONU and the SPLA for this sacrificial action.
The criticism of South Sudan appears particularly hollow
when compared to international commentary on Sudan. The regime in Khartoum has
used government-orchestrated starvation and famine as a weapon of jihad for
decades. And it is currently perpetrating three, three genocidal wars:
in the Nuba Mountains, in Blue
Nile State, and in Darfur, where starvation
conditions, not to mention chemical
weapons, are always present.
Unlike South Sudan, however, the trade and investment opportunities
between the Netherlands and Sudan may be too cozy for insults. Sudan has
notably evaded the criticism Ploumen offered – for example, former U.N. Ambassador
Samantha Power, lauded a “sea
change of improvement in Khartoum’s facilitating
of humanitarian access in Sudan” in spite of no change in Khartoum’s
policies and declaration of jihad against the black African Christians and
Muslims of the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile State, and Darfur.
Contrary to the assessment of certain Africa policy
experts that opine about a country far away with little to no actual experience
there, South Sudan was not stillborn. South Sudan was delivered, a baby nation,
but then expected to act full grown while emerging from trauma such as most
human beings could never imagine. The international community should redirect
its anger away from the legitimate South Sudanese government and look to quell
the actions of violent rebels supported by the genocidal regime in Khartoum.
Genocidal
Genocide
Intervention Network was a merged organization with the Save Darfur Coalition.
Note: Joan R. Platt was
a director at the Genocide Intervention
Network, a director at the Genocide
Intervention Network, and is a director at the Human Rights Watch (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Human Rights Watch (think tank), and the Center for American Progress.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a board member for the International Crisis Group, a member of
the Bretton Woods Committee, was the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a benefactor for
the Human Rights Watch (think tank),
and a supporter for the Center for
American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights Watch (think tank), the Center for American Progress, and Common Cause.
Enough Project
is an affiliated project for the Center
for American Progress.
John Prendergast
was a fellow at the Center for American
Progress, is a co-founder for the Enough
Project, and a co-founder for the Satellite
Sentinel Project.
George Clooney is
a co-founder for the Satellite Sentinel
Project, and was a messenger of peace for the United Nations.
Satellite
Sentinel Project monitors
the activities in Sudan, and South Sudan.
Harvard
Humanitarian Initiative analyzes the images for the Satellite Sentinel Project, and collaborative with Harvard University.
World Food
Programme is an affiliate of the United
Nations.
United
Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture is a division of the United Nations.
Lawrence H.
Summers is a professor; former president for Harvard University, a board member for the International Crisis Group, a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a distinguished senior
fellow at the Center for American
Progress.
Samantha Power
was a board member for the International
Crisis Group, a U.S. ambassador for the United Nations, and is married to Cass R. Sunstein.
Cass R. Sunstein
is married to Samantha Power, a
professor at the Harvard Law School,
and a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Harvard Law
School is a school at Harvard
University.
Cameron F. Kerry
is a fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and Secretary of State John
F. Kerry’s brother.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and married to Secretary of State John F. Kerry.
Alice M. Rivlin is
a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a governing board member for Common Cause.
Jack Taylor is a
governing board member for Common Cause,
and was a chairman for the Alliance to
End Hunger.
David Beckmann
is the president for the Alliance to End
Hunger, the president of the Bread
for the World, and a member of the Bretton
Woods Committee.
Tony Fratto is a
member of the Bretton Woods Committee,
and a director at the World Food Program
USA.
Daniel R.
Glickman is a member of the Bretton
Woods Committee, and a director at the World
Food Program USA.
George
Soros is a member of the Bretton
Woods Committee, a board member for the International Crisis Group, the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a benefactor for
the Human Rights Watch (think tank),
and a supporter for the Center for
American Progress.
Lawrence H.
Summers is a member of the Bretton
Woods Committee, a board member for the International Crisis Group, a professor; former president for Harvard University, was a trustee at
the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a distinguished senior fellow at the Center
for American Progress.
Enough Project
is an affiliated project for the Center
for American Progress.
John Prendergast
was a fellow at the Center for American
Progress, is a co-founder for the Enough
Project, and a co-founder for the Satellite
Sentinel Project.
George Clooney is
a co-founder for the Satellite Sentinel
Project, and was a messenger of peace for the United Nations.
Satellite
Sentinel Project monitors the activities in Sudan, and South Sudan.
Harvard
Humanitarian Initiative analyzes the images for the Satellite Sentinel Project, and collaborative with Harvard University.
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