WASHINGTON (CN) — The U.S., United Kingdom and Norway are warning that South Sudan, the world’s newest country, isn’t on a path to free and fair elections, potentially putting hundreds of millions in foreign aid on the line.
The three countries released a joint statement Tuesday saying South Sudan’s government must act “urgently” to create an environment conducive to planned elections in December.
“Our relationship with South Sudan remains based on our conviction that the South Sudanese people deserve peace, human rights, democracy, and a government that is responsive to the needs of its citizens,” the joint statement says. “We look to South Sudan’s leaders to demonstrate that they share these values by honoring their own commitments to their people.”
The countries said the statement comes after “recent senior-level visits” to Juba, South Sudan’s capital. They urged leaders to follow a mechanism crafted by the United Nations, African Union and Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
“Not taking these critical steps and so not allowing elections would be a collective failure on the part of South Sudan’s leaders,” the statement says. “We further urge the transitional government to use public revenue in a transparent manner to address public needs, including funding and operationalization of electoral institutions.”
The United States provided more than $9.2 billion in foreign assistance to South Sudan between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2022, the most recent year with full-year data. Of that money, $131.1 million was earmarked to build out civil society, $129.4 million for conflict mitigation and $58.3 million to support good governance.
South Sudan, which was originally part of Sudan following the latter’s independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom, started its path to independence through a civil war between 1983 and 2005. As part of a cease-fire agreement, a referendum led to South Sudan’s declaration as an independent state in 2011.
But its short history has been fraught with conflict. Almost immediately after independence, a short-lived war broke out between South Sudan and Sudan over oil resources in 2012. Then a multiparty civil war erupted in 2013.
A peace agreement was reached in 2018, but the country has never held national elections as government officials have postponed them multiple times. Elections are scheduled for December 2024, but the U.S., United Kingdom and Norway say the government hasn’t built up the structure necessary to hold free and fair elections.
Over the past few weeks, the State Department has imposed visa restrictions related to South Sudan’s political instability and repression of activists and dissidents. The repression reportedly includes an international campaign to threaten, kill or kidnap South Sudanese nationals in neighboring countries.
Last week, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said the country “remains a precariously fragile state beset by insecurity and poverty.”
“The nation’s leaders continually fail to exhibit the political will necessary to create the conditions for sustainable peace, democratic governance, the rule of law, and prosperity for the South Sudanese people,” he said. “The United States remains committed to supporting the South Sudanese peoples’ long unmet expectations for peace, democracy, human rights, and a government that uses public resources for the common good.”
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