Global IssuesNEWSBRIEF: South Sudan Celebrates a Troubled First Birthday
JUBA, Jul 09 (IPS) - The streets have been swept clean and lined with flags to mark the first anniversary of South Sudan’s independence. But cosmetic changes in the capital, Juba, mask deep concerns about the future of the world’s newest nation.
South Sudan’s first year of independence has been marred by violent clashes, food shortages, a refugee crisis and a faltering economy that threatens to halt development. As the nation celebrates its liberation from Sudan after a civil war that killed an estimated two million people, messages from the international community were decidedly muted.
“Looking back, the last year has clearly been a difficult one for the people of South Sudan,” Hilde Johnson, the United Nations secretary general’s special representative, told reporters in Juba on Friday, Jul. 6. “It’s been a tough start.” In a strongly-worded statement read out at the United States embassy’s July 4 celebrations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the country faces “significant challenges that threaten stability and prosperity.”
“Conflict and unresolved issues with Sudan and domestic inter-ethnic tensions have led to increased fighting and economic hardship, which threatens to compromise the very foundations upon which South Sudan’s future was to be built,” she said.
Much of South Sudan’s future was tied to oil. The country inherited three quarters of Sudan’s reserves when it separated, but the pipelines and processing facilities remain north of the border, along with the port that South Sudan needs to use to get its oil to market.
It was thought that the countries’ mutual interest in oil revenue would help foster a working relationship between the former civil war foes. But it has not worked out that way. Talks since independence have failed to yield an agreement on how much South Sudan should pay to ship its oil through Sudan. In late January, South Sudan shut down oil production after Sudan confiscated 815 million dollars worth of Southern crude, which it claimed was in lieu of unpaid fees.
South Sudan said it had no choice but to halt production because Sudan was “stealing” its oil. But in doing so, the government deprived itself of 98 percent of its revenue. Already greatly dependent on the international community for aid, donors are now concerned that South Sudan will now be unable to fund any development programmes or even pay public sector salaries, which could lead to civil unrest.
“We must not allow the large investments in agriculture, water, education and other services to be undone by the economic crisis and increase in conflict,” said Helen McElhinney, a policy advisor with Oxfam International. “The longer this crisis drags on, the greater the risk South Sudan’s development will slip backwards, and its vast potential will be unrealised.”
Alfred Lokuji, dean of Juba University’s Community and Rural Development Studies department, said an agreement to restart oil production would not solve South Sudan’s problems. “Even if the oil were flowing, the fundamental problem remains – how to manage it, how to manage those resources,” he said.
Lokuji pointed out that South Sudan and Sudan split oil revenues 50-50 in the five years leading up to independence, but southerners have seen very little development. Instead, oil wealth has been squandered and stolen.
© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service