PREVIEW
The United States has decisively broken ties with the Juba regime
By imposing visa restrictions on the Salva Kiir government which, it says, has left the country ‘on the brink of a return to all-out war’, Washington has signalled to Juba that it is on the watch list for more serious financial sanctions.
In an accompanying statement, the United States State Department said that the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), controlled by Kiir, had ‘conducted a military offensive in northern Jonglei State that has displaced 300,000 people and created the conditions for a potential famine in large parts of South Sudan.’
The US has also imposed sanctions against Crawford Capital, a company which has emerged as the exclusive provider of e-government services and which, the State Department says, has ‘siphoned money from South Sudan’s treasury and stolen foreign assistance funds intended to support the South Sudanese people.’
Washington has become increasingly frustrated with the Kiir government, and threatened to withhold funding for the country’s repeatedly delayed elections which are now scheduled for December (AC Vol 67 No 7, Siege mentality pushes politics to brink). Last year, President Donald Trump threatened to close the US embassy in Juba, in response to which Kiir sought to heal the rift by agreeing to take a group of migrants deported by the US (AC Vol 66 No 11, Salva’s man to overturn US visa ban).
Crawford Capital, whose main figures appear to be its chief executive Garang Mayom Kuoc Malek, a 35-year-old businessman who owns around 61% of the shares, and Kenyan businessman Jeremy Gisemba, operates a number of government programmes including its electronic system for oil extraction permits. It has been strongly defended in statements by South Sudan’s ICT ministry.
Washington has not named the individuals who will be targeted by the visa bans.
For the moment, Kiir is hanging tough. Juba has described the US accusations of corruption and human rights abuses as ‘unfounded’ and ‘recycled and unsubstantiated claims’. It added that the visa restrictions would hit South Sudanese students and athletes.
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