(Washington) The United States has decided to end part of its assistance to South Sudan because of the “lack of progress” in the transition process and the “lack of political will” of its leaders, has the US State Department announced on Friday.
Posted at 9:03 p.m.
Washington “deplores the failure of South Sudanese leaders to implement the commitments they made to bring peace to South Sudan” and has “consequently decided to end US assistance to the monitoring mechanisms of the peace process, starting on July 15, while we assess the next steps,” said US Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price.
Referring to “the lack of continued progress”, the United States therefore ended its support for two peacekeeping organizations responsible for implementing the transition: the reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) and the Ceasefire Verification and Monitoring Mechanism and the Follow-up to the Transitional Security Provisions.
“South Sudan’s leaders have not taken full advantage of the support provided by these oversight mechanisms and have shown a lack of the political will to implement key reforms,” Price said.
Washington has thus criticized the fact that the country has not yet adopted an electoral law and that members of civil society and journalists are “intimidated and prevented from expressing themselves”.
The United States, however, continues to provide aid to South Sudan, including nearly $1 billion in humanitarian and development assistance, and support for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
A two-year transition period provided for in the peace accord signed by President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice-President Riek Machar, is due to end in February 2023, with elections to be held 60 days before then. .
But many key points of the agreement have not been met, including the drafting of a permanent constitution and an electoral law.
South Sudan, one of the poorest countries on the planet despite large oil reserves, has suffered from chronic instability since gaining independence from Sudan in July 2011.
Since that date, it has been devastated by civil war for more than half of its existence.