Who is to blame for failed foreign policy in the Republic of South Sudan?
10 min read“Our lives begin to end the minute we become silent about things that matter” Martin Luther King.
By Wilson Mading Koc, Juba, South Sudan
February 11, 2016 (SSB) —- According to Miriam Webster, foreign Policy is “the policy of a sovereign state in its interaction with other sovereign states” in other words an action plan by State on how it handles bilateral relations with another nation or a multinational organization to safeguard its national interest. Foreign policy is dictated by the country’s military strength, economic power, political ideology and geo-location of the country. SPLM in its formative stages picked Ethiopia as it base, because Ethiopia was receptive to SPLM ideology and its objectives, but was perceived by the west as a communist inclined movement, Simply because Ethiopia was a socialist state at the time…the West was short of what the movement’s intentions where until the end of the cold war…in fact the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent ousting of Ethiopia’s Workers’ party or DERG regime was a blessing in disguise to the SPLM, because after these events, SPLM relocated its liaison offices to East Africa where it established contacts with the western nations.
Dr. Garang and his lieutenants had to be versatile because the pressure was at the peak, Sudan had just launched military campaigns and Dr Riek and Dr Lam Akol broke ranks with Garang in August 1991. The movement embarked on traversing Western Europe and the United State with the view to popularise SPLM’s Philosophy and ideology to that part of the world. SPLM’s mobilised its Diaspora, evangelical Christians, black caucuses in the USA and Europe to advance its course. The arrival of the lost Boys in the late 1990s and early 2000s was an added advantage and blessing to the Movement…. Dr Garang called them (Lost boys & Diaspora) the seventh front. The flip side of the coin was that SPLM was losing so much in the battle field (1991-1995) but making significant gains in the diplomatic front.
In 1994 Kenya hosted a Summit of (IGADD) Inter-Government Authority on development and Desertification, all the heads of States and governments from Eastern Africa attended and SPLM delegation was invited. The Sudan conflict was in the agenda. When leaders begun to deliberate on the conflict in Sudan and how to bring to an end the suffering of its people. Bashir interrupted the deliberations and said “there is no conflict to be resolved SPLM is over” in an apparent show of his military might in the field and he walked out of the Summit in defiance.
Before the talks SPLM had designed its position paper with the knowledge that Sudan government would not accept it, (in the position paper were issues of self-determination and separation of religion from the State) Sudan went ballistic on those topics, and so by a walk out, the government had fallen into SPLM’s trap. Regional leaders attending the meeting were angry in a manner in which President Bashir had displayed arrogance and disregards for the peace process in the Sudan. The face of the conflict quickly changed as that diplomatic blunder made by Bashir, worked perfectly well for the SPLM…in 1995 SPLA launched waves of military campaigns against SAF positions and captured towns all over South Sudan except Wau, Juba, and Malakal by 2002. The last confrontation between SPLA and SAf was witnessed in the battle of Torit in September 2002.
SPLM increasingly became the darling of the west and in the region and its members carried IDs (known as SPLM membership card) as a recognized document…SPLM leadership convinced the region that it was a dignified war and the regime in Khartoum was a terrorist regime, especially, when Bin laden struck US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, President Bill Clinton responded by pledging 30 million Dollars of support to the SPLM, the funds was not given to the SPLM directly. Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda became the frontline states the United States channelled it through them, they would contribute ammunitions and even personnel…Foreign troops participated in the liberation of Yei, Kaya, Magwi among others. All these diplomatic manoeuvres are what made SPLM unique in its handling of the war compared to the previous movements that fought for the independence of South Sudan. Now that South Sudan is a sovereign state who is the friend of South Sudan in the region? Who is the friend of South Sudan at the UNSC? Who is rocking the boat of South Sudan and why?
On the scale of 1-10, South Sudan scores 4, in the view of South Sudanese on the Streets, on matters of Foreign policy relations. The reasons for these are varied depending on whom you talk to. Under any give Nima tree in Juba, as you sip black tea, or chai sada, Boon or Fransawe…what comes up during that interaction is that, South Sudan has failed to maintained her historical allies, the likes of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zambia, Angola, Rwanda, Algeria, Cuba, United States and the Kingdom of Norway. The tragedy is that we blame other people for our own shortcomings, As such the country is isolated and bullied, the same friends that helped us gain our freedom are the ones contemplating dragging our leaders to the Hybrid Court of South Sudan to be establish in Arusha, Tanzania soon.
Each country has its own way of reacting to the way it feels South Sudan has abandoned them. Ethiopia, this days is being courted by Sudan in apparent show of protest to South Sudan, it has accepted even to carry out military drills with Sudan, they read from the same script with Sudan on the construction of Reconnaissance Dam. A project that has accelerated diplomatic bubbles in the horn of Africa’s long-time rivals Egypt and Ethiopia. Kenya is neither here or there, war or not Uganda sees investment for its army as South Sudan writhe in pain…What do you expect Sudan is winking and smiling at us now that our economy is on its knees.
Recently South Sudan made alarming promotions in the Ministry of Foreign affairs and its public knowledge that a good number of them don’t have papers. A Diplomatic and Consular Act 2012 requires that every applicant must have a bachelor degree to qualify for consideration in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But those familiar with the Ministry complain that this Act has not been observed and recruitment has continued behind closed doors, defying the Ministry of Finance’s circular issued in June 2012, after the government shut down of oil production, it experienced severe budgetary discrepancies forcing it to implement austerity measures. In the circular there was a provision prohibiting recruitment in the public sector.
The Minister and the undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign are relatives and are notoriously employing their close relatives under the cover of the night and deploy them abroad straight up, before the acquire basic skills and experience at the HQs. South Sudan must however recognize that despite failures in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, other institutions of government are helping fan the failure
In 2013 Council of Ministers issued a resolution assigning 37 South Sudanese to the Ministry of foreign Affairs, these individuals were not vetted by the Ministry, to asses weather they meet the required standards, but the MFA was coerced and they join in different capacities, a good number of them were Ambassadors, counslors and so forth. The Ministry has no Institute of diplomatic studies, which is a norm in most countries of the world, where new recruits are usually taken through short courses to inject diplomatic culture into them.
Office of the President at the same time stands accused, for using Foreign Affairs as a trash bin, it routinely sends unproductive staff to Diplomatic missions and this is taking toll in the performance of Foreign Ministry, for instance in the recent appointments of Ambassadors, half of that number are those who worked in the presidency..Among them is an Ambassador with a lab certificate. He was shouldered into Foreign Affairs, because the man is indiscipline and incompetent, he is known for taking bribes, he is said to have been working in protocol and he harassed and disrespected Ministers.
A million dollar question would be why would the Presidency send such a character to Foreign Affairs? Worse still he is appointed as an Ambassador. Wazarrat, pundits revealed that most of the people coming from the presidency have no papers, hence not competent to represent the country abroad, but the opposite is true they are the ones who will pick which country they will want to serve, and the undersecretary will be compelled to do it for fear of losing his job. They are illiterates with an iron backing and can gate crush whenever, wherever they decide.
The National Assembly on the other hands has not done its homework, there are no proper legislations, regarding Foreign Policy issues. Foreign Ministry is not adequately resourced and therefore cannot diligently execute their mandate satisfactorily. Foreign Affairs is the first line of defence, experts on international relations would argue…However, formulation of foreign Policy is not a preserve of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; it involves other institutions. Now in the constitution and the laws of South Sudan, every country of the world is our friend. There is no declared public enemy in as far as diplomatic relations are concerned.
South Sudan has not severed ties with any country before, but all are aware of the uneasy relations between South Sudan and the Sudan. This is because the two states are playing Tom and Jerry…South Sudan shares the longest borderline with the Republic of the Sudan and this should inform the policy makers on how best we should identify our friends and interest in the region. The wall of China was built to protect China from Mongolian aggression; South Sudan needs to know where potential threat comes from and how to avert potential threat.
Foreign policy is not also static and changes from time to time depending on the circumstances of the country and the world at large. Therefore when a country deploys its diplomats it should put into account the personalities, which will execute those objectives. It’s expected that the Ministry sends prudent Ambassadors to the United Kingdom, United States and the Kingdom of Norway. The whole idea is about projecting positive image of the country; every diplomats must understand the challenges inside the country, culture, political system, economic strength, possible investment opportunities etc.
Many times during our interactions we heard people say X and Y are not defending the government well, be reminded that other nations of the world have their missions in South Sudan and whatever we say internationally can still be verified by those representatives inside South Sudan. Defending one country does not mean lying folks!
Before referendum almost no one would have predicted that America would be seeking regime change in 2016. America is the sole super power and would be good for South Sudan to ensure positive working relations with the United States, any resistance towards this goal will be met with severe consequences on the side of South Sudan, and this is no exaggeration folks!!. America has the capability to demobilise and mobilise the world,. Already South Sudan has gotten dozes on how America’s machination works.
From 2012 to date, South Sudan has been seeking loan arrangements with number of countries and every time a deal is reached it goes down the drain in less than 48hrs. There should be no illusion that China or Russia will bail us out, because they cannot!!, and so we must not pretend and waste time, South Sudan should engage immediately with the United State or brace ourselves for continued humiliation.
When did America break ranks with South Sudan?, one when South Sudan shut down oil production without sharing that move with US, two when South attacked Higlig/Panthou, US was not informed and three President Salva Kiir did not open up to President Obama in their first meeting in 2011, on the issue of SPLM- North.
America has a tendency that if you are her allies you share all the intelligence and information. That way US is ready to provide you with the diplomatic cover that you may need, if we had inform them on Higlig no one would have force us out of Higlig, not even Baki-Moon.
The Ministry of foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can ensure discipline, train its staff, supervise free and fair recruitment of its personnel, but the formulation of a concrete foreign policy is not censurable on Foreign Ministry alone, because there are other actors involved.
You can reach the author via his contact: Mading Koc <madingkoc707@gmail.com>
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