South Sudan Should Stop Blaming the United States for Causing its Instability
3 min read
By Chris D.,
This kind of speculation is totally ignorant, blaming superpowers December 2013’s eruption of violence among militias and dissatisfied domestic political actors. The only people who are manipulating events in South Sudan for natural resources are South Sudanese warlords and political elites and their neighboring partners – those are the people making millions of dollars off of the sale of timber, oil and gold, profiting off of black market currency.
The United States is ignorant and incompetent in South Sudan, not malicious. President Obama does not care about South Sudan, except when it matters to United States voters, which it does not.
This is not the Cold War and the United States is not competing with China as it did with the USSR. The USA does not have a large mineral industry compared to South Africa, the U.K., China and Australia. The USA’s use of “fracking” technology and relations with the Middle East mean it does not have a “deficit” of petroleum that would require forcing a regime change in South Sudan.
The USA’s interest in South Sudan was mainly because of the War on Terror – they did not want to see South Sudan’s oil and minerals used to fund radical Muslim groups in East Africa. This was a threat because Khartoum had already hosted Osama Bin Laden and other Islamist militias, and attempted to assassinate the leaders of neighboring countries. The USA also did not want to see South Sudan turn into another Somalia, a safe haven for groups like Al Shabab.
The USA’s other interest was the evangelical Christian community, which has strong influence in U.S. foreign policy. They were highly invested in stopping the slave trade and opposing radical Islam – humanitarian support was a secondary objective.
You should know who your enemies are. The world is not conspiring against South Sudan – South Sudan is conspiring against itself.
And another thing about this “USA sponsored South Sudan’s instability” nonsense. Between Washington D.C. and Beijing, it is guns and ammo provided by Beijing to Khartoum/Sudan that are arming the rebel militias. It is Beijing oil companies colluding with corrupt politicians stealing money. It is Beijing-owned oil wells that are polluting the lands and waters in the northern states, which forces pastoralists to compete more with each other over less healthy land.
The United States government’s guilt in South Sudan is for what it *doesn’t* do. It *doesn’t* invest in South Sudan. It *doesn’t* trade with South Sudan. It *doesn’t* hire South Sudanese. It *doesn’t* do these things because the the U.S. government *doesn’t* care.
But Americans care about South Sudan. We care about a young nation that has to fight for its independence. We care about your security because it affects our own. We care about your economic growth because it affects our own. We care about personal health and environmental protection in your country because it affects our own (we don’t want to see another Ebola or a new disease, and we don’t want to see more global warming from pollution).
Do not blame the United States for causing your instability. But you can criticize the United States government for not doing enough to help.
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