War or Peace: What is good for South Sudan’s neighbors?
100-Day Extension of the Pre-Transitional Period from November 12, 2019 to February 20, 2020
By Mamer Deng, Juba, South Sudan
Friday, November 8, 2019 (PW) — South Sudanese expect too much from neighboring countries without asking ourselves: what is the interest of our neighbors?
1. Uganda: This southern neighbor hosts about a million South Sudanese in refugee camps and in towns (renting the number houses and paying tuition fees.). The number of South Sudanese in Uganda is overwhelming and millions of dollars are spent annually in tuition fees, medical, rental etc. As for how much Uganda gets from hosting refugees, you can guess it. There is illegal logging ongoing in southern South Sudanese (as documented by a Kenyan journalist in 2018). Uganda most likely get “something.” And the illegal gold mining? Resolving the political conflict in South Sudan could be in the best interest of Uganda because more millions will be earned from trade etc but if war continues and South Sudanese can’t end it, Uganda won’t loss much either. It’s both business; Peace or War.
2. Kenya: Hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese and like Uganda, some Kenyans are employed and pay taxes. The banking sectors in South Sudan is nearly 80% or more Kenyan owned. Few South Sudanese don’t have an account with KCB, Stanbic, Cooperatives or EcoBank. Our petrodollars are siphoned to using Kenya financial institutions. Ending the conflict and taking control of our money would be an economic boom for Kenya. But if war continues, it doesn’t do bad for their economy.
3. Ethiopia: Thousands of Ethiopians are engaged in South Sudan and earning millions monthly. Go to any five star hotel here and you will be forgiven for thinking you’re in Addis Ababa. Then add Ethiopian soldiers in UNMISS and the UNISFA (the one in Abyei) which is 100% Ethiopian. Ending the war in South Sudan is not good for that country in the long run.
4. Sudan: Well; it used to be our enemy number one but we decided to commit $25 per barrel – transplanting into hundreds of millions of dollars annually plus another $3 billion financial aid (just think about that for a second). Where on Earth would Sudan get that free money if South Sudan become stable and focused on controlling her resources?
So when we rely on the regional support and the international community, we should also be aware of their “interests” in our country. The buck simply stop with us – the owners of this country. We better sort out our issues.
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