South Sudan environmental pollution: The living hell

By Joseph Oduha, Nairobi, Kenya

Friday, August 14, 2020 (PW) — The gluttony to accumulate oil wealth by South Sudan ruling cliques has proven chilling consequences for human survival and entire ecosystem in oil areas such as in Unity and Upper states due to pollution.  

Presently, a new rapture of pipeline in Rubkona in Unity state is shocking and it’s yet another Juba negligence to address the problems of environmental pollution ever since.

The oil spills in the entire region of Upper Nile habitually result in to death of humans and domestic animals, wild animals, and wild birds’ aquatic animals. For this matter, the people of Rubkona have already expressed fear of deadly consequences from the new oil leakage in their area. 

“There is already a threat. It has already been happening and communities around the area have been reporting stories of children and women being affected,” a Juba-based Eye radio quoted Mr. Kang Bol, a local official from Unity State as sayingthis week.

Indeed, it is too evident that most of this oil spills always contaminate water bodies, swamps, seasonal rivers, and theseasonal rivers powers into the Nile River and the people living around the pollution sites fed on this poisoned waters that endangered their lives including their livestock. 

This same poisoned waters travel beyond into the Mediterranean Sea deep from the Nile River.  

The oil companies such as Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) and Dar Petroleum who currently facing a law suit at East African Court of Justice for environmental genocide are the most orchestrators of this turbulence. They don’t follow environmental regulations to safely undertake the oil exploration. 

These companies dumped a lot of chemicals into environment hence aggravating more risk to human life, domestic and wild animals. Meanwhile the government in Juba that’s overseeing oil exploration is too adamant to arrest the situation. 

In fact, since the exposure of the oil pollution in South Sudan couple of years back, authorities in the war-torn country often times refute any report regarding the matter until 2016 when they then admitted there was a pollution but didn’t act to stem it. 

Denial of truth becomes a culture to South Sudan government and they mostly hide behind “national security interest” but yet the scale of the oil pollution in the country is too nerve-wracking. 

Yes, oil is the main source of the country’s income but should that be at the expenses of the lives of the people some of whom have lost their lives already due to the pollution and more hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk up-to-date? 

Muhammad Yunnus, an author and a renowned scholar once says: “money is not in short supply. People live in an ocean of money.” 

That means in an absence of oil in South Sudan, we will still have money through non-oil revenue as an alternate major source of income and we will cope up normally like other countries without oil but only when transparency and accountability are guaranteed. So, why South Sudan government would sacrificed the lives of citizens at the altar of oil gains by exposing them to pollution risks despite the existence of a law that regulates oil exploration?

The Petroleum Act, 2012 XIV on the health, safety, and protection of the environment. Section 50, charged that “petroleum activities shall be conducted in such manner as to ensure that a high level of health and safety is achieved, maintained and further developed in accordance with technological developments, best international practice and applicable law on health, safety and labour.

It further says any person conducting petroleum activities shall ensure active compliance with legislation and best international practices on health and safety in the working environment.”

We need a stepping stone into improved future and the leadership must be at the forefront in terms of ensuring justice at all cost to protect people living around the oil fields and in fact, all South Sudan citizens. 

It’s very unfortunate that the leadership in the country is showing the citizens the devil’s colours of lying, cheating, killing, repression, and looting among others. 

On the subject matter, the environmental pollution in South Sudan is not only a crime under international law but also under local laws. 

With direct effects of stillbirths, skin rashes, and child deformities and outbreak of unknown diseases, in affected areas, South Sudan environmental pollution is a living hell for the residents in oil producing states in the war-ravaged country. 

The author Mr. Joseph Oduha is a South Sudanese journalist. He can be reach by abunabet@gmail.com

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