Revisiting the History of the USA-South Sudan Relations: Why South Sudanese Should Be Grateful to the US Gov’t and the American People

By Juol Nhomngek Daniel, Juba, South Sudan

Thursday, 21 July 2022 (PW) — On July 15, 2022, the United States issued a press statement lamenting the failure of South Sudanese leaders to implement the commitments they have made to bring peace to South Sudan. In the same statement, the United States further stated that it had decided to end its assistance for peace process monitoring mechanisms, effective July 15, as they assessed the next steps. As the US government stated in that statement, the reasons for ending the assistance are: due to the lack of sustained progress on the part of South Sudan’s leaders, and because of that, it decided to end its support for the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission and the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism. 

The USA further stated that South Sudan’s leaders had not fully availed themselves of the support these monitoring mechanisms provide and had demonstrated a lack of political will necessary to implement critical reforms. For example, South Sudan had failed to pass critical electoral legislation in keeping with the revitalized peace agreement’s timetable. The USA further pointed out that South Sudan still lacks a unified, professional military to serve and protect the population. Civil society members and journalists are routinely intimidated and prevented from speaking out. The government continues to divert proceeds from oil production before they reach the national budget and has not implemented public financial management reforms.

The USA then disclosed that it continues to provide significant assistance to save lives and reduce the suffering of the people of South Sudan, including approximately $1 billion in humanitarian and development assistance, support to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and additional assistance in coordination with partners through the World Bank and other international financial institutions. In that Statement, the USA emphasized that it stands with the South Sudanese people and is committed to working with them, in concert with the UNMISS, the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and other partners to build a state that lives up to the promises for freedom, democracy, and prosperity made more than a decade ago when the country won its hard-fought struggle for independence.

The above statement of the US government discloses the frustration of the government with the government of South Sudan as it feels that there is no appreciation for whatever help it is giving to the government of South Sudan and its people. As the USA has disclosed, the interest of the USA is to see peace prevail in South Sudan, which the government is not willing to work for.  The statement of the USA prompted me to write this article so that I take time to explain in detail the role of the USA in the history of South Sudan, which seems not to have been well understood by the people of South Sudan and their leaders.

In most cases, instead of appreciating the US government and its people, some South Sudanese turn to concentrate on the negative aspects of the USA by continually releasing misleading statements to the public about the USA, as we saw in the past. What is clear is that when we are in need of support from the USA, we ask, but when the USA plays a supervisory role in the resources it spends on South Sudan, some leaders mobilize the citizens against the US government, as we saw in the past. Consequently, the inconsistent relationship between the US government and South Sudan has created a clear division between the ruling class with their associates and the common people on the streets. Whereas many intellectuals who are not in the system and the common persons on the streets see the USA as the most important country that South Sudan should make as its strong ally, some members of the ruling class with their associates view the USA with a negative attitude and misgiving for reasons best known to them.  

However, the truth remains that the US government and its people are at the core of the history of South Sudan. Without the role of the United States government and its allies, the independence of South Sudan would have been an illusion or impossible. The South Sudanese would have remained in history like Western Sahara, Biafra and Somaliland. The communities in the aforementioned areas have not achieved their independence because they have died in the dust of foreign policy intricacies or complexities.

As it can be clearly seen above, the key roles that were played by the US government and its people towards the independence of South Sudan cannot be underestimated. The role of the USA and its people cannot be seen in the wide range of activities that were geared towards coaching the liberation struggle towards the realization of the right to self-determination by the people of South Sudan. Therefore, as the History of South Sudan tells us, we, the South Sudanese, have to be grateful to the USA Government and her people for supporting our struggle and even now, as seen in the following instances:

The first instance we saw the USA giving South Sudanese support was through its pro-independent policy right at the inception of the liberation war in 1983. From 1983 to 2005, the government and her people were actively engaged in supporting South Sudanese, which was later summed up in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that laid the groundwork for the 2011 referendum on self-determination, through which the people of South Sudan overwhelmingly voted for independence.  

In order to make sure that its pro-independent policy succeeded, the US government played a great diplomatic role, which we saw later when all the members of the United Nations supported the independence of South Sudan directly with resources and indirectly by recognizing it as a sovereign state. Hence, before and after South Sudan’s admission to the UN, many states issued official explicit statements about its diplomatic recognition, and some had already gone ahead to establish diplomatic relations with South Sudan. The credit should go to the USA for playing such a great diplomatic role.

Furthermore, US legislators formed a bipartisan coalition known as the Sudan Caucus that pushed for Sudan to become a foreign policy priority. The theme of the coalition was “A victory for the oppressed.” This activity of the USA in supporting the independence of South Sudan was later expressly stated in the remarks of the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice when she observed during the independent celebration that “the U.S. has been as active as anyone” in helping the people of South Sudan.

Moreover, the US government was the first foreign government to propose the referendum that later led to the independence of South Sudan. This was in 2000 when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution endorsing the right of southern Sudanese to exercise self-determination. In that resolution, the US lawmakers further condemned the Sudanese government “for its genocidal war in southern Sudan.” These remarks affected the diplomatic status of the Sudan government and drew the attention and sympathies of the world toward the people of South Sudan.

 The U.S. evangelicals formed alliances with African American, Jewish, and secular activist groups and unconditionally supported the South Sudanese and their independence. This clearly brought out the important attachment the American government and its people have towards the people of South Sudan. With time, the U.S. support for southern Sudanese self-determination gained momentum under the presidency of George W. Bush due to the pressure from evangelical activists, who viewed the ending of the civil war in Sudan as a “legacy item” for the USA (Bush) Government foreign policy. As a result, Bush appointed a special envoy to focus on peace negotiations, which finally bore fruit in 2005.

The U.S. government supported the South Sudanese militarily. This was revealed by the Congressional Research Service report. The report revealed that the U.S.A. provided more than $20 million in surplus U.S. military equipment to the frontline states of Uganda, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, which “helped reverse military gains made by the [Sudanese] government” against the southerners. This led to the growing strength of the SPLA/M, which later recaptured almost the whole of Southern Sudan and, by implication, forced the Sudan government to accept negotiations that eventually led to the signing of the CPA and independence of South Sudan in 2011.  

In addition, the U.S. government put pressure on the Sudanese government as a method of compelling it to accept the demands of Southerners. For instance, the U.S.A. The government designated the government of Sudan as a state sponsor of terror in 1993. In 1997, the U.S. government imposed comprehensive economic sanctions, which prevented U.S. companies from operating in Sudan. These pressures weakened the Sudanese government and, in the end, forced it to negotiate with the Southern Sudanese, which later led to the CPA and independence of South Sudan.

In addition to the above instances, the U.S. government adopted the use of high-profile and respected personalities to work for the independence of South Sudan. For instance, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and former Tanzanian Prime Minister Joseph Warioba led the Carter Center international observation delegation. The testimony of these personalities made the American Government and her people change their opinions towards the support of the right to self-determination for South Sudanese.

The U.S. government became heavily involved in the last days of the CPA to make sure that the aspirations of the South Sudanese people were reflected through referendum results. For instance, U.S. Senator John Kerry, who was then the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Southern Sudan three times during the referendum period, including during polling. Moreover, actor George Clooney also made several visits to Sudan during the referendum period. His visits and reports contributed to the awareness that led to the support for the South Sudanese right to self-determination by the American people and their government.

In the same line, the U.S. government did not confine its campaign to America alone, but it also persuaded all major regional organizations to support the people of South Sudan. For instance, the U.S. government persuaded the African Union, the European Union, the League of the Arab States, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) This was realized when these major organizations issued a joint press statement on the first day of polling on January 9, 2011. The said joint statement gave the referendum exercise international status, and it was. Therefore, an indication that the international community was standing with the South Sudanese and the government of Sudan was obliged to respect the outcome of the referendum.  

Due to the U.S. government’s efforts and influence, some fundamental issues that would have affected the referendum and independence of South Sudan were left untouched. The issues of border demarcation, the status and rights of the citizens of each country in the other’s territory, and the status of the Abyei region were left unresolved before the independence of South Sudan, as the interest and priority of the U.S. Government was the independence of South Sudan.

With respect to the establishment of diplomatic relations by South Sudan and other countries, the U.S. government was the first to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of South Sudan on Independence Day in 2011. Thus, after the declaration of the independence of South Sudan, the United States established full diplomatic relations with the Republic of South Sudan by upgrading its Consulate General in Juba to a U.S. Embassy on July 9, 2011, and appointed Ambassador Barrie Walkley, the U.S. Consul General in Juba, to serve as Chargé d’Affaires until the appointment of Susan D. Page as the Ambassador Designate to the Republic of South Sudan on October 18, 2011.

In terms of humanitarian assistance, the United States has been supporting South Sudan through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) since its independence. USAID provides emergency food and nutrition assistance, essential health care, livelihood support, and protection services while building community resilience to future shocks. What South Sudanese should also know is that USAID channels its support to them through the UN World Food Program (WFP). This support enables the WFP to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to more than 1.2 million crisis-affected people across South Sudan.

The WFP, through the assistance provided by USAID, which is funded by the American people, is able to transport critical food, health, and protection supplies by air to communities in remote and hard-to-reach areas. Up to now, the U.S. Government still provides significant assistance to save lives and reduce the suffering of the people of South Sudan as it was recently revealed by the U.S. Government in its statement that it gives approximately $1 billion in humanitarian and development assistance, support to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and additional assistance in coordination with partners through the World Bank and other international financial institutions.

In summary, the foregoing explanation of the role of the United States in the self-determination of South Sudan clearly shows that without the involvement of the USA in supporting South Sudanese, the people of South Sudan would not have achieved their independence. The fact that South Sudan became independent because of the support of the USA, and the government is currently running because of the support of the USA, we, South Sudan, have to be grateful to the American government and its people. American Government is, in fact, a friend in need who should be a friend indeed.

We see the USA making statements all the time that it remains committed to helping the people of South Sudan and even calls on other donors to increase their contributions to the humanitarian response, which proves the fact that America has the interest of the people at heart and the people and leaders should give the American government a special place in their hearts and lives because we are who we are today as an independent nation because of the United States. We must appreciate the USA for its support instead of dealing with it with contempt.

The author, Juol Nhomngek Daniel, is a politician and lawyer by profession, as well as a lecturer. He can be reached at nhomngekjuol@gmail.com. 

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