Government Officials Steal $4 Billion from South Sudan

By Tara Pistorese
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JUBA, South Sudan—South Sudan President Salva Kiir has accused past and present government officials of stealing $4 billion in public funds from South Sudan. The alleged corruption follows less than one year after the nation seceded from Sudan.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir speaks to the media on the first day of voting for South Sudan independence. (Photo Courtesy of Zimbia)

The Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army were locked in battle from 1983-2005. The civil war claimed approximately two million lives—the highest civilian death toll since World War II.

In July, South Sudan’s capital city, Juba, split from the North and claimed 75 percent of the region’s oil. To this day, South Sudan is still battling with Khartoum over oil revenues, crude transit fees and border delineation.

South Sudan filed a complaint with the U.N. Security Council on Friday against Khartoum for repeated airstrikes against South Sudan border states. Khartoum, however, denies the accusations.

In January, South Sudan shut down the vast majority of its oil output to stilt Sudan’s ability to seize the oil in lieu of what Sudan called unpaid export fees. At that point, oil production formed 98 percent of the South Sudan’s revenue.

According to South Sudan’s Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin, more than half of the stolen funds were taken during the “durra” scandal, when a large government purchase of sorghum, the country’s staple food, was never distributed.

The 8.6 million people in South Sudan suffer some of the most devastating education and health statistics in the world. Similarly, just last month, the World Bank expressed its “deep concern” for Juba’s economy.

“We fought for freedom, justice and equality. Many of our friends died to achieve these objectives. Yet, once we got to power, we forgot what we fought for and began to enrich ourselves at the expense of our people,” reads a letter written on May 3 by President Kiir.

The letter, which was verified by Minister Benjamin on Monday, was addressed to 75 former and current government officials and asked for the return of all or a portion of the stolen funds in return for amnesty. “The credibility of our government is on the line,” President Kiir pleads.

Although it is unclear exactly when the money was taken, President Kiir believes it has “been taken out of the country and deposited in foreign accounts,” or that the funds were used to make cash property purchases.

President Kiir has reached out to leaders of eight other nations in regions of Europe, the Middle East, the United States, and Africa, for help recovering the missing funds.

 

For further information, please see:

Chicago Tribute—South Sudan Officials Have Stolen $4 Billion-President—4 June 2012

CTV News—S. Sudan President Asks Officials to Return Stolen Funds—4 June 2012

Expatica Switzerland—Sudanese Refuge Spike to South Worries U.N.—4 June 2012

Modern Ghana—Corrupt South Sudan Officials Have Stolen $4 Billion: Kiir—4 June 2012

Reuters-Africa—Sudan, South Sudan Start First Security Talks Since Border Clash—4 June 2012

 

Author: Impunity Watch Archive