His Excellency Mousa Faki Mahamat
Chairman of African Union commission
New York,
April 30, 2020
Subject: South Sudanese people suffering
Dear Mr. Chairman Musa:
April 30, 2020 (SSNA) — We, the undersigned representatives of the South Sudanese, Sudanese, and the entire community of African civil society organizations in the United States, are writing to express our deepest appreciation for the direction you have taken with respect to the crisis in South Sudan since you took office. Your actions make clear that you want to build a democratic African continent with good governance in all countries. We, the Diaspora in the U.S., support you, and thank you for your leadership in working to bring an end to the suffering of the African people who are anguishing under corrupt leaders. We urge you to continue to support the implementation of peace and humanitarian aid to the displaced people in South Sudan and neighboring countries.
Indeed, we are gravely concerned about the ongoing crisis in South Sudan. Child kidnappings, tribal and clan fights among citizens in the peripheries of South Sudan are left unattended with no intervention from Juba. The current mismanagement of the country and subsequent economic hardships have incentivized some top brass of army officers to abet and aid cattle rustlers by providing logistics to transport to the looted bounty to the infamous Juba Gumbo cattle sale market. We request that you exercise your leadership, which is widely respected, to take strong measures and find a solution to halt the immense suffering of the people of South Sudan. Salva Kiir, Taban Deng Gai plus the other four vice presidents will not do anything to stop the killing in their own accord.
It has been nearly seven (7) years since the conflict was unleashed on the South Sudanese people by President Salva Kiir Mayardit when he declared a false coup on December 15, 2013, in Juba. During this horrific conflict, in spite of efforts of the African Union, the regime continued to perpetuating unrelenting violence and displacement. The regime in Juba has enjoyed the absence of decisive leadership from the African Union in calling for justice and accountability. Such continual delay has emboldened the regime’s intransigence to uphold the articles of the agreement since there are no benchmarks to make it accountable for the numerous violations. With that, the killing of innocent civilians and displacement continued to rise.
In the absence of serious, credible, and dependable actions from the international community, especially the African Union during the last six years of war” four hundred thousand innocent South Sudanese have been killed; more than 7 million have suffered from extreme hunger; more than 6 million refugees and displaced people have sought refuge in neighboring countries assisted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The world community has spent billions of dollars to save the lives of the displaced persons in South Sudan while the regime on the other hand, with the help of Uganda and a few other countries, has spent its oil revenue on weaponry to continue killing its own people.
Internally displaced persons in South Sudan are living in dire conditions in UNMISS camps in Juba and around the country, while President Salva Kiir has continued to receive financial support from other countries in the region and internationally. By far, the ambiguity of U.S. policy toward South Sudan has created an environment where the regional bloc – Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) started behaving dishonestly in bringing an end to the war. Such ambiguity gives Salva Kiir’s regime undeterred leverage to inflict humanitarian sufferings and amass unprecedented power to pursue an ethnic cleansing policy in all three regions of the country. There is no doubt that this war will continue to intensify if the African Union does not take a decisive leadership role to end the war in South Sudan.
We therefore recommend that the African Union enact the following measures:
- We strongly recommend that another African Union mechanism has to take over the peace meditating instead of IGAD
- Ensure the peace and all remaining provisions – none implemented agreement, states Governors and the security arrangements – be implemented;
- Ensure justice and accountability for the gross violations of human rights committed by Salva Kiir’s regime in order to end the culture of impunity in South Sudan;
- Assist the international community to provide humanitarian assistance (health especially with COVID -19, education, food and shelter) to the war-affected areas in South Sudan;
- Assist UNMISS to increase protection of displaced persons who are stranded in UN protective camps across the country;
- Redirect oil revenue to humanitarian assistance instead of leaving it to the regime to buy weaponry to kill its own people;
- Provide immediate removal assistance to hundreds of South Sudanese who are suffering from slavery in Libya so they can take refuge in any African country that will accept them as refugees.
We thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
- South Sudan International Advocacy for Human rights- Peter Gatkuoth W kuel, [email protected]
- Alliance for South Sudan In Diaspora- Dr. George Phillip Imuro, [email protected]
- Global Partnership for Peace in South Sudan- Theresa Samuel, [email protected]
- Human Rights Activists – Simon Deng – [email protected]
- Somali Community Diaspora Network – Abdi Shire- [email protected]
- Sudanese Community – Ali Esafi, [email protected]
- Gambian Community – Adam Dukuray, [email protected]
- Eritrean Community Association of greater Seattle – Isaac Araya 206-2280132
- Ethiopian Oromo Community Center of Seattle – Abdu Gobeni, [email protected]
- Tanzania Community Emily Munta – 206 291-8835
- Kenya community Northwest USA – John Kimani.
- Ghana community Nurayne fofana- [email protected]
- Pacific Northwest Ugandan American association Chairman Kenneth Omimbi [email protected]
- The WA Coalition of African Community Leaders-Kawdwo Oware, [email protected]
cc: African Union mission to the United States
cc: South Sudanese Diaspora
cc African communities Diaspora