S. Sudan minister accuses humanitarian agencies of politicking
April 14, 2015 (JUBA) – A leading government official in South Sudan has accused international relief agencies and troika countries (United States, United Kingdom and Norway) of being more interested in interfering in the country’s political affairs than providing humanitarian assistance.
South Sudanese cabinet affairs minister, Martin Elia Lomoro, told a workshop of state ministers of agriculture in the capital, Juba, on Monday that international NGOs and humanitarian agencies were becoming increasingly nvolved in internal politics because they were after the resources of the nation.
“I want to tell you clearly that these humanitarian agencies are not interested in our development but want to involve politics because of our natural resources,” he told the gathering.
“They (NGOs) know we have oil and that is why they involve in politics,” he further alleged, without naming a particular humanitarian agency.
He also lashed out at the troika countries for suggesting solutions to the political turmoil in the country.
“When we were fighting for our independence, lost three million lives, where were they [the] so-called troika?” he said.
The minister was reportedly angered by recent threats of sanctions by troika countries should president Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar fail to sign a final peace agreement and end the war.
The troika is currently participating in drafting of a final peace agreement which will include power-sharing between the two rival leaders.
Lomoro’s rhetoric against the international community also previously came to light at a public rally on 18 March when he said South Sudanese lost three million lives and would even sacrifice more lives to defend their independence from whoever interferes in the internal politics.
He defended his criticism, alleging that the international community was pressuring the government of to accommodate Machar.
The cabinet minister told the agriculture ministers to work to be self-reliant, use local resources and encourage the people to open more lands and forget about the international community.
“The development partners are not interested in our development,” he said.
“We have to be economically independent by producing more food and forget about humanitarian agencies,” he added.
The state ministers of agriculture from the ten states of the country converged in Juba this week to devise means to promote farming in the countryside, which is also infested by insecurity.
(ST)