Washington Post calls on U.S. to mull over “fresh start” in South Sudan

October 20, 2017 (WASHINGTON) – The Washington Post has called on the administration of President Trump to consider a new approach for the solution of the four-year crisis in South Sudan.

The call comes as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley this month will pay a visit to South Sudan within a regional tour including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.

In an editorial published on Friday, the Washington Post agrees with the UN officials that the South Sudanese conflict is a man-made crisis for which its leaders bear a direct responsibility.

However, it disagrees with Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), who told the Security Council last week that “The same leaders responsible for the conflict can also bring the country back from the impending abyss”.

“Ms Haley might consider reaching out to a younger generation of more technocratic leaders who are fed up with the failures of their elders,” reads the opinion paper libelled ‘It’s time for the U.S. to make a fresh start in South Sudan’.

“The United States cannot forsake a people caught in the grip of misery; it must begin to look beyond the men who made this awful mess, including Mr Kiir,” it further added.

Over four million South Sudanese have been displaced from their areas and continue to flee to other areas or outside the country despite the signing of a peace agreement in August 2015 between the warring parties as a result of the continued war in the troubled country.

The cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access to civilians are seen as urgent steps the regional and international community seek to convince the parties to implement.

” The administration should also press Egypt, Uganda and Ukraine to stop the flow of arms to South Sudan,” suggested the editorial to achieve these goals.

In a meeting with the African leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York last month, President Donald Trump told African leaders he was “deeply disturbed by the ongoing violence in South Sudan and in the Congo” but said peace and prosperity would come through an African-led process.

The Washington Post also didn’t stop at the IGAD-led revitalization process which is designed to revive the implementation of the peace agreement and to ensure the end of the war.

Last September, Haley told the Security Council that the regional effort was the “last chance” for peace in South Sudan.

Washington in the past proposed twice to impose UN sanctions on the South Sudanese officials, the Security Council didn’t endorse it.

(ST)