S. Sudanese official links ending war to restoring economy
August 6, 2017 (JUBA) – A member of the Jieng (Dinka) Council of Elders (JCE) has called for an end to the ongoing conflict in South Sudan, saying it was the only way of restoring the country’s economy.
“What the country needs at this stage is to make peace with itself, rehabilitate the damaged social fabric, politics, economy, restoration of national institutions, democracy and the rule of law, and move from here to there”, he told The Dawn newspaper.
Since its independence, South Sudan has relied on oil for all income—a situation that has significantly compounded ongoing political and economic instability due to the fall in crude oil prices.
South Sudan got the lion’s share of the oil when it split from Sudan in July 2011, but it’s only export route is through Sudan, giving Khartoum leverage and leading to ongoing pricing disputes.
According to South Sudanese officials, production in the past reached as high as 350,000 bpd but fell after a dispute with Sudan over fees for pumping South Sudan’s crude through Sudan’s export pipeline, which led South Sudan to halt production in 2012.
Even after restarting production, it never recovered to those levels, but it dropped to 245,000 barrels per day after the outbreak of the civil conflict in South Sudan in 2013, which hindered production in the oil-rich areas of the north.
“Anybody sitting back these days and posing blames and counter blames on individual directors or a minister is outside the true situation in South Sudan. The director of the Nile Pet, young or old, former or present should not be blamed. Or can any law enforcement agent charge or arrest traders who tried to benefit from the scarcity they did not create,” stressed the JCE member.
He added, “It is time, however, to acknowledge and agree to the fact that, we (politicians) have contributed to the physical destruction of our country, thus rendering our people into miserable lives and unprecedented sufferings”.
Inflation in South Sudan has reached more than 800% and the government is increasingly unable to pay its civil servants and the military forces.
(ST)