NAIROBI: South Sudanese government officials have stolen billions of dollars in oil revenues since the country gained independence in 2011 according to a United Nations report published on Tuesday.
The government received oil inflows worth $25.2 billion during this period yet hardly any money reaches essential services like health and education in one of the world’s poorest countries according to the report by the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.
“Our report tells the story of the plundering of a nation” said Yasmin Sooka, chair of the commission, in a statement.
“It is driving hunger, collapsing health systems and causing preventable deaths, as well as fuelling deadly armed conflict over resources” she added.
The report details systemic government corruption and brazen predation including in the Oil for Roads programme that was supposed to be a flagship development scheme.
The programme was the largest recipient of oil money with $2.2 billion allocated between 2021 and 2024 of which $1.7 billion is unaccounted for according to the report since roads were either not completed, extremely overpriced or finished far below promised standards.
The money was funnelled through construction companies owned by Benjamin Bol Mel according to the report.
Bol Mel has emerged as the most likely successor to President Salva Kiir having risen quickly through the political ranks to become a vice-president in February.
The UN report was released a day after Bol Mel announced on X that he had been promoted to the rank of general in the National Security Service.
“The diversions are not abstract budget failures -– they translate into preventable deaths, widespread malnutrition and mass exclusion from education” said Carlos Castresana Fernandez, a member of the rights commission.
“South Sudan’s international partners must make clear that this situation is unacceptable” he added.
A long government response was included in the report which accused the commission of relying on unverified information from journalists, civil society groups and UN agencies.
This development comes as a power-sharing deal between Kiir and his long-time rival Riek Machar has been unravelling threatening to return the young nation to a civil war that left 400,000 dead in the 2010s.
Machar was last week charged with treason and crimes against humanity over an ethnic militia’s attack on a military base in March.
Machar’s supporters say the charges are part of efforts to remove him from the political scene and on Monday called for an armed mobilisation to carry out regime change. – AFP