Ambassador Nancy Soderberg in a past event.

A former U.S diplomat and foreign policy strategist has petitioned Donald Trump’s Administration to take the lead in mobilizing the international community to end South Sudan’s crisis and restore democracy and rule of law.

Ambassador Nancy Soderberg served as the third-ranking official on Bill Clinton administration’s National Security Council, and now teaches at the class of Real World Policy at the University of North Florida.

The diplomat and her class presented recommendations to end the violence to the Departments of State and Defense, CIA, National Security Council, Embassies of South Sudan and Ethiopia, the Enough Project, the Holocaust Museum, Senator Bill Nelson and former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, Ambassador Donald Booth.

According to an article written by Ambassador Nancy, widespread sexual violence, food insecurity, child soldier recruitment and constant violence targeted at civilians should not be ignored by the international community.

“Half the country’s people — six million — do not have enough to eat and 50,000 are at risk of famine. Who will advocate for the South Sudanese people who are left voiceless by the conflict?” she asked.

“Our class believes that our communities and government must lead. [They] can not be ignored, especially by the country instrumental in realizing South Sudan’s independence, the United States.”

She says key U.S. allies in the region such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya are struggling to sustain the millions of South Sudanese refugees who have crossed the borders.

South Sudan is currently considered Africa’s largest refugee crisis with more than 1.6 million seeking refuge outside the country.

In the statement, Ambassador Nancy said President Donald Trump should hold a summit with regional leaders in the forthcoming UN General Assembly meeting to galvanize action. The UNSG is in September this year.

She added that intensive diplomatic engagement with countries bordering South Sudan, will encourage them to fulfill their commitment to provide a 4,000-strong Regional Protection Force to ensure civilians and aid workers can safely move outside of Juba.

Since 2016, there has only been 2,300 soldiers deployed in South Sudan since the UN Security Council mandated their deployment to protect key installations, facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance and use any means to prevent attacks on civilians by any armed group.

According to Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, it is the prerogative of the Trump’s administration to pressure the international community to fund the 2-billion-dollar-gap in refugee funding needed to care for the nearly 2 million refugees who have fled to the neighboring countries.

“Inside the country, people risk their lives each day to reach lifesaving aid. The U.S. should provide two-way radios to non-governmental organizations on the ground to better coordinate delivery of aid,” she said.

She also recommended the appointment of a new U.S. Special Envoy specifically for South Sudan to support the peace process with international and regional partners.

The recommendations to the various American security and policy institutions, including making public the people who have committed war crimes, as well as the arms suppliers to South Sudan so that the international community can name and shame them.

It further called for expanding sanctions to entire networks of individuals who hinder the peace process through corruption.

Ambassador Nancy urges President Trump to lead a worldwide campaign to make resolving the conflict in South Sudan an international priority.

She also appeals to university students and the public in the U.S to start a movement that would demand action, expose corruption and stop crimes against humanity taking place in South Sudan.

“We propose using the hashtag #SouthSudanIsWatching to raise awareness of the problems in South Sudan just as #Kony2012 successfully raised awareness of the atrocities that Joseph Kony committed against civilians in Uganda,” Nancy said.

American grassroots campaigns have been effective in the past by helping mobilize international efforts for the realization of the CPA, the referendum, including the Joseph Kony 2012 initiative.

“Change in South Sudan is dependent on the grass roots actions taken by communities like ours. We must expose the corruption and stop the crimes against humanity taking place in South Sudan,” she concluded.