Civilians fleeing Kajo Keji county, toward the southern border with Uganda, April 27, 2017. (© 2017 Jason Patinkin).

Some senators in the U.S. congress said the International Community has failed to meaningfully contribute to changing the course of events in South Sudan.

The international community is a phrase used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world.

The legislators from the US Senate Chamber say both, the U.S. government and the International Community should be prepared to act against violators of human rights in South Sudan, even at the highest levels.

“The international community has failed to meaningfully contribute to changing the course of events in Sudan. We encourage you to cease the opportunity presented by the renewal of the UNMISS mandate to make needed changes to support the people of South Sudan on their path toward peace and democracy, while holding accountable those who have denied it to them.”

The lawmakers added that extensive reporting by the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts, UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and others have detailed abuses committed including widespread sexual violence, mass killings, and other atrocities.

They cited the dire humanitarian situation in the country, with over two-thirds of the population – half of them children – in need of aid.

The four senators said people’s lives have been shattered by years of conflict, social and political instability, unprecedented climate shocks, the impact of Covid-19, and multiple disease outbreaks.

They criticized the international community for doing little to help change the course of events in South Sudan.

In a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State and two other senior Washington officials, the lawmakers reiterated the call by the U.S. Senate, made in May 2022, for the U.S. to advocate with other UN member states to redouble efforts to renew and reinforce the UN arms embargo and other sanctions on South Sudan.

They are expected to expire on May 31, 2023.

Call for elections

The lawmakers emphasized the need for South Sudan to conduct its first polls so that its people can have the opportunity to chose their leaders.

“Most recently, elections planned for early this year were pushed to late 2024. There is no doubt that the people of Sudan must have an opportunity to chose legitimate leaders, but the conditions do not exist currently in South Sudan to enable such an exercise.”

According to the senators, the U.S., alongside partners in the international community, must be clear about realistic expectations and benchmarks for drafting a permanent constitution, and the credible conduct of elections in South Sudan.

In January last year, the Office of President Salva Kiir called on the international community, particularly the United States to support the unity government in its quest for lasting peace in the country.

The relationship between the two countries has deteriorated since the conflict erupted in December 2013.

Kiir’s office admitted that the US was a great ally of the then Southerners, now South Sudan.

According to the former press secretary in Kiir’s office, the government still needed US’s support to hold free, fair, timely, and peaceful elections.

Ateny Wek called on Joe Biden’s administration not to turn its back on the government.

The United States played a key role in helping create the 205 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that laid the groundwork for the 2011 referendum on self-determination, through which South Sudanese overwhelmingly voted for independence.

The US government, through the development agency, USAID still remains the biggest humanitarian and developmental partner in South Sudan.