South Sudan conflict and African Union
Is the African Union (AU) finally exercising its umbrella role of protecting African interests, with its recent criticism of the US, Norway and Britain?
According to sources, a much-anticipated African Union (AU) inquiry calls for South Sudan’s president and his rival to be barred from a transitional government and for the oil-producing country to effectively be placed under AU control.
So was South Sudan set up to fail? With presenter Vuyiswa Ngqobongwana in the studio are Vincent Magombe, an Africa Affairs analyst. Ishaq Mekki, the chairman of the Darfur Victims Organization. And joining us on the line from Germany is Magdi El-Gizouli, an academic, writer and fellow at the Rift Valley Institute.
Fighting between forces loyal to President Kiir and rebels allied with former vice president Machar plunged South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, into a civil war in December 2013.
At least 10,000 people have been killed and 1.5 million civilians displaced. The inquiry blamed the United States, Britain and Norway for creating “a politically unchallenged armed power” by backing a 2005 peace deal that “ushered in an unaccountable political class.”
The findings were to be presented to the AU’s Peace and Security Council on January 29 but the body shelved the publication of the report. The inquiry’s findings have not been released due to fears that its publication could disrupt peace negotiations, but many parts of the report have been leaked. The AU called for an AU-appointed and UN-backed three-person panel to oversee a five-year transition and the creation of a transitional executive that would place all oil revenue in an escrow account overseen by the African Development Bank.
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