President Barack Obama’s top official for African Affairs in the US State Department says there is no evidence that there was any coup attempt in South Sudan at the start of the current crisis in the country.
His most senior officials on African affairs have also called for the release of the 11 politicians detained without charge since the crisis began and threatened to cut aid from the government of South Sudan.
Testifying before a Senate hearing in Washington yesterday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, head the Bureau of African Affairs in the US State Department, said “we have not seen any evidence of a coup attempt,”
She added in written testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “We have… sought to secure the release of political detainees now being held in Juba.”
National Security Advisor Susan Rice likewise issued a statement saying the United States “strongly believes” that Kiir’s government should release 11 politicians who were arrested at the outset of the current conflict. Her statement comes after President Kiir refused an appeal by the IGAD mediation to free the detainees.
On the other hand, Thomas-Greenfield also emphasized that the United States does not support Riek Machar, and similarly Rice criticized the former vice president for failing to commit to a cessation of hostilities without precondition.
“His continued insistence on the release of detainees as a pre-condition for a cessation of hostilities is unacceptable and runs counter to the express will of the detainees who informed the IGAD mediators yesterday that they support talks on an unconditional cessation of hostilities and stated clearly that their status as detainees should not be an impediment to reaching an agreement on a cessation of hostilities,” she said in her statement from the White House yesterday.
According to the State Department official, the government of Salva Kiir is at risk of losing its support from the United States: “If either of these sides cared about their people, they wouldn’t be fighting. And we have told them that they stand a chance of losing all support from the US government, and the fighting has continued.”
In answer to a question by Senator Jeff Flake, she said that de facto government-to-government assistance has already been withdrawn and may not be returned.
“Right now all of our support to the government of South Sudan is not being implemented, because we can’t implement it, so we’re not doing any programs right now, but I would suspect that at a point if this violence continues that we would suspend that support,” she explained.
On the matter of the detainees Rice emphasized, “the United States is disappointed that the detainees being held by the Government of South Sudan have not yet been released. The United States reiterates its call upon President Salva Kiir to release the detainees immediately to the custody of IGAD so that they can participate in the political negotiations.”
Kiir government says ‘respect the constitution’
President Kiir has taken the position that the detained politicians accused of plotting a coup against him should not be released until the law takes its course.
He responded to the mediators’ call to release the detainees by proposing a compromise solution whereby they could participate in peace negotiations by day – if the talks were relocated to Juba – and be returned to detention by night.
In related development, South Sudan’s only functioning daily English-language newspaper The Citizen today ran the front page headline “Minister Demands International Community to Respect Country’s Constitution.” The paper cited Minister of Cabinet Affairs Martin Elia Lumoro as demanding the international community “especially the United States of America and the European Union” to respect the constitution and laws of South Sudan.
Lumoro explained that government already formed an investigation committee and a specialized court to handle the detainees’ case. “The minister said the detainees would be required to answer the charges as required under the South Sudan law and those who are not found guilty will be released accordingly but not before the trial process kicks off,” The Citizen reported.
File photo: Barack Obama with his Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth.