The armed opposition group SPLM/A-IO says that a Qatari loan to the South Sudanese government will be used to fuel war in the country, pointing out that the government rejected peace proposals.
Press reports last month confirmed that the South Sudanese finance ministry was seeking a loan of $500 million from the Qatar National Bank.
In a press statement on Sunday, the SPLM/A-IO headquarters urged Qatar to reconsider giving financial assistance to the South Sudanese government: “This loan facility will not be used by the Administration [of Salva Kiir] for development; it will be used instead, to continue the war of attrition on the people of South Sudan.”
“This is evident from the government’s abandonment of the Addis and Arusha Peace Initiatives, and the President’s recent statements during his latest public rally in Juba,” reads the press statement signed by SPLM/A public relations chairman Mabior Garang de Mabior.
Mabior noted that the armed opposition group remains committed to the Addis Ababa and Arusha peace initiatives.
“The best way that the Government of the State of Qatar can extend a hand of friendship to the people of South Sudan is not by financing the war… [but] by using their influence to persuade the Salva Kiir Administration in Juba to return to the negotiating table and engage in honest dialogue,” the statement says.
File photo: President Salva Kiir
Related:
Advocates warn South Sudan might be mortgaging future with Qatari loan (2 April)
War Economy: South Sudan’s budget is twice last year’s oil earnings (30 March)