His Majesty’s (United Kingdom) Ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan, Mr. Guy Warrington, has stressed that a credible, free, and fair election presents the best route for the country to transition to democracy. He urged South Sudanese political leaders to work mutually and make firm decisions to allow the scheduled elections and transition to take place.
During an exclusive interview with Radio Tamazuj, the diplomat also revealed the creation of programs to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) and to alleviate the impacts of the war in Sudan that are manifesting in South Sudan and the region. These, he said, will be implemented alongside ongoing programs in education, health, peacebuilding, and feeding among others.
Below are edited excerpts:
Q: Ambassador Warrington, what prompted the recent visit of UK Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds to South Sudan and what did it achieve?
A: Thank you for allowing me to talk about this visit. It was the most senior British visitor to South Sudan for at least five years. As I am sure you are aware, there has been a new government in the UK, the Labor Government, the minister was appointed the minister for development, and at an early stage in her tenure, she wanted to come to a country in Africa and see what we are doing in terms of development and humanitarian assistance. South Sudan was chosen because it is one of our largest development programs in Africa so she came to see that and also to see the impact of the war in Sudan upon neighboring countries.
Q: Minister Dodds mentioned deepening democratization in South Sudan. Do you think this is easy to achieve seeing that the implementation of the peace agreement is lagging and preparations for elections slated for December are behind schedule?
A: It is very clear to all who look at it that the peace agreement is behind schedule and we are concerned about that, as are many others. We think that credible elections are the best way forward in terms of transition in this country. We think that the important thing is that the leadership of this country takes the necessary decisions to allow those elections and the transition to take place. We encourage the leadership of this country to talk to each other and come to those decisions. It is not for the United Kingdom or anyone else to make those decisions. The South Sudan leadership needs to make the decisions fast because the peace agreement is due to end in February next year.
Q: The UK Development Minister announced new funding for humanitarian activities in South Sudan. Is there a priority area for this funding?
A: Sure! The Minister announced our program for this year which is our humanitarian program and not our entire humanitarian and development program. So, she announced a 60 million Pound humanitarian package that also includes resilience measures in particular in relation to flooding that is happening as we speak.
There was a separate announcement about the creation of programs to prevent gender-based violence (GBV). There was a third program for the whole region to alleviate the impacts of the war in Sudan. So, that money is being be spent here [South Sudan] but also in places like Chad. When you put all that together, it raises the package for South Sudan to around 86 million Pounds.
As to what it is being spent on, obviously, humanitarian money is spent on humanitarian things, so, the funding is basically trying to address the drivers of famine in South Sudan, the GBV program is trying to protect women and girls, and the money for the neighboring countries is trying to rebuild the lives of those of who have been displaced, whether they are South Sudanese returning or refugees from Sudan and elsewhere.
Q: Talking about the GBV in South Sudan, it is noteworthy that the country has no juvenile prison. Could some of the funding be channeled into helping juveniles?
A: I think that would be a worthy thing to fund, but we cannot fund everything. The areas that the UK concentrates on are education, especially getting young girls into education, health care, which is the provision of basic primary healthcare and humanitarian aid, as discussed, which will be spent on food but also on building resilience in terms of the flooding. And then we will spend a small amount of money on peacekeeping initiatives.
So, those are the things we are going to fund and I am not saying that no one should fund juvenile detention. Justice is extremely important in this country and access to justice in many contexts, and obviously in the context of gender-based violence, is very important.
Q: What is your reading of the different positions of the South Sudanese leaders regarding the slow implementation of the 2018 peace agreement and the ongoing Tumaini Initiative in Kenya? The leaders seem to be reading from different scripts and the Nairobi talks seem to be on hold.
A: My starting point is, and I think most people in this country will share this opinion, that any transition, any future settlement for this country needs to be a broad tent. It is very important that the non-signatories who are sometimes called the holdout groups, are brought inside the tent. It is for that reason that we have supported the Tumaini Initiative, not just politically, but in terms of providing financial and technical resources. So, we are in favor of the Tumaini Initiative. How that melts with the existing peace agreement, is a matter for all the political leaders in this country to decide upon. As you said, there have been different opinions.
Q: Based on your interaction with South Sudanese officials, do you get assurances that the elections will take place as planned?
A: It is not for me to say whether the election will take place or not, It is for the politicians to decide on that. We do believe that the elections need to take place and that they need to be fair, free, and transparent. And for them to be fair, free, and transparent, certain things need to happen and they are all covered in the peace agreement. There needs to be unified armed forces, there needs to be civil and political space and there needs to be fully funded and technically competent institutions to conduct the election.
Q: Fundamental freedoms are curtailed in South Sudan. Are you doing anything to get the government to improve on this?
A: We will always support the creation of civil and political space because you cannot have an election until you have civil and political space. We do not have a program for it but we will continue to support it.
Q: Certain elements in the government have often faulted the Troika (U.S., UK, and Norway) for pushing what they call unrealistic demands, especially concerning freedoms and the conduct of the planned polls. What do you have to say about this?
A: I do not think it is unrealistic to support human rights norms and free speech is a human rights norm. The UK will support free speech throughout the world, we will support the right to assembly throughout the world, and we are not focused particularly on South Sudan. These are universal internationally agreed international customary law norms and I do not think they are unrealistic.
Q: South Sudan’s economy has been in free fall lately and the pound has significantly depreciated against all the major currencies. Have you reached out to help the government with technical assistance on this?
A: The Troika has worked closely with the government and successive finance ministers in Public Financial Management (PFM) which seeks to improve public financial management in South Sudan. That is the area where we are focusing our energy and trying to improve transparency and good financial management in this country because it is only when you have good financial management that you can access the funds that international financial institutions offer.
Q: Have you noticed any improvement in the civic space and the country’s democratic credentials since you arrived?
A: I do not think that much has changed in the time that I have been here but we are hopeful that we will have full, free, fair, transparent, and credible elections, and that clearly would be a major step forward, if and when it happens. That would be the tipping point.
When I turned up 18 months ago, we were in transition and we remain in a transition and I think everyone agrees that the transition cannot go on forever.
Q: The National Legislature recently passed the National Security Service (NSS) Bill and the president did not return it to the House which means it is now law. Have you engaged government officials on this archaic law that allows arbitrary detention without arrest warrants?
A: You will probably be aware that a large number of countries issued a statement on the law saying that we were concerned about any law that allows the detention and arrest, for people to be taken off the streets without a warrant which cannot then be put to some form of court, is a worrying development. We have said that to the government and we have said it publicly.
Q: Is there any way of revising the NSS law?
A: I think that question needs to be posed to the people who made the law, not me. This is a question for parliament and the senior leadership of this country.
Q: What development and assistance programs are you undertaking in South Sudan momentarily?
A: I spoke earlier about the 69 million pounds humanitarian program and I am sure the development area is larger than that. It is around 111 million pounds, which makes it the fourth largest development program in Africa, which is quite significant. As I said earlier, our main focus is on education, particularly education for girls, where we have enabled one million more girls to go into education in this country. This is something we are very proud of. It is just us, other donors have contributed, but it is a UK-run initiative.
We have valid fundamental primary healthcare assistance to large numbers of people. We were doing that on our own but we are now doing it with the World Bank and UNICEF in a program that will cover the entire country. We are providing food through WFP but we are doing other things to build resilience in terms of the forthcoming floods, something that we are very worried about. We have some small but quite effective peacebuilding initiatives in places like Jonglei and Pibor where we are trying to get communities to talk to each other. So, we do not do everything, but I think in the things that we do, we have genuine impacts and we are very proud to be helping the people of South Sudan to have a better future.
Q: What is your message to the government and people of South Sudan?
A: My message is that the UK has supported South Sudan since before its independence and we will continue to do so. We will not abandon the people of South Sudan and that was the message of my minister. My minister was very struck by what she saw in Bentiu and visited an IDP camp there. It was very clear to her that the moral imperative is to help people in extreme need as these people are returning from Sudan is very clear and the UK will always be friends with the people of South Sudan.