This Week in South Sudan – Week 44

Tuesday 31 October

• New in-depth working-paper from Small Arms Survey: “Isolation and Endurance: Riek Machar and the SPLM-IO in 2016–17”
• The Mail and the Guardian in-depth investigative report on the leaked audit report: “How South Sudan’s elite looted its foreign reserves”
• TIME, op-ed: “What the U.S. Must Do to Save South Sudan, a Nation it Helped Create”

Wednesday 1 November

• President Kiir arrived in Khartoum for a two-day bilateral visit and meeting with his neighbouring counterpart, President Omar al-Bashir.
• South Sudan’s media regulator has suspended all press associations while they register for licenses to operate; a move that sparks fear of further media censorship.
• Sudanese Defence Minister, Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf and his South Sudanese counterpart, Kuol Manyang has agreed to reopen four border crossings.
• CNN summarizes US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley’s recent visit to Africa and South Sudan “Haley draws on her African visit when briefing Trump”

Thursday 2 November

• Several clashes reported during the week between government and SPLA (IO) forces in Fergsika and Bahr-Olo area, Western Equatoria State; near the UN PoC camp in Bentiu, Unity State; and in Kajo Keji, Central Equatoria State.
• New, in-depth NUPI report written by PRIO Senior Researcher Øystein H. Rolandsen, and Nicki Kindersley: “South Sudan: A Political Economy Analysis”

Friday 3 November

• The Government of Canada has imposed individual sanctions on three South Sudanese officials accused of gross human rights violations; Paul Malong Awan, Malek Reuben Riak Rengu and Michael Makuei Lueth. The US has previously imposed similar sanctions on these three officials.

Saturday 4 November

• The Government of South Sudan (GoSS) has reportedly agreed to pay Sudan the outstanding export fee debt of USD $262 million for transferring oil through Sudan’s territory.

Sunday 5 November

• A presidential decree ordered a strict house arrest of the former SPLA chief of staff, Paul Malong and disarming his bodyguards; heightening the tensions in Juba and within the leadership circles.

Monday 6 November

• The food situation in South Sudan is worsening, according to anew reportreleased by the UN, humanitarian agencies, and the GoSS.
  • Bloomberg: “Civil War Leaves South Sudanese Officials Hustling for Food”