This Week in South Sudan – Week 44 – Monitoring South Sudan

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”

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”

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”

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.

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.

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.

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

This Week in South Sudan – Week 44