Damning UN Report Finds Embezzlement, Corruption by top South Sudanese Officials

The government of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, pictured above, has been plagued by corruption and economic mismanagement.

High-ranking officials in South Sudan have embezzled at least 36 million dollars since 2016, according to a new report released Wednesday. International corporations and banks reportedly aided these individuals in their crime. 

The report, written by the UN Commission for Human Rights in South Sudan, stressed that the human rights situation in the country remains dire, with a high prevalence of violence against women and near-total impunity from prosecution for criminal activity. 

South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, only gained independence from Sudan in 2011. Shortly thereafter, however, a brutal civil war broke out. Peace accords were brokered between the belligerent parties in 2018. 

South Sudan has long suffered from economic difficulties and financial mismanagement. Indeed, the report acknowledged that the identified 36 million dollar figure only took into account traceable funds and that, in actual, the scheme likely embezzled a much higher amount. 

South Sudan’s economy and government revenues have always relied on crude oil production. This production, though, took a major hit during the country’s civil war and has never fully recovered, leading to massive budget deficits.

South Sudan’s economic problems reached a peak this summer when the country ran out of foreign exchange reserves. Foreign exchange reserves are funds held by a country’s central bank in a reserve currency (generally the U.S. dollar) used to balance payments and control the foreign exchange rate of their own currency. Running out of these reserves meant that South Sudan’s central bank lost major influence over the value of its currency, the pound, and could do little to stop a 37 percent devaluation of the pound against the U.S. dollar. 

“For a long time, egregious corruption and the deliberate destruction of institutional mechanisms for checks and balances have resulted in officials using the central bank as their personal ATM, so this [running out of foreign exchange] is not surprising,” argues Brian Adeba, who works at U.S.-based South Sudenense corruption watchdog The Sentry. 

This massive slide in the currency’s valuation motivated South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s decision to fire Finance Minister Salvatore Garang Mabiordit Wol and Erjok Bullen, who had previously headed the country’s National Revenue Authority, as well as Chol Deng Thon Abel, who lead the country’s institution in charge of oil production. At present, the situation in South Sudan remains uncertain as the young nation tries to recover from yet another scandal weighing on its fragile government.