The African Union Summit on July 1-2 in Mauritania is a golden
chance for African heads of state and government to take a significant
step towards fulfilling the AU’s oath to silence the guns in Africa by
2020.
Nowhere in Africa is their attention needed as in South Sudan, which will be on their agenda.
This
year, the country marks five years of civil war. Theirs is a war that
has gone on for too long, devastating too many innocent lives.
In
Mauritania, African leaders can unlock a series of decisions to aid the
region in finally putting an end to this war. The people of South Sudan
can wait no longer; it is a now or never moment.
The
recent attempts by Uganda’s President Museveni, together with the
leaders of Ethiopia and Sudan, to reconcile South Sudanese President
Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar, deserve everyone’s
support.
Their efforts notwithstanding, the AU must
not leave it only to the region to support our brothers and sisters in
South Sudan. Rather, the AU must use the occasion of the summit to
complement what regional leaders are doing by agreeing to a potent mix
of incentives to encourage and support those in South Sudan who want to
wage peace and punitive measures to make the costs too high for those
perpetuating the civil war.
We all need to roll up our sleeves and commit to the hard work of peacemaking.
Failed leadership
Why
must the AU act if the region is already engaged in peacemaking?
Because what is happening in South Sudan should enrage all of us who
live on the continent.
Because seven years into its
independence, rather than prospering from its natural resource wealth,
the aspirations of South Sudan’s citizens are buried under the enormous
weight of their leaders’ failure.
Because South
Sudan’s leaders – a coterie of corrupt warlords, government officials,
and military generals – have become prosperous at the expense of their
people by misusing money from the country’s coffers and blocking and
stealing precious humanitarian aid.
It’s a complete
failure of leadership and poor governance in every respect. South
Sudanese people will be looking to the summit to marshal clear and
decisive leadership from the entire African Union.
How AU can support peacemaking
First,
the AU must do all it can to silence the guns in South Sudan this year.
This it can do by delivering on the punitive measures it and IGAD have
already decided to apply in order to disincentivise those who are
obstructing peace and violating the cessation of hostilities agreement
signed in December last year.
How many more African lives must be lost before these promises are fulfilled?
Second,
the AU must hold accountable and punish South Sudanese leaders who have
perpetuated the war and committed atrocities including sexual
gender-based violence.
AU leaders can do this in
Mauritania by making demonstrable progress on the creation of a Hybrid
Court for South Sudan. Much eviden
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