What Kenya stands to gain from South Sudan peace

President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Sudan's Salva Kiir Mayardit at State House in Nairobi on July 1, 2019. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By CHARLES WASONGA

Kenya stands to benefit significantly from Saturday’s formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) as announced by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar.

Dr Machar, leader of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO), accepted to rejoin the government as the First Vice President, based on the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), signed in September 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The two pledged to end a five-year civil war that had sent the country's nascent economy into convulsions.

Kenya, being one of the largest foreign investors in that country, stands to benefit tremendously with the return of the peace and stability.

Many Kenyans who have invested in sectors such as construction, insurance hospitality, transport and banking will see their businesses recover from effects of the 2016 civil war.

BANKS

Formation of the TGoNU is good news for KCB, Equity, Co-operative and Stanbic banks. 

They are among the Kenyan lenders which scaled down their operations after war erupted. 

The banks set up shop in South Sudan after it attained independence in 2011, attracted by a large unbanked population and oil wealth.

TRADE

Formation of the unity government is also expected to boost trade between Kenya and South Sudan.

In the recent past, the youngest country in Africa has been a valuable export destination for many Kenyan products including foodstuff.

According to the latest statistics from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics (KBS), Kenya’s exports to South Sudan account for 11.2 per cent of the total exports to the Common Market for East and Southern African (Comesa).

This, arguably, places South Sudan as one of the largest export destinations for Kenya out of 18 other Comesa members.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

The return of peace in Southern Sudan will also boost key projects such as the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor, which will spur socio-economic development in Kenya and the region.

Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia jointly launched the infrastructure project in March 2012.

It involves construction of a new transport corridor for the new port of Lamu, through the Kenyan towns of Garissa and Isiolo. 

One part of the corridor is meant to connect Kenya and Ethiopia while the other will connect Kenya and South Sudan through the border town of Nakodok.

The project entails construction of a new road network, a railway line, an oil refinery in Lamu, airports in Lamu and resort cities at Isiolo and the shows of Lake Turkana.

It will promote trade along the corridor hence open northern Kenya up to faster development

REFUGEES MENACE

The number of South Sudanese refugees hosted in Kenya reached 120,452 as at end of October 2019, according to figures from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Many are likely go back home if political stability returns with establishment of the unity government. 

This will relieve Kenya of the pressure of hosting many refugees in camps such as Kakuma in Turkana County and Dadaab in Garissa County.

When he meet Dr Machar in Juba on Thursday, President Kiir expressed hope that the next three years of the transitional period will pave way for refugees in neighbouring countries and internally displaced persons to return to their homes.

“The recent changes are meant for peace to be achieved. They are not meant to bring conflict back. In the next three years, we want to see new changes,” he said.

REGIONAL PEACE

The return of peace in South Sudan is also likely to enhance regional stability. 

It will stem the proliferation of illegal small arms and weapons.

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Locusts swarm into crisis-hit South Sudan as plague spreads across east Africa

Invasion is further food shortages in country struggling with drought and legacy of civil war 

Reuters

Swarms of locusts ravaging crops and grazing land across east Africa have reached South Sudan, already reeling from widespread hunger and years of civil war, the country’s agriculture minister said on Tuesday.

Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti are battling the worst locust outbreak in decades, and swarms have also spread into Tanzania and Uganda.

Desert locusts can travel up to 150km (95 miles) in a day and eat their own body weight in greenery, meaning a swarm just one kilometre square can eat as much food as 35,000 people in a day, according to the United Nations.

The invasion is worsening food shortages in a region where up to 25 million people are suffering after three consecutive years of droughts and floods.

Meshack Malo, South Sudan’s representative for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said the locusts were mature and looking for breeding grounds that would form the basis of the next grounds that would form the basis of the next major infestation.

“These are deep yellow, which means that they will be here mostly looking at areas in which they will lay eggs,” he said.

Teams planned to mark the place where they lay eggs and then come back to kill the young insects in 14 days, he said, since poisoning the eggs in the ground could damage the soil.

At least 2,000 locusts had crossed the border, he said. During each three-month breeding cycle, a single locust can breed 20 more, giving rise to the massive swarms that are now threatening crops on either side of the Red Sea.

Oil-rich South Sudan is recovering from five years of civil war that plunged parts of the country into famine in 2017 and forced a quarter of the population to flee their homes. In December, the UN’s World Food Programme said the food security outlook was dire after floods affected nearly a million people.

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South Sudan president bans singing of anthem in his absence

By 

Bankole Adewale

South Sudan‘s President Salva Kiir has banned anyone from singing the national anthem unless he is present, according to a government minister.

Information Minister Michael Makuei told AFP news on Monday that different leaders and institutions were playing the anthem at whim, which was an abuse of the national tune, written shortly before independence in 2011.

“For the information of everybody the national anthem is only meant for the president, in a function only attended by the president, not for everybody,” Makuei said.

“We are seeing now even a minister, undersecretary, even governor or state minister, whenever there is a function the national anthem is sung.”

He said Kiir’s order was passed during a cabinet meeting on Friday.

Makuei said that with the exception of South Sudan’s embassies, which represent the president, and schools where children are taught the anthem, no one was allowed to sing the song in Kiir’s absence.

The minister said that military leaders have also been banned from addressing the public when in uniform.

He did not give details on what the punishment would be if the orders were not followed.

“These are orders and of course when you disobey the orders of the president then you carry your cross,” Makuei said.

Civil war

South Sudan gained independence from its northern neighbour Sudan in 2011 after years of war pitting rebel groups against Khartoum.

In 2013, South Sudan descended into a ruinous civil war after Kiir sacked his entire cabinet and then-deputy, Riek Machar, over accusations he had plotted a coup.

Ethnically-charged fighting soon spread from the capital, Juba, across the impoverished state, shutting down oil fields, forcing millions to flee and killing tens of thousands of people.

The conflict split the country along ethnic lines and has seen mass rape, the forced recruitment of child soldiers and attacks on civilians.

It has caused one of the world’s greatest humanitarian crises and wrecked the economy in a country which relies on oil production for the vast bulk of its revenues.

A power-sharing deal that returned Machar to the vice presidency was signed in 2015. But it collapsed a year later in a deadly battle that saw Machar flee into exile.

The rebel leader and former vice president was due to return to Juba in May after the signing of a new peace deal in September last year aimed at ending the war.

The deal, under which Machar is to return from exile to serve as vice president in a power-sharing government, has suffered heavy delays.

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