UN says 300 South Sudan opposition supporters now in Congo
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Investigators spent two years looking into how a network of politicians, businessmen and arms dealers profit from a conflict that has made multi-millionaires out of South Sudan president Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar, the rival leaders responsible for the civil war that has wreaked havoc on their nation.
South Sudan share a long border with its eastern neighbor Ethiopia, but trade between the countries have been affected by South Sudan’s civil war which started in December 2013 which concentrated in the Northeastern region bordering Sudan and Ethiopia. His wife, children and several powerful in-laws have held interests in nearly two dozen companies operating in oil, mining, construction, gambling, banking, foreign exchange, telecommunications, aviation, and government and military procurement. And we have the evidence.
Among other things, The Sentry said it had uncovered documents indicating that Kiir’s 12-year-old son held a 25 percent stake in a holding company, while other information suggested that at least seven of the president’s children as well as his wife had held stakes in numerous businesses operating in the country.
South Sudanese authorities condemned MONUSCO’s actions. They have learned that rape as a war weapon, child-soldier recruitment and mass killings aren’t enough to trigger more impactful global pressures.
Mr Machar is accused of dealing with a Ukrainian arms company through a Russian intermediary with multiple aliases.
The rights group’s co-founders, Hollywood star George Clooney and activist John Prendergast, shared the findings Monday at a news conference at Washington’s National Press Club.
The confidential report seen by AFP on Thursday points the finger at President Salva Kiir and army chief of staff Paul Malong as having ordered the large-scale attacks that began on July 8.
Army chief of staff General Paul Malong, who the Sentry calls the “architect of huge human suffering in South Sudan” reportedly has a government salary of $45,000 per year but somehow owns two homes in Uganda, along with a $2 million mansion in Nairobi, according to the report.
It recommends using a “new approach to countering mass atrocities”.
WATCH: What’s gone wrong in South Sudan? . “In the past these sanctions have only been applied in a piecemeal fashion and we think sanctions need to be accompanied by robust anti-money laundering measures”, he said. Fighting between both sides grew into an ethnically influenced conflict that has displaced millions and killed thousands.