China Wins the Influence Game in South Sudan

The 2005 creation of South Sudan as the newest nation began as one of the great U.S. diplomatic successes during the Bush administration.  The Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the SPLM and Khartoum called for the 2011 referendum that created the new nation.  Back then the U.S. put some skin in the game and it paid off.  The other major player in South Sudan today is China.  Since the outbreak of civil war in South Sudan in 2013, U.S. meddling has done more harm than good in regards to reaching peace.

It seems now that the force for peace will be China who sent seven hundred troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in September.  Why? China owns forty percent of the oil stake in South Sudan and has invested billions.  Keep in mind the the U.S. tax payer provides for twenty seven percent of U.N. peace keeping missions.  That means we are paying for China to protect its vast oil interest in a nation we helped to create and then helped to divide when John Kerry signaled favoritism for Riek Machar, a rival of the South Sudanese president who was also a former and current proxy of the genocidal Khartoum.

U.S. meddling wasn’t the only factor in the divide in South Sudan but the State Department is often deliberate in downplaying the impact of their careless favoritism.  China helped fuel the conflict between Khartoum and the various groups in the South as a major weapons supplier for Khartoum.  Particularly of note are the advanced long range Wei Shi missiles Khartoum used in 2011 to attack innocent civilians.  The Wei Shi is not your run of the mill small arms that media consumers have become immune to, but a long range surface to surface missile system.

If the U.S. had a big picture strategic view of our interests in South Sudan it might have recognized that, with all its faults, South Sudan was united under President Salva Kiir and could have been nurtured into a strong and prosperous democratic ally.  Now it is at the mercy of the geo-political interests of Khartoum and China with U.S. diplomatic fumbling making things worse.  Khartoum will continue to supply (Chinese made) weapons to Machar while China pretends to play the peacemaker role.  Both undermine South Sudan’s self-determination but China will protect its interest without being challenged as new colonialists.