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South Sudan Foreign Minister Stresses Continuous Efforts to Stop the War

South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Deng Dau
South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Deng Dau
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South Sudan Foreign Minister Stresses Continuous Efforts to Stop the War

South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Deng Dau
South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Deng Dau

South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Deng Dau warned against the expansion of the war in Sudan, which he said directly affects his country in terms of security, economy, politics and society.

He noted that the long border between the two countries, from east to west, embraces 12 crossings, and has allowed the evacuation of more than 40,000 nationals of 11 countries from Europe, Africa, Asia and America.

In a telephone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat from Juba, Dau stressed that his country was exerting continuous efforts for the success of an expected meeting with the parties to the conflict, with the aim to conduct a dialogue that would stop the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.

“There is an urgent need for material and logistical support from humanitarian organizations, to meet the growing demand, in terms of relief, food, shelter and treatment for refugees in the border areas between Sudan and South Sudan...” He stated. “If the war continues until the end of the month, we will expect the number of refugees and those fleeing the country to exceed 170,000, as we receive about 500 people every day.”

He explained that the initiative launched by President Salva Kiir Mayardit for a one-week truce in Sudan, came as a result of an extension of the initiative launched by the president on April 16, and was accepted by both parties to the conflict.

According to Dau, President Salva Kiir appealed, through direct contact with the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Rapid Support Forces, Lieutenant General Mohammad Hamdan Hamidti, to stop the war, and sit around a dialogue table to resolve the crisis between the two sides.

Dau noted that the initiative put forward by the president of South Sudan was based on four axes, including a one-week cease-fire, followed by each side appointing its delegation for the talks, then specifying the location and timing of the dialogue, and finally launching the peace talks.

The foreign minister pointed to fierce clashes in Khartoum, stressing that those led to the suspension of basic services at the airport.

He also emphasized the importance of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to evacuate nationals from more than 96 countries and expressed appreciation for the Saudi-American initiative to end the conflict.

Dau said that any conflict, war or instability in Sudan will affect the countries of the region as a whole. He stressed that Juba welcomes any endeavors of the African Union, or those led by Saudi Arabia, America or other countries, as they all fall in the same direction to stop the war and achieve peace.

“Our vision is for the Sudanese to try to manage the dialogue themselves, but on the other hand, this does not preclude the engagement of other parties in the region to contribute to finding possible solutions to the crisis and achieving peace,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Regarding the effectiveness of the emergency program of the United Nations organizations on the border between the two countries, Dau explained that the border areas suffer from many humanitarian problems due to the presence of several refugee camps.

“In 2010 and 2012, there were 340,000 Sudanese refugees from the border states, such as the states of the Kordofan and White Nile regions, while the current conflict exacerbated the humanitarian situation, which requires urgent aid,” he stated.

The foreign minister said that South Sudan’s oil exports, through Port Sudan, have not been affected by the conflict so far, pointing out that the pipeline connecting Juba to Port Sudan, was not subjected to any targeting.

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.