South Sudan's government is mainly to blame for famine in parts of the war-torn country, yet President Salva Kiir is still boosting his forces using millions of dollars from oil sales, according to a confidential United Nations report.
UN sanctions monitors said 97 per cent of South Sudan's known revenue comes from oil sales and that at least half of the budget and probably more is devoted to security.
'Revenue from forward oil sales totaled approximately $243 million between late March and late October 2016,' the panel of UN monitors said in the report to the UN Security Council, seen by Reuters on Thursday.
'Despite the scale and scope of the political, humanitarian, and economic crises, the panel continues to uncover evidence of the ongoing procurement of weapons by the...Government for the SPLA (South Sudanese army), the National Security Service, and other associated forces and militias,' the report said.
Christian aid agencies have mobilised individually and as part of the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee in an attempt to urgently address the crisis. 'While there have been poor rains in many parts of the country, there is no doubt that this famine is man-made, due to insecurity and poor economic management,' said a letter from South Sudanese Catholic Bishops.
Evangelical NGO World Vision has long term work in South Sudan and has previously examined the impact of armed conflict. 'Children live in fear,' a report says. 'They believe that the armed conflict may again be directed at them and their families. Many remember when armed men forced them to leave their homes, and most experience fear and distress without the comfort or familiarity of home.'
The United Nations has declared a famine in some parts of the world's youngest country, where nearly half its population – some 5.5 million people – face food shortages. A civil war erupted in 2013 when Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer, who has fled and is now in South Africa.
'The bulk of evidence suggests that the famine...has resulted from protracted conflict and, in particular, the cumulative toll of military operations undertaken by the SPLM/A in Government in southern Unity state; denial of humanitarian access, primarily by the SPLM/A in Government; and population displacement resulting from the war,' the report said.
The United Nations says at least one quarter of South Sudanese have been displaced since 2013.
The annual report of the sanctions monitors to the 15-member Security Council comes ahead of a ministerial meeting of the body on South Sudan next Thursday, which is due to be chaired by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
While the previous US administration of President Barack Obama was heavily involved in the birth of South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, and led Security Council efforts to try to end the civil war, the policy of new US President Donald Trump toward the African state is unclear.
In December, the Security Council failed to adopt a US-drafted resolution to impose an arms embargo and further sanctions on South Sudan despite warnings by UN officials of a possible genocide. The UN monitors again recommended in their report that the council impose an arms embargo on South Sudan.
The Security Council set up a targeted sanctions regime for South Sudan in March 2015 and has blacklisted six generals – three from each side of the conflict – by subjecting them to an asset freeze and travel ban.
The UN monitors said all parties to the conflict continue to commit widespread human rights violations 'with near complete impunity and a lack of any credible effort to prevent these violations or to punish the perpetrators'.
UN peacekeepers have been in South Sudan since 2011.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
