Johnson - South Sudan

Hilde F. Johnson was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (201114). She has since served as a Member of the UN Secretary Generals High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations and as Senior Visiting Fellow at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI). From 200711 Hilde F. Johnson was Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, where she was in charge of the organizations humanitarian operations and crisis response. As Minister for International Development of Norway during the period 19972005 Hilde F. Johnson was a key player in brokering the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) for Sudan in 2005. She is the author of Waging Peace in Sudan: The Inside Story of the Negotiations That Ended Africas Longest Civil War .

This devastating insider account by the former UN Special Representative in South Sudan of the corruption and bad governance that have brought the worlds newest state to its knees provides a vital service not only to the truth, but to the people of South Sudan. Christopher Clapham, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge

From the West, we observe countries of civil war, famine, and institutional degradation with a bewildered, hopeless eye. Hilde F. Johnson takes us inside one of the worlds sketchiest countries. South Sudan. Its challenges, collapses, proxy interventions, and the courage of its hope. Shes been at the centre of it, and has candidly written an eye-opening exploration of its history, political manoeuvring, and its brave peoples journey forward. Sean Penn

In 2011 South Sudan became the worlds newest nation. I was among those who celebrated with the people who had endured and lost so much. It was a jubilant time. But instead of the longed for peace and justice, there came mayhem; massacres and atrocities of the worst kind. How could the leaders, liberators of South Sudan betray themselves and their people? Hilde F. Johnson was there. In South Sudan: The Untold Story , she gives us an inside account. With insight and uncommon objectivity, she details the corruption and greed for power that brought this hope-filled, newborn nation into catastrophe. This is an invaluable, outstanding book. Mia Farrow

Those engaged with Sudan and South Sudan for decades are all asking fundamental questions about how the worlds youngest nation went from celebrating its freedom in 2011 to plunging into the abyss three years later. Hilde F. Johnsons in-depth analysis leaves no stone unturned in her search for answers in this excellent and well-researched book. South Sudan: The Untold Story tells it all with sharp observation, honesty and uncompromising objectivity. It is a must read for anyone interested in Africa and the fate of South Sudan, as it stands on the brink of state implosion. John Prendergast

Hilde F. Johnson was appointed head of the United Nations Mission to South Sudan following that countrys independence in 2011. She brought more experience in Sudanese and South Sundanese affairs to that job than most diplomats and NGOs who came to the country following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudans second civil war in 2005. An academic, a humanitarian, a former Norwegian government minister, and a diplomat involved in the CPA negotiations, she was well acquainted with the outstanding issues of the peace agreement and the Sudanese and South Sundanese personalities involved. Her tenure as head of UNMISS was not without controversy, as she records here. But this is more than an autobiographical memoir. It is a sharp analysis of South Sudans launch into nationhood, based on her insiders knowledge as an active participant, and buttressed by extensive independent reporting by academics, journalists and NGOs. She got to know well many of the prominent personalities in South Sudans on-going political crisis, and she has left perceptive descriptions of the competent and incompetent, the well intentioned who lacked the will to bring about necessary reforms, and the totally self-serving chancers whose main goal in independence was self-enrichment. The challenges she faced as head of mission were not all generated by South Sudanese. She also had to contend with a remote UN bureaucracy, slow to respond to new emergencies, as well as self-publishing and uncooperative NGOs. For anyone involved in South Sudan now who wants to learn lessons from the past failures in order to avoid them, this book is essential reading. Douglas H. Johnson, Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute and author of South Sudan: A New History for a New Nation

South Sudan:
The Untold Story

from Independence to Civil War

hilde f. johnson

Published in 2016 by

I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd

London New York

www.ibtauris.com

Copyright 2016 Hilde F. Johnson

Copyright foreword 2016 Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus

The right of Hilde F. Johnson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

References to websites were correct at the time of writing.

ISBN: 978 1 78453 644 2

eISBN: 978 1 78672 005 4

ePDF: 978 1 78673 005 3

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN

To the suffering South Sudanese people, for your resilience, endurance and perseverance, against all odds.

You did not deserve this.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Our South Sudanese brothers and sisters spent decades fighting for freedom. In South Africa, we joined hands with them. Our apartheid was not very different from theirs. They were exploited, subjected to slavery, abuse and discrimination, not only on racial, but also on religious grounds. Their oppression was systematic and institutionalized. Their struggle lasted almost 50 years. Indeed, for the South Sudanese as for us in South Africa the biblical stories of Moses, who spent 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the promised land, gave hope.

And in 2005, with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, peace was achieved; the promised land was in sight. God had heard the suffering of his people. Chairman John Garang was their Moses; Salva Kiir their Joshua, taking over after his brother and leader was killed in a helicopter crash in July the same year.

The next six years were difficult, but in the end the referendum took place, and almost every South Sudanese voted for independence. They wanted liberation, running their own country themselves. With independence in July 2011, it was time for delivery. All South Sudanese thought they would finally enjoy the fruits of freedom. Expectations were sky high.