Letter to the Honorable John F. Kerry, Secretary of the US Department of State - Escalating Crisis In South Sudan

Letter

Dear Secretary Kerry,

Like so many who have long been invested in the welfare of the people of South Sudan, I have watched with mounting alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation in the world's newest nation. Today's Washington Postfeatured an op-ed by Abdul Mohammed, chief of staff for the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and South Sudan, and Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University's Fletcher School, who cautioned that "There is an opportunity to halt South Sudan's slide into war and state failure, but it must be seized within days or it will be lost."

Indeed we are at a crisis point and time is of the essence. Old tribal tensions are aflame. Violence, fear and hunger are the order of the day.

I urge this administration to act. Specifically, I urge you to enlist the aid of former President George W. Bush, whose administration was absolutely pivotal in birthing South Sudan, and the George W. Bush Presidential Center. I was present at the Rose Garden ceremony when Senator John Danforth was appointed as Sudan Special Envoy. He had a clear charge and a platform to pursue a lasting peace. After two and half years of painstaking negotiations, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was secured, thereby bringing about an end to the decades-long conflict between the North and South. Danforth, fully empowered by President Bush, was vital in this diplomatic feat and the people and leaders of South Sudan -- with whom I am well-acquainted having visited there six times since 1989 -- know and appreciate this reality. It's worth recalling that President Salva Kiir's trademark black cowboy hat was in fact a gift from President Bush.

The transition to civilian rule in South Sudan has most assuredly been difficult. Many of the nation's current leadership spent years trying to defend their people and survive in the African bush. But in the face of overwhelming odds, hope remained that after virtually unimaginable hardship and bloodshed, a new democratic nation marked by rule of law and lasting peace would emerge. But if there is no deviation from the current trajectory, that hope will have been a mere illusion, and the people of that land who have suffered for so long will be destined for more of the same. This must not be permitted to happen.

It's been said that politics stops at the water's edge. While perhaps not always the case, I would hope that this administration, despite its past differences with Bush administration, would recognize the wisdom of inviting former President Bush and key members of his team who forged lasting relationships with the leadership of South Sudan to engage in high-level diplomacy with the various actors involved in the current crisis and to do so with the full support and blessing of the U.S. Department of State and the White House. Such an overture would send a clear message to the people of this fledgling nation that they have not been abandoned in the midst of this great trial, and that the U.S. having helped, in your words, "midwife the birth of this new nation", continues to stand with them.

Finally, I would be neglectful if I didn't thank you for the time and effort you spent in the Senate working on these issues for so many years.

Source