How South Sudan Is Trying to Mitigate Its Diplomatic Isolation

How South Sudan Is Trying to Mitigate Its Diplomatic Isolation
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and newly appointed army chief of staff Lt. Gen. James Ajongo Mawut attend a ceremony, Juba, South Sudan, May 18, 2017 (AP photo by Bullen Chol).

In late April, Stephen Dhieu Dau, South Sudan’s finance minister, visited his counterpart in Turkey to sign a trade and cooperation agreement. As the young country’s civil war drags on and relations with the U.S. and other traditional backers remain tense, South Sudan’s officials are pursuing ties with new diplomatic partners. In an email interview, Brian Adeba, associate director of policy at the Enough Project, describes that outreach and explains why the U.S. is still in a position to exert pressure on South Sudan’s government.

WPR: How have relations between South Sudan and its traditional backers, especially the United States, evolved as the civil war has dragged on?

Adeba: Historically, South Sudan’s strongest supporter among its traditional backers was the United States, which invested a lot of diplomatic effort to bring about the birth of the world’s most recently independent country. For years, South Sudan enjoyed strong bipartisan support among policymakers in the U.S. This support started under former President George W. Bush, who reportedly directed staff on his second day in office to look into ways to resolve the conflict in what was then a unified Sudan.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review