COWBOY DICTATOR
So why DO we give £200m in foreign aid to a blood-soaked regime run by a man who George Clooney exposed as a...
HOLLYWOOD actor and human rights campaigner George Clooney has unveiled a devastating report into the ‘corrupt kleptocracy’ of South Sudan, where nearly £200million of the UK’s foreign aid is spent every year.
The investigation accuses the country’s leader, Stetson-wearing President Salva Kiir Mayardit, along with countless cronies, of raking in millions in backhanders from shady business deals, funding multi-million pound mansions and private jets.
South Sudan’s armed forces have been accused by the UN of war crimes as they conducted a ‘scorched earth’ policy against civilians caught up in the country’s civil war, allowing its soldiers and allied militias to rape thousands of women and girls in lieu of wages, and torture and murder suspected opponents.
But the country receives a large portion of British aid – a total of £188million last year – some of it aimed at anti-corruption measures. The new report comes as International Development Secretary Priti Patel announced a major shake-up in Britain’s foreign aid approach following The Mail on Sunday’s groundbreaking campaign to scrap the diktat of pledging 0.7 per cent of our national income to aid.
Ms Patel declared: ‘It rightly infuriates taxpayers when money that is intended for the world’s poorest people is stolen or wasted on inappropriate projects. I am infuriated.’
The Department For International Development (DFID) insists that not a penny of UK aid is given directly to the South Sudan government, but the UK does assist with personnel and expertise in key areas. DFID stresses that the majority of British money goes to helping the massive humanitarian crisis in the area and is channelled through the UN and NGOs.
The new report entitled War Crimes Shouldn’t Pay following a two-year investigation by The Sentry, an organisation co-founded by Clooney, makes shocking reading, but does not mention aid as being a factor in fuelling corruption. But critics will
‘Mansions, five-star hotels and luxury cars’
cite theth so-called ‘fungibility‘fungibili factor’ – pointingi ti outt that even if aid is not misappropriated, by helping the South Sudan government with resources in the shape of staff or expertise frees up money which might have been spent on those services, so effectively increasing the spending power of a corrupt regime. Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the fungibility argument was ‘a very strong one’ and added: ‘As long as we are locked into a ridiculous 0.7 per cent target, this kind of profligacy will continue.’
The Sentry delved into the assets of key figures in Kiir’s regime, including social media accounts controlled by his children. As Clooney put it in the foreword: ‘Members of their families often live in multi-million dollar mansions outside the country, stay in five-star hotels, reap the benefits of what appears to be a system of nepotism and shady corporate deals, and drive around in luxury cars – all while much of their country’s population suffers from the consequences of a brutal civil war.’
Among the most prominent hangers-on is the stepson of the army’s chief of staff, Gen Paul Malong, accused by the UN of presiding over mass killings, rapes, and recruiting child soldiers.
Last week, shortly after The Sentry report, Lawrence Lual Malong Yor Jnr, 28, posed in a purple suit in front of his aircraft with the caption: ‘Young tycoon flying private jet.’
Among the projects funded by UK aid is the South Sudan Health Pooled Fund, at a cost of £92million, which the DFID website describes as providing ‘a government-led effective health system’.
Then there’s Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) which spends £73million across the region helping national governments respond to climate extremes.
A DFID spokesman said: ‘South Sudan is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and the UK aid is supporting millions of people in urgent need – providing life-saving food, clean water and shelter for those who have lost their homes during ongoing conflict.’