(Adnkronos) – Government officials in South Sudan have allegedly embezzled billions of dollars in oil revenues since the African country’s independence in 2011. This was denounced in a report by the UN Human Rights Commission released in Geneva.
The document denounces “systemic corruption” and underlines that, against 25.2 billion dollars of oil revenues, “almost nothing” has been allocated to health and education in one of the poorest countries in the world. Among the programs under accusation, ‘Oil for Roads’, which between 2021 and 2024 received 2.2 billion dollars, of which 1.7 billion “unaccounted for”, with unfinished roads or built at inflated costs. The money would have passed through companies linked to Benjamin Bol Mel, vice-president since February and considered the most likely successor to President Salva Kiir.
The Juba government rejected the accusations, speaking of “unverified” information, while the fragile power agreement between Kiir and rival Riek Machar appears close to collapse, with the risk of a return to civil war.
