New Brief: EU Financial Leverage for Impact in South Sudan

A new policy brief published today by the Enough Project urges the European Union to more clearly and consistently assert leadership and develop much-needed financial leverage that could support a truly reinvigorated peace process in South Sudan, a country hijacked by corrupt elites and marred by brutal conflict and urgent humanitarian crises.

In “EuroPressure: EU Financial Leverage for Impact in South Sudan,” authors Brad Brooks-Rubin and Jonathan Benton argue that, to date, the European Union’s principal answers to the South Sudan crisis have been financial aid and humanitarian support, rather than a comprehensive approach with meaningful leverage to drive change. The report lays out short, medium, and long term tools that the European Union can deploy as part of a thoughtful and coordinated strategy to help end the crisis and suffering in South Sudan:

Short term tools:

1. Designating for sanctions key spoilers of the peace process and their business networks.
2. Issuing warnings or alerts to financial institutions concerning AML risks related to South Sudanese politically exposed persons (PEPs).
3. Engaging governments neighboring South Sudan, particularly Kenya and Uganda.
4. Meeting with banks active in South Sudan and the region.

Medium and long term tools:

1. Imposing sectoral-based restrictive measures on economic sectors that are under the control of certain political and military elites, such as the extractive industries, banking, and transport sectors.
2. Further developing its autonomous evaluation process of high-risk third countries.
3. Becoming a cooperating member of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG).
4. Convening discussions on governance conditional to disbursing non-emergency aid.

For full details, read the brief here.