Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-01-15-Speech-3-717-000"
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"en.20140115.51.3-717-000"2
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"Madam President, it is scarcely believable that, only a month ago, so many of us here stood up to welcome the progress made by South Sudan since independence – a cause which I had championed for many years – and offer our encouragement for further developments and reforms to that young democracy.
In the space of just a few short weeks, South Sudan has been brought to the brink by a combination of bitter political rivalries, anti-government discontent regarding the sharing of the oil revenues and, increasingly – and most worryingly of all – inter-ethnic tensions. Astonishingly, what apparently began as a personal conflict or feud between Salva Kiir and Riek Machar has now claimed the lives of 10 000 people, with over 400 000 people displaced. This week’s tragic ferry accident, in which a further 200 people drowned, demonstrates the desperation of so many South Sudanese citizens and the extreme lengths to which they will go in order to escape from it.
Given that the embryonic nationhood of South Sudan as a state has always been rather fragile, and given the lack of institutions, it remains unclear how much pressure and bloodshed it can withstand without enduring a full-scale collapse and becoming a failed state. Needless to say, the consequences of this would be catastrophic for its people, as well as extremely dangerous and destabilising for the entire region of the Horn of Africa.
Therefore, the European Union, many of whose Member States have worked hard to support South Sudan, must do everything now possible to support the urgent ceasefire talks. To this end, I welcome the work done by the excellent EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, Alex Rondos, and his support for IGAD (the Intergovernmental Authority on Development), the African Union and the UN Mission in Sudan. He is doing all he can to help these organisations.
We must also deploy all available tools to support the refugees, both technically and financially, in terms of aid. Certainly, if the talks fail and this develops into an all-out ethnic civil war, the European Union must consider all its options – even possible military support to the AU and IGAD, alongside full-scale humanitarian relief.
I welcome the initiative from the African Union to set up an inquiry into the terrible human rights abuses last December. Last month I discussed one of South Sudan’s key commodities: hope for the future. That must still hold true now, but it depends on the courage and statesmanship of the countries’ leaders. South Sudan cannot endure a bloody civil war again. For the sake of its citizens, we must do all we can now to stop it."@en1
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