The humanitarian crisis in South Sudan is the product of decades of violence and political conflict, driven by a culture of impunity, dependency, and the “weaponization of aid.” To understand this conflict better, the CSIS Humanitarian Agenda, in partnership with the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development, hosted a panel of experts with a keynote address by Ambassador Molly Phee examining the context of the crisis and the consequences of facilitating humanitarian access in South Sudan. Discussants agreed that the violence in South Sudan is political in nature. Therefore, understanding how to work with this complex political landscape locally, regionally, and nationally is a fundamental pre-requisite to improving access to and delivery of aid. The participants were Mary Catherine “Molly” Phee, former Ambassador to South Sudan and Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Joel Charny, Executive Director at the Norwegian Refugee Council USA, and Kate Almquist Knopf, Director at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.

The current humanitarian assistance plan in South Sudan is unsustainable. In 2017 alone, the U.S. donated almost 1 billion USD of humanitarian assistance. Yet, infrastructure remains poor and insecurity plagues critical geographic areas, resulting in costly air operations to transport people and goods. According to the speakers, the fundamental driver of humanitarian challenges in South Sudan is the longstanding political conflict based on broad and unresolved differences between South Sudanese leaders. Despite the international community’s best efforts, armed groups continue to use humanitarian assistance as part of a strategy to maintain power and control civilian populations.

To adequately address South Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, the speakers agreed that donors and implementers need to work together to prioritize access and outcomes at a community level, replacing failed “redlines” at the national level. They asked that the Juba government be a better partner in enabling access while urging the international community to strive for policy changes that would restore South Sudanese agency and prioritize justice and accountability to improve outcomes for the people of South Sudan. Speakers also agreed that a solution to this crisis is contingent on unifying approaches between donors and implementers to break the cycle of impunity and dependency.

Access Challenges and Impunity

Humanitarian assistance has changed considerably over the past few decades; today’s humanitarian workers are operating in areas of protracted conflict rather than predominantly responding to natural disasters. These protracted humanitarian crises are further affected by numerous challenges, such as shifting political realities and frontline negotiations.

According to Ambassador Phee, a significant challenge facing humanitarian assistance programs in South Sudan is a “culture of impunity.” She stated that “no matter what they do they think the West will provide aid. So, they can kill humanitarian workers, they can detain them, they can extort money, they can prevent access.” Consequently, there is a dependency on foreign assistance as a source of revenue and a “weaponization of aid” by armed forces who selectively distribute aid to civilians. Similarly, Almquist Knopf argued that in places where the markets have collapsed, aid is being used to turn the wheels of a stalled economy.

Moreover, speakers discussed the effects of putting assistance into a resource-starved and heavily politicized environment, where armed actors often use civilian populations as part of their military strategies. According to Almquist Knopf, there is a need for those studying this conflict to understand how government forces are using assistance as a weapon. Charny emphasized the humanitarian imperative...