"Prendergast faulted the Obama administration for leaving the job of top envoy for South Sudan vacant for most of last year as security conditions worsened and tensions built. By the time the job was filled in late 2013, “the two competing groups within the ruling party were on a high-speed collision course,” he said.
Current and former U.S. officials acknowledge that the danger signs were there when Kiir and Machar took office, a union U.S. advisers blessed as the best chance to foster unity and national pride. But the speed and ferocity of South Sudan’s descent stunned the Obama administration.
“If it could have been prevented, we would have prevented it,” a senior State Department official traveling with Kerry said of the slide toward civil war. “We saw the problems, but none of us saw that it was going to turn this badly this quickly.”
Some critics say the Obama administration was unwilling to take forceful diplomatic action against South Sudan’s leaders and ignored the warning signs of the looming conflict.
In January, Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, told a congressional hearing that the crisis was “no surprise.” He said experts have been sounding alarms about growing internal tensions since 2011.
But the administration continued to back South Sudan’s leaders.
In 2012, the administration reportedly led an effort to block a U.N. Security Council proposal to impose sanctions on South Sudan for corruption and human rights abuses, Royce said at the hearing.
“Despite these warnings, I am afraid that our investment and diplomatic success may have skewed the judgment of the U.S. government on more than one occasion,” Royce said."
Current and former U.S. officials acknowledge that the danger signs were there when Kiir and Machar took office, a union U.S. advisers blessed as the best chance to foster unity and national pride. But the speed and ferocity of South Sudan’s descent stunned the Obama administration.
“If it could have been prevented, we would have prevented it,” a senior State Department official traveling with Kerry said of the slide toward civil war. “We saw the problems, but none of us saw that it was going to turn this badly this quickly.”
Some critics say the Obama administration was unwilling to take forceful diplomatic action against South Sudan’s leaders and ignored the warning signs of the looming conflict.
In January, Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, told a congressional hearing that the crisis was “no surprise.” He said experts have been sounding alarms about growing internal tensions since 2011.
But the administration continued to back South Sudan’s leaders.
In 2012, the administration reportedly led an effort to block a U.N. Security Council proposal to impose sanctions on South Sudan for corruption and human rights abuses, Royce said at the hearing.
“Despite these warnings, I am afraid that our investment and diplomatic success may have skewed the judgment of the U.S. government on more than one occasion,” Royce said."