US actors George Clooney and Don Cheadle yesterday held a press conference to present the findings of a report by TheSentry.org that revealed that leaders on both sides of the South Sudanese conflict are profting both financially and politically from the power struggle.

Noting the “kleptocratic system” in the country, the report suggest targeted sanctions on these top officials as the best means to bring an end to the ongoing violence in the country.

Co-founded by Clooney, The Sentry has carried out an investigation for nearly two years in which it tracked the money underwriting South Sudan’s war economy and monitored family members of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, his political opponent deposed vice-president Riek Machar Teny and other top generals and officials.

“The financial tools that have been deployed successfully to counter terrorism and organized crime can be used to help stop the war and atrocities in South Sudan,” the forward to the report read.

“Combining readily available anti-money laundering measures with targeted sanctions on top regime officials and their international facilitators, combined with robust enforcement, can help build real leverage over those fomenting and benefitting from conflict.”

The report provided evidence that top officials behind mass atrocities in South Sudan have accumulated fortunes. It said some were involved in “questionable business deals while others had apparently received large payments from corporations doing business in the country”.

“Members of their families often live in multi-million dollar mansions outside the country, stay in five-star hotels, reap the benefits of what appears to be a system of nepotism and shady corporate deals, and drive around in luxury cars—all while much of their country’s population suffers from the consequences of a brutal civil war, and in many places, experiences near-famine conditions” the forward said.

The report noted that these corrupt officials would not operate without a system of international banks, businesses, arms brokers, real estate firms and lawyers across Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

“We propose a new strategy to counter mass atrocities that would utilize the tools of financial pressure normally reserved for countering terrorism, organized crime, and nuclear proliferation. The new approach would combine anti-money laundering measures with targeted asset freezes focused on key leaders and their networks, accompanied by robust enforcement” the report suggested.

James Archibal / Cape Town – DHA