China steps up aid to S. Sudan

The streets of Juba, the capital of South Sudan, show all the signs of a country at war, including peacekeepers on patrol in an armored personnel carrier that rumbles among the low, shabby buildings, many of which are pockmarked by bullet holes.

China is part of international efforts to bring some semblance of stability to the country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, only to plunge into civil war two years later. In addition to contributing a 700-member infantry battalion to the United Nations peacekeeping force, China is stepping up humanitarian aid to the country.

The first famine in six years was officially declared by the UN in parts of South Sudan in February. It is affecting more than 100,000 South Sudanese, with a further 1 million on the brink of starvation.

Across a region that includes Yemen, Somalia and Nigeria, almost 20 million people face starvation because of conflict and drought. In what the UN calls the biggest humanitarian crisis since 1945, millions have fled, both within their own countries and across borders.

The UN says more than $5.6 billion is needed for the four countries this year. Less than a quarter of the amount needed had been raised by April.

South Sudanese and international officials say they see Beijing's contributions as vital to helping to meet the overwhelming needs, even as the UN Security Council remains divided on how to end the conflict.

Abdulmumini Usman, the South Sudan representative for the World Health Organization, says Beijing and Juba agreed earlier this year to boost cooperation in the health sector, including the renovation of the Chinese-funded Kiir Mayardit Women's Hospital.

"The Chinese government is investing in health in South Sudan and is donating to our community health workers project," says Usman. There are also ongoing talks to renovate the Juba Teaching Hospital, to build a modern accident and emergency department and to ensure a good, alternative power supply, he says.

Riek Gai Kok, South Sudan's health minister, told Xinhua that the cooperation agreements were part of a $33 million medical assistance program pledged by the Chinese government to improve South Sudan's health sector, adding that "our friendship with China is really moving upward".

By somemeasures, China is now one of Africa's largest sources of development aid, according to Eric Olander, co-founder of the China Africa Project and host of the China in Africa podcast.

Abigael Vasselier, program coordinator for Asia and China at the European Council on Foreign Relations, says Beijing has shown its preference for working through the African Union to push for a settlement of the South Sudan conflict. She says the United States and Europe could increasingly work with China to help make this happen.

For China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/12/2017 page3)