Understanding Australia’s Interest in South Sudan
"...two internationally read news outlets, explicitly described Australia as an exploitative pseudo-imperialist nation with deep selfish interests in South Sudan’s minerals sector. To a considerable extent, this is not accurate." 20 June 2012 By Peter Run The recent visit to Juba by the Australian delegation headed by the Honourable Tim Fischer (AC) has been badly reported in South Sudanese press. In the Sudan Tribune, the headline was “Australia Urges Transparency in South Sudan’s Mining Industry.” This suggests Australia has a significant involvement requiring accountability in that industry when in fact it does not. All available records show that Fischer was not calling for anything at all. He was merely praising the veracity of the impending mining legislation that South Sudan wants to put into place. The notion that Australia urges South Sudan comes from Australia confirming that a South Sudanese legislation looks like it will meet international transparency standards, not the other way round. On Gurtong Peace Trust’s website, the article declares: “Australia Joins Scramble for South Sudan’s Oil.” Really? What evidence is there to support that claim? I know that the cynics Australia’s international assistance program like to erroneously claim that the country’s interest in South Sudan is aimed at buying its vote for a United Nations Security Council seat. This has tended to cloud intelligent debates about Australia’s involvement in Africa but as most South Sudanese know, Australia was one of the first countries to put soldiers on the ground and recognised South Sudan when it became independent. Given this longstanding commitment, it is regrettable that South Sudanese currently seem to misunderstand the key driving forces of Australia’s interest in their country. The overall coverage of the Australian delegation to Juba in influential media, as represented by Sudan Tribune and Gurtong, two internationally read news outlets, explicitly described Australia as an exploitative pseudo-imperialist nation with deep selfish interests in South Sudan’s minerals sector. To a considerable extent, this is not accurate. The purpose of the Australian delegation’s visit to Juba may have been natural resources-centred but it did not stem from the scramble for South Sudan’s oil nor does the Australian government have a deep selfish interest in that country. As the articles point out, Australia is a mining nation. Its wealth comes mostly from what we call “the mining boom” down here. As such there is a limited compelling national interest in South Sudan. The pressure on the Australian government to engage with South Sudan consistently comes from two sources. The loudest voice of these two is the mining companies. These companies are not necessarily Australian. However, they somehow succeed in making Australian politicians believe that their interest is Australian interest, but that is something else altogether. The second voice, you will be surprised to hear, are South Sudanese in Australia. According to the 2011 referendum, Australia has the largest population of South Sudanese outside of Africa. Most of these people have become citizens and are increasingly becoming an important interest group in matters of Australia’s foreign policy towards African countries. Of course the South Sudanese population in Australia are not strong on their own. They have since built networks of organisational and personal relationships aimed at maintaining strong connections to both South Sudan and Australia. Both the governments of Australia and South Sudan are probably aware of this development. I suspect it is one of the reasons South Sudan appointed Mr. Mariano Deng Ngor, a former leader of South Sudanese community in Australia, a man well loved in Australia’s African and religious communities and respected by both liberal and conservative politicians of the country. To claim that Australia has a selfish ambition to extract South Sudanese minerals is not only incorrect but also serves to negate the hard work of South Sudanese like Mariano Deng Ngor who lobby reluctant Australian governments to inject some capacity building into South Sudan’s mining sector. Peter Run teaches political science and international relations at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Posted in: Opinions -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en-US.
