United States takes back hybrid court funding, quietly gives up!

United States takes back hybrid court funding, quietly gives up!

The United States has signaled it’s planning to relocate most of its five million dollars in funding it had earmarked for South Sudan’s hybrid court, sending some back to the US Treasury and a portion to others programs in South Sudan.

US Foreign policy department said in a statement that the decision to take back the money reflects mounting frustration with South Sudanese president Salva Kiir who they say claimed the court is unnecessary.

The statement also says the decision reflects an exasperation with the African Union which played a critical role in advocating for a regional tribunal to be staffed by AU and South Sudanese lawyers and judges.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson is quoted to have confirmed that $ 2.15 million in funds unused for the hybrid court would revert back to the U.S. Treasury Department, and a separate $1.5 million grant awarded to the African Union’s Office of the Legal Counsel to set up the court would not be renewed, with that money instead being reallocated to other programs “to advance justice and accountability in South Sudan through other means.”

Via  talkofjuba