For more than half a century, China has had interest in Africa- not just for the natural resources, but in aid to alleviate the continent’s poverty and living conditions.

China has helped with agriculture, health and education projects and solar energy. The country has also had a high interest in the continent’s natural resources, in particular, oil.

One of the countries that China purchases oil from is South Sudan, which outputs about 160,000 barrels a day- which before civil war in the country that began in December 2013, was producing one-third more than it is now.

War broke out in South Sudan when the political battle between the South Sudanese president Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and his vice president, Riek Machar, a Nuer, turned an ember into a flame. Once again, the once-liberated Sudanese were in an ethnic war.

China is not only a major aspect of the economy in South Sudan, it is also part of the United Nations Security Council and has voiced concern over the civil conflict between the ethnic groups. But if China has voiced a desire for ended conflict, why has the country’s largest arms manufacturer, China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco,) sold weapons of war to the country?

 

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Bloomberg reported that South Sudan has bought at least $1 billion in weapons and delivery systems since December 2013. Documents from a shipment that left China to South Sudan included “9,574 automatic rifles, 2,394 grenade launchers, four million bullets for automatic rifles, two million rounds of pistol ammunition, 319 machine guns, 660 pistols, 20,000 rounds of 40-millimeter anti-personnel grenades and 4,000 rounds of 40-millimeter “heat rockets.”

If China is part of the U.N. Security Council, which is responsible for international peace and security, and the “Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he was ‘ready to directly engage’ the warring parties to end fighting” the question becomes why is China allowing Norinco to sell weapons to South Sudan which in turn fuels war? And is China’s involvement in the country actually helping its economy or hurting it socially?

– Kori Withers

Sources: Bloomberg, United Nations Security Council, The Guardian
Photo: BET