By NAIROBI, Sept 16 (AfrikTimes) – U.N. investigators on Tuesday accused South Sudanese authorities of plundering the country’s wealth, including $1.7 billion paid to companies linked to Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel for road construction projects that were never completed.
The payments, made between 2021 and 2024, were cited as part of widespread “grand corruption” in the impoverished nation, according to a report by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. The country’s average GDP per capita has fallen to a quarter of what it was at independence in 2011. “The country has been captured by a predatory elite that has institutionalised the systematic looting of the nation’s wealth for private gain,” the commission said.
The report also highlighted an annual budget allocation to the president’s medical unit that exceeded total national health spending.
Large portions of South Sudan are at risk of severe hunger, according to the Integrated Phase Classification April-July projection. Source: ipcinfo.org
In a written response to the U.N. commission, Justice Minister Joseph Geng argued that the report relied on figures inconsistent with the government’s own data, attributing South Sudan’s economic woes to conflict, climate change, and declining sales of its main export, crude oil.
A spokesperson for Bol Mel declined to comment.
CONFLICT HAS RAGED SINCE INDEPENDENCE
Since gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan has experienced repeated bouts of armed conflict, including a civil war from 2013 to 2018 that killed an estimated 400,000 people. Last week, the government charged First Vice President Riek Machar—whose forces opposed soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir during the civil war—with crimes against humanity, escalating a feud that has fueled fighting in recent months.
The country is also facing steep cuts to foreign humanitarian aid. However, the U.N. report said corruption is the primary driver of South Sudan’s sustained economic and humanitarian crises, with nearly two-thirds of its 12 million people experiencing crisis-level hunger or worse.
The commission based its findings on 173 targeted meetings and interviews conducted from late 2022 to late 2024, as well as government documentation and financial data. It said the focus on corruption is justified because graft has weakened the government’s ability to meet human rights obligations and has directly fueled armed violence.
Chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, speaks during the release of a report on corruption in South Sudan titled ‘Plundering a Nation’, in Nairobi, Kenya, September 16, 2025.
“Locked in a zero-sum competition for power and control of resources and territory, South Sudan’s elites continue to pursue partisan political ends, mobilising and exploiting ethnic differences and tensions,” the report said.
OFF-BUDGET ‘OIL FOR ROADS’
The 101-page U.N. report highlights companies linked to Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel, whom President Salva Kiir appointed to one of South Sudan’s five vice-presidential positions in February.
The U.S. government sanctioned Bol Mel and two companies associated with him in 2017, alleging preferential treatment from high-level officials to carry out road work. Two additional companies were sanctioned in 2021. South Sudan’s government denied U.S. claims that Bol Mel was Kiir’s personal financial adviser, describing the sanctions as based on misleading information.
South Sudanese officials have reportedly requested the Trump administration lift these sanctions in recent bilateral discussions, which also touched on the return of U.S. deportees. The U.S. State Department called on Juba to “begin using public revenue to address the public need of the people of South Sudan rather than rely on international assistance.”
According to the report, between 2021 and 2024 the government disbursed approximately $2.2 billion to Bol Mel-affiliated companies through its off-budget “Oil for Roads” program. In some years, this program accounted for roughly 60% of all government disbursements.
Despite these expenditures, the affiliated companies completed less than $500 million worth of driveable roads. The report cited inflated contract values through overstating road lengths, overcharging relative to industry standards, and constructing fewer lanes than agreed. While the report did not detail Bol Mel’s exact affiliations, two of the three companies cited were among those sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021. Bol Mel has not publicly responded to the allegations.
South Sudan’s Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel attends the burial of General David Majur Dak, the commander of the South Sudan People?s Defense Force (SSPDF) who was killed when a United Nations helicopter trying to evacuate people from Nasir came under attack by the White Army militia, at the Heroes Cemetery at Simba Grounds in Juba, South Sudan March 19, 2025.
Justice Minister Joseph Geng dismissed the accusations about road spending, calling the cited sums “absurdly high” given South Sudan’s economic realities, and cited anti-corruption legislation enacted before independence and in July 2024 as evidence of the government’s commitment to fighting corruption.
PUBLIC SPENDING DOES NOT MEET PUBLIC NEEDS
The report also criticized the government’s public spending priorities, noting that funds raised from oil exports—over $23 billion since independence—have largely failed to address essential services like education, healthcare, and food security. For instance, the 2022-2023 national budget allocated more to the Presidential Medical Unit than to the country’s entire public healthcare system, including community, secondary, and tertiary care. The government did not directly respond to this point but said it was working to promote citizens’ well-being. The minister of presidential affairs did not respond to requests for comment.
Over a third of South Sudanese face starvation as the war-torn nation runs the risk of a full-blown famine, the UN and government said.
