South Sudan: Fifteen Years of Independence, US$70 Billion in Oil Wealth – and GDP Per Capita Cut by Two-Thirds

Jun 25, 2026 | Liam Brown
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For years, warning signs have accumulated over the management of South Sudan’s oil revenues. Resources that should have sustained a population enduring one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises have instead disappeared through opaque networks linked to a small circle of senior officials and their intermediaries. Neither the authorities in Juba nor the international financial institutions, despite longstanding warnings, have responded with the resolve the situation demands. Against this backdrop of institutional silence, the Afrique Justice consortium of investigative journalists has decided to publish its findings. A population driven into poverty has the right to know what has become of its country’s natural wealth. Equally, both national and international authorities have a duty to account for how those resources have been managed.