Each year, Transparency International—a Berlin-based NGO that monitors global graft—releases a Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which reports corruption levels throughout the world by assigning the rank and score of surveyed countries. Each year, Sudan appears, predictably, in the last few spaces of a long list; among the lowest of the low.
Despite its poor performance, Sudan does cling to one key distinction. Unlike even the most desperate states—including many of its struggling and war-torn neighbors—Sudan’s score has consistently dropped over the past five years. Since signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), rather than progress, Sudan has fallen even further behind in terms of what TI’s index measures.
But what exactly is that? Transparency International collects surveys from independent experts, formulates a number on a 10-point scale, and assigns each country a rank based on that (information on their research and methodology can be found here).
More important than the lists and figures is what they indicate. In the case of Sudan, a dismally low and ever-decreasing score reveals that its leaders have failed to translate the country’s natural wealth and considerable international investment into equitable and steady economic progress for all of its people. It has failed to use the opportunities presented by peace negotiations, international aid, and prospective elections to realize essential political reforms and improve the country’s governance.
It’s no surprise, then, that this year Sudan takes its place at #176 of 180 countries, with a score of 1.5 out of 10. Surrounded by headline-makers like Somalia, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Iraq, there, at the end, Sudan enjoys the company of its political and economic peers: the world’s failed and failing states. This seems appropriate; Sudan’s own list of well-documented failures is long: failure to protect its own people, failure to negotiate in good faith, failure to promote peace and justice….it goes on. Lack of transparency and accountability comprise a destructive and pervasive theme – a strategy, even – that defines the dealings of a government with a wanted war criminal at its helm.
As much as Sudan risks becoming a failed state at the hands of its own destructive regime, the vast country has also been failed – by members of the international community, many of which dominate the index’s upper rankings or, like China, have worked hard to improve their own. Implicated in Sudan’s failure are many—from the passive acquiescence of African leaders to his crimes, to the outright denial of these violations in the Arab World; from the empty promises of wealthy Western countries, to the ethical void in Chinese influence. Non-state actors also share the blame: rebel groups, opportunistic bandits, and corporate interests alike work to destabilize and pillage an entire nation for the benefit of the few.
One can see this entire picture at play in a recent report by the UN Panel of Experts on the Sudan, which cites a lack of transparency in all matters ranging from Janjaweed disarmament to arms embargo violations in Darfur. Private companies in the United Arab Emirates and powerful governments like China are implicated in the use of loopholes and shady dealings to facilitate and profit from criminal governance, rather than acknowledge what the evidence continually tells us: that American sanctions are in place and Bashir has been indicted for a reason.
International supply chains and air transport data go conveniently missing when lucrative deals can be made, as does talk of human rights for one key reason: human rights and corruption operate in a zero-sum game. More corruption typically means more victims and wider suffering. Transparency International makes this important point in its analysis of “poor performance”:
“[W]hile corruption is indeed one of the most formidable challenges to good governance, development and poverty reduction….the vast majority of the people are victims of corruption.”
In no place has this been more obvious than the Sudan: corruption destabilizes more than just its economy. Lack of accountability has stolen Sudanese lives and livelihoods alike; it facilitates conflict, precludes justice, and negates peace.
And yet, despite all that’s at stake, rather than secure the political and economic future of his country, President Omar al-Bashir relentlessly continues to destroy its chances of success. Rather than service its dangerously high debt burden, the transaction of choice for the Government of Sudan has been to procure advanced weaponry in illicit arms transfers. The al-Bashir regime has consistently chosen to invest in war and repression year after year….decade after decade, in a certifiable race to the bottom.
The people of Sudan continue to suffer the consequences while hoping for more responsible leadership and foreign support. Elections scheduled for 2010 once were looked to as such an opportunity for a democratic transformation. With growing signs that these will be stolen by Bashir and the NCP, the international community must send a message that the regime cannot gloss over all of its failure and regain legitimacy with un-credible electoral enterprise.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Save Darfur Coalition.
Tags: Corruption, Government of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, Sudan, Sudan's Debt, Transparency International
