South Sudan’s oil company used to fund militia, reports claim

“There’s a history of states dependent on oil. The so-called oil curse,” says Ewan Lawson is Senior Research Fellow for Military Influence at the Royal United Services Institute. “It’s not surprising. The most disappointing thing with South Sudan is that many of us saw the opportunity for a new state to start afresh. But it became apparent fairly early on that oil revenue would find its way, not necessarily into the benefit of the state.”