Speaking at a two-day development and investment conference for South Sudan in Washington DC, Hillary Clinton said the newly-independent country had the potential to be "one of Africa's breadbaskets". Clinton, the US secretary of state, indicated that America would partner with the private sector to help supply advanced seeds and other technologies to boost farmers' yields in South Sudan, which she said was in need of "intensive care" from the international community.
Clinton's sentiments were backed by the US aid agency, USAid, which announced it will help guarantee up to $7m in bank loans – including support for smallholder farmers – to South Sudan's agriculture sector. The details are still being finalised.
Washington said plans to increase American investment in South Sudan were being discussed.
However, aid agencies cautioned that the excitement about investment opportunities should not overshadow the country's immediate humanitarian needs. The UN warned that a third of the population in the world's newest country is facing a "gathering storm of hunger".
On Thursday, the White House said greater access to US markets will help drive sustainable economic development in South Sudan. The US is considering whether the country could get duty-free treatment on products such as footwear and certain agricultural goods. Last week, the US government announced it was lifting economic sanctions prohibiting Americans from investing in South Sudan's oil sector, although refining oil in Sudan, even if it comes from South Sudan, remains prohibited.
Speaking at the conference, which began on Wednesday and was attended by 150 government delegates from South Sudan, Salva Kiir, the country's president, said he welcomed private investment in oil, gas and mineral projects, and hoped new information technologies would help his homeland "leapfrog into the 21st century".
Officials from the UK, Norway, Turkey, the EU, the UN, and the African Union also attended the event, along with representatives from the World Bank and the US business community.
USAid deputy administrator Don Steinberg stressed, however, that the event was not a pledging conference. "This was a coming out party more than a marriage," he said, pointing out that the World Bank is set to organise a more traditional donors' conference in early 2012. South Sudan is expected to formally become a member of the World Bank early next year, giving it increased access to concessional loans.
Kiir said he would work to improve government transparency and accountability, and revealed that all government officials will be required to declare and detail their assets by the end of January 2012, an announcement applauded by many anti-corruption observers.
But Dana Wilkins, a South Sudan specialist with Global Witness, pointed out that his commitments did not extend to the mining and land sectors, industries tipped to replace oil's economic dominance in South Sudan in the near future. "Considering the controversies that have already emerged around the allocation of land rights, this is a very alarming indicator for the future," she said.
Some observers raised concerns that not enough space was given to local civil society groups at the conference.
David Deng, research director of the South Sudan Law Society, expressed dismay at the size of the South Sudanese government's delegation: "The government's willingness to fly so many high-ranking officials to the US, when there is open fighting along the border between the armies of Sudan and South Sudan, along with massive insecurity in parts of the south, is yet more evidence of the lengths that the government of South Sudan will go to attract foreign investment. We only have to hope that the landowning communities who were not represented in the conference are not sacrificed in the deals that this government strikes with American businesses."
South Sudan gained independence in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north, but faces huge challenges, not least the continued tensions with Khartoum that often spill over into military confrontation.
Aid agencies say more than 300,000 people have so far been displaced this year due to ongoing conflict. In a report this week, the Washington-based NGO Refugees International warned of a "major displacement crisis" and urged donors to continue their support for humanitarian programmes.
Noah Gottschalk, senior humanitarian policy advisor at Oxfam America, said he was pleased support for agriculture was seen as key to the future of South Sudan in terms of achieving food security. But he added that "food security is impossible without physical security, and South Sudan's agriculture sector will not meet its enormous potential as long as communities across the country continue to live in fear of violence".
The World Food Programme (WFP) said 2.7 million people are short of food in South Sudan, indicating that $92m will be needed to address hunger in the first four months of 2012.
WFP's South Sudan director, Chris Nikoi, said: "A gathering storm of hunger is approaching South Sudan, caused by crop failure and market disruption. Food prices have already doubled or tripled in some areas, leaving hundreds of thousands of young children vulnerable to malnutrition at a key developmental stage of their young lives."
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