Eli Lake, Columnist

Saving South Sudan From Its Founding Fathers

George Clooney helped the nation gain independence. Now he wants its leaders treated like drug kingpins.

September 12, 2016 at 10:00 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Time for a fresh start.
Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

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Five years after gaining its independence, South Sudan is a basket case. It is wracked by civil war. Its leaders have looted the treasury. Many of its people are on the brink of starvation.

Now some of the most high-profile champions of the young nation's independence are calling on the U.S. government and international banks to treat its leaders the same way Washington treats terror networks and drug cartels.