Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here today.
There's nothing inevitable about conflict. Unfortunately, that perception exists. This is the last day this committee will be looking at the conflict in South Sudan and the humanitarian crisis that's resulted from it. Conflict, as we know, in very general terms, is the result of inequalities, the result of particular historical trajectories. It is the result of a lack of democracy, the result of infighting between the political elite, and so on and so forth.
Here's what's going to happen in a few weeks. This committee will table the report. It will be read by the government. It will be read by journalists. It will be read by members of international organizations. Some members of the public will certainly take a look at it. The concern that I have, the fear that I have, is that when Canadians, or any citizens for that matter, turn on the television and look at what might be happening in South Sudan or they open the newspaper and read about what's happening in South Sudan, they might come to the conclusion that this is just what happens over there in the global south of Africa. They might come to the same conclusion with respect to conflicts that this committee has also looked at, the Rohingya issue, the Yazidi genocide, the situation in Burundi, and there are others.
Can you speak to the committee about the point you mentioned at the outset, the fact that these are human-made outcomes, human-made conflicts, and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe is not something inevitable, but has been manufactured as a result of the experience that these countries have gone through, and that there are very good historical reasons for the state that South Sudan, in this case, finds itself? That is a fundamental point, and helps to overcome the very false perception that this is somehow inevitable, that conflict and bloodshed are just a natural part of the African experience, and the South Sudanese experience, in particular.