Conflicts in South Sudan
Africa is the home of ever-ending cultural Heritage and lots of goodies come from this continent. It houses one of the famously known countries known as South Sudan.
Africa is the home of ever-ending cultural Heritage and lots of goodies come from this continent. It houses one of the famously known countries known as South Sudan. It is one of the newest kids on the world map and also the East African block. It made history when its people voted overwhelmingly to secede from Sudan in 2011. South Sudan has experienced periods of war and struggles since 1955 and their citizens are suffering. It is essential to familiarize themselves with the causes of war and understand the way out of the conflict by giving the South Sudanese the nation they voted for.
History of the struggle
The first face of war started in 1955 and came to a close in 1972. This was ended peacefully after the Addis Ababa agreement of 1972. The struggle here was barely between Sudanese with the South Sudanese soils. The South Sudanese wanted their government hence the struggle. The second face of the war broke between Sooth Sudanese battalions and the Sudanese army in the towns of Bor and Ayod (Nyadera, 2018). The two battalions united and formed a Varmus movement known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. It had sound ideals initially which included redefining the boundaries of the political landscape in Sudan which would later lead to a realization of the New Sudan. This movement was based in South Sudan and it built up a massive movement across the entire Sudan region. They pushed their agenda tightly to establish their agendas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile. This meant that their presence was so much heavy in the South rather than the North. The movement later on tried to establish itself in Darfur, but the military moved with speed to thwart their efforts there.
In 1994, the movement spread its wings further with the new concept of establishing “South Sudan”. This spurred conflict with the then-ruling government. War broke against but this time with key determination to establish a state. In 2005, the Sudanese government reached a peaceful agreement under the inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to establish a new state which is now South Sudan.
The struggles surged ahead after the new state was formed. President Salva Kiir formed the government while Riek Machar led the opposition forces. Conflict and wars surged and several peace agreements collapsed in 2016. With such a collapse, more armed groups formed to oppose the ruling government. Since then south Sudan has been at war, and hence the citizens keep on suffering. There exists a dire humanitarian crisis in South Sudan. In February 2016, the UN announced that famine was ravaging the nation (Afriyie et al, 2020). An estimated number of about five million people are a risk of starvation, this famine is man-made. Various agencies have marshaled plans to mitigate the famine. However south Sudan continues to suffer in silence and over 1.5 million people have been displaced and seeking refuge in nearby countries (De, 2023). Citizens, government, and public servants are among the larger groups suffering in South Sudan.
Implications of the War
When wars break in a country, obviously there are victims and beneficiaries. The case of South Sudan is a special case. The war has lots of implications rather than benefits. Some of the implications of this war include:
Increase in inter-community wars
Apart from the wider national war in the country, there exist other smaller conflicts between the communities. These frictions have increased in recent years. This is just the spillover from the national war. Communities now fight over lots of issues that are beneficial to them. The issues at hand are ideally competition over land, and gracing leading to hundreds of thousands being killed and ultimately being displaced (Agwanda, 2020). The inter-communal wars have continued to bring more deaths even than the national wars. When communities engage in deeper wars, the state wars strengthen too.
More supply of weapons
South Sudan boundaries are now volatile as a result of the ongoing wars in the country. By volatility, some chances neighboring countries use that opportunity to bring weapons and ammunition to that country. Communities are now purchasing cheaper and more harmful weapons within boundaries. This has accelerated the war to higher levels and the war remains uncontrolled. Additionally, the conflict in several parts of the Central Equatorial between various states and armed opposition has spilled over to South Sudan (Wild et al, 2018). This has just left the nation to suffer more. Civilians continue to suffer more and more. Sudan's case is a serious one.
Human rights remain dire.
South Sudan's human rights remain dire. This abuse ranges from rape, killings, lack of necessities and other needs. The room for South Sudanese people to question their government over leadership issues has shrunk greatly. The media houses that are expected to air the grievances of the citizens have been oppressed to the point of being silenced. Radio and television journalists have been arrested and detained by the government security agents of South Sudan. This has pushed the Humanitarian crisis in South Sudan into deeper holes.
The freedom to assemble has been crushed. One of the rights of citizens in any democratic republic is to protest whenever they feel oppressed. This is not the case with South Sudan. In recent years thousands of protestors have been killed especially in Sherikat. Police go on record with arresting and detaining young people in public places and health facilities (Afriyie et al, 2020). Indeed the country is plunging into more human rights cliché.
Despite the efforts of the government to oppress young people their freedom of expression is. The youthful population of South Sudan has gone creative. They are using the creative median to organize, raise campaigns, and discuss vital issues hence calling for change in their own country. Their work has been boosted a lot by social media and blogging websites.
Collapse of infrastructures and basic services.
South Sudan's government has failed to invest in major infrastructures and services. Basic services which include education and healthcare are the essential services collapsing day to day. The numbers in need of basic services are alarming. Over 4.8 million children can't access education opportunities in South Sudan (Macharia et al, 2017). This is due to war and related national crises in the state. Girls continue to remain in their homes as a result of poverty, violence, child marriage, and other factors. According to reports one-third of the schools are destroyed due to attacks. The schools are now used by the armed forces to harbor and train armed forces and related groups.
On the other hand, over 8 million people remain in dire need of food and necessities. Most citizens of the Republic of Congo are ravaging poverty with little help for their survival. The government releases little support and aid from time to time. Also, the international community has chipped in to offer more support, however, donor support has dwindled in recent years due to mistrust and rampant corruption in South Sudan.
The way forward for South Sudan.
South Sudan now stands in a blink of collapse from its history. To secure the nation from collapse, it is a better option to establish a holistic approach to justice for the people of South Sudan. This approach will be multidimensional, as the nation needs healing a lot. This will include the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission which will have several mandates. These mandates will include investigating the legacies of war and recommending remedies for the same. Secondly, it will craft a scheme to compensate individuals who have suffered material damages in the past. Again, it will provide an established judicial court that will hear and try all individuals involved in abuses and other acts of crime during the legacies of war.
The government of South Sudan will have to build a proper justice and security system. The system should be characterized by equality and fairness. The same system should be mandated and funded to bring out the best services to the ordinary citizens of the republic.
South Sudan Future.
South Sudan faces an uncertain future, especially if the situation remains the same. The rampant insecurity and corruption amongst other illegal acts are pulling the country into a plunge. These are national issues that need to be addressed amicably to save the world's newest country. With better systems. Leadership and provision of essential services we are certain that South Sudan will be the country of choice shortly.
With records of killings, inter-community crises, humanitarian crises, and other criminal acts, the citizens of South Sudan continue to suffer, the situation is dire and people from all walks of life continue to suffer. There is a need to think differently and save the world's newest state. The establishment of a truth justice and reconciliation commission will greatly help. This commission will undertake and support the nation in both personal healing and national healing. It will also lay a better ground for the provision of essential services to citizens. This and many more interventions will lead to a better and prosperous nation.
References
Afriyie, F. A., Jisong, J., & Yaw Appiah, K. (2020). Comprehensive analysis of South Sudan conflict: determinants and repercussions. Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, 6(1), 33-47.
Afriyie, F. A., Jisong, J., & Yaw Appiah, K. (2020). Comprehensive analysis of South Sudan conflict: determinants and repercussions. Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, 6(1), 33-47.
Agwanda, B., & Asal, U. Y. (2020). State fragility and post-conflict state-building: An analysis of South Sudan Conflict (2013-2019). Güvenlik Bilimleri Dergisi, 9(1), 125-146.
De Waal, A. (2023). Introduction: Making Sense of South Sudan. African Affairs, 122(486), e1-e9.
Macharia, P. M., Ouma, P. O., Gogo, E. G., Snow, R. W., & Noor, A. M. (2017). Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan. Geospatial health, 12(1), 510.
Nyadera, I. N. (2018). South Sudan conflict from 2013 to 2018: Rethinking the causes, situation and solutions. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 18(2), 59-86.
Wild, H., Jok, J. M., & Patel, R. (2018). The militarization of cattle raiding in South Sudan: how a traditional practice became a tool for political violence. Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 3(1), 1-11.
