Situation In South Sudan is Dire

The current situation in South Sudan has continued to raise concern with various stakeholders calling for an end to various atrocities that continue to claim innocent lives and destruction of property.

Dr. Sunday De John is the Chairman of the South Sudan United Front Progressive – SSUF-P) in exile here in Kenya. Sunday is a Graduate of the University of Nairobi (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB).

He is undertaking a Master of Business Administration.

He took time to share his insights with this writer and this is what he had to say:

First and foremost, to thank the Government of Kenya for the peace process and for heralding a war-free South Sudan. Ever since the time of the late President Daniel Arap Moi, followed by his successors Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta, and now William Ruto, all these leaders have unanimously declared their commitment to ending anarchy and civil unrest.

“Our country, South Sudan is blessed with lots of natural endowment, but these remain a pipedream owing to the civil war and unrest in our country.”

Kenya took over the mediation role in talks between the government of South Sudan and the holdout groups that did not sign the 2018 peace agreement.

President Salva Kiir late last year requested Kenya to take over the Rome process, which has been initiated by the Community of Sant’ Egidio, a lay Catholic association.

“All we want is a return to our democracy and more so respect for the rule of law. We have several professionals in South Sudan and we are calling upon leaders to be on the frontline in preaching peace and unity in our Nation. It’s only this way that we can move forward and realize a lot of development that has lagged due to civil war. We are also calling upon the leaders to be on the frontline in preaching peace. Leaders should not be egocentric but instead should be striving to address everyday challenges that affect the people,’ he concluded.”

Since independence, South Sudan has struggled to form a viable governing system and has been plagued by widespread corruption, political conflict, and communal violence. In December 2013, conflict erupted between forces loyal to President Salva KIIR, a Dinka, and forces loyal to Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer. The conflict quickly spread throughout the country and unfolded along ethnic lines, killing tens of thousands and creating a dire humanitarian crisis, with millions of South Sudanese displaced and food insecure. KIIR and MACHAR signed a peace agreement in August 2015 that created a Transitional Government of National Unity in April 2016.

However, in July 2016, renewed fighting broke out in Juba between KIIR and MACHAR’s forces, plunging the country back into conflict and drawing in additional armed opposition groups, including those in the southern Equatoria region that had largely stayed out of the first round of civil war. A “revitalized” peace agreement was signed in September 2018, which mostly ended the fighting.

The government and most armed opposition groups agreed that they would form a unified national army, create a transitional government by May 2019, and prepare for elections in December 2022. Subsequent extensions pushed elections to late 2023, and the transitional government was formed in February 2020, when MACHAR returned to Juba as first vice president.

Since 2020, implementation of the peace agreement has been stalled as the parties wrangle over power-sharing arrangements, contributing to an uptick in communal violence and the country’s worst food security crisis since independence, with 7 of 11 million South Sudanese citizens in need of humanitarian assistance.