"I
have no doubt that his return to Juba today marks the end of the war and the
return of peace and stability to South Sudan," Mr Salva Kiir
South Sudan
reactivated another course to peace with the inauguration of a new transition
government highlighted by the oath-taking of Riek Machar, reinaugurated as
vice president of the world’s youngest nation-state on 26th April 2016.
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| A bill board featuring President Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar in Juba Source:bbcnews.com |
This fete is
expected to put an end to an imbecilic two-year civil war which was ignited by an alleged Coup d’état on 16th December
2013. Since that date, over
two million South Sudanese
have been displaced, exiled or killed as the bigwigs in the SPLM (South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement)
fractured and frictioned along ethnic lines in an ultimate battle for political
dominance. The ensuing belligerence pitted Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer, against
President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka.
Consequentially,
the civilian population bore the brunt of the power tussle as both belligerent
parties sought to outwit and eliminate each other. This saw the obliteration of Malakal
(South Sudan’s second-largest city), Bentiu, Bor and several
other nascent infrastructures in the burgeoning state.
Born in 2011, after an overwhelming vote for secession from Sudan following years of conflict in what was termed Africa’s longest-running civil war, it was expected that the newly independent country would activate a rapid march to development and prosperity of her people after years of alleged repression and neglect by Sudan. It was, however, disheartening to the optimistic euphoria that enamoured international support for the South Sudanese cause when the country slid back to anarchy in December 2013, despite being a battleground during the long-running civil war that fetched her independence between 1956-2002.
Most hapless
to note was the indiscretion on the part of the South Sudanese leadership in
learning from the inadequacies of fellow African States (Most of which emerged
from colonialism 50 years ago).
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| Independence Celebrations in Juba Source:bbcnews.com |
The issues
that led to the recent conflict were deeply entrenched from the splinter
within the SPLA/M
(Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement) ranks during
the second Sudanese civil war along ethnic lines in 1991 as the Nuers led by
Riek Machar sought to usurp the leadership role of John Garang (A Dinka) at the
helm of the SPLA. In the end, Riek Machar led a breakaway faction under the
pseudonym SPLM-Nasir, even as the mainstream John Garang-led faction was
informally christened SPLM-Torit.
Afterwards,
the splinter factions turned the guns on each other even as the Riek Machar-led SPLA-Nasir
perpetuated the Bor
massacre against the Dinka in 1991. In the end, the SPLA-Nasir allied
with the Sudanese government, thus sabotaging the South Sudanese's quest against
the government. Both parties buried the hatchet and reunited in January 2002 to
jointly push the South Sudanese cause.
The sudden
death of John Garang in a helicopter crash in July 2005 exposed the old fractious lines within the ranks of the SPLA as Salva
Kiir assumed the helm. Seen as academically inferior to the Bradford University doctorate holder Riek Machar, who has always set sights at the SPLA helm, the stage was set for a renewed Dinka-Nuer rivalry in a battle for political supremacy for the helm of South Sudanese polity.
This inordinate political power fracture ultimately simmered into a power tussle as Riek Machar (vice president at Independence) was sacked from his post in July 2013 in a massive cabinet and Military hierarchical shake-up by President Salva Kiir. The country ultimately descended into civil war in an
ironic repeat of the SPLA factional war of the 1990s.
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| South Sudan's massive humanitarian crises caused by the civil war Source:bbcnews.com |
With peace on
the horizon thanks to coercive efforts by regional powers in IGAD, AU and the UN,
South Sudan has another chance to pursue the path of development.
For too long since 1956, after Sudanese independence from Anglo-Egyptian hegemony, the black Nilotic peoples, which comprise South Sudan, had decried repressive tendencies by the Northern-dominated government against their cultural and religious identities. Having now attained the long-sought independence, Africa’s youngest state must set aside the whims of ethnic-tribal schisms, which have always been a divisive factor against development and integration amongst the older African States and seek her strength in diversity.
Sociopolitical repression and colonialism have always been a unifying factor that synergizes the quest for liberty in emergent states. However, as it has always been with most African
states, divergence in synergy fracturing along the lines of ethno-religious
divisions shatters the strength of the purpose for independence. South Sudan
must synergize to fix this rabid pandemic if she must aspire to march forward
on the path of development after close to sixty years down the brink.
