Civil war looms in South Sudan
South Sudan is on the edge of entering into its second civil war in the past decade.
As reported by France 24, Nicolas Haysom, a top United Nations official has lamented the governments postponement of the latest peace effort and described the situation as “dire”.
South Sudan is the world’s youngest country, only gaining independence from its northern neighbour in 2011.
It is an oil rich country and, with it being newly independent, there had been high hopes that South Sudan would prosper into a democratic success story in the Eastern Sahel.
However, just two years after gaining independence South Sudan was plunged into civil war as ethnic divisions ruptured tensions between the country’s leadership.
The war ended in 2018, with the now president Salva Kiir Mayardit signing a peace agreement with rival – and now vice president – Riek Machar.
These two men are once again at the centre of the country’s conflict.
Under the agreement reached in the wake of the civil war, the two men agreed to run a government of “national unity” with elections due to take place every few years.
Elections were due to be held in February 2023 but they were postponed until December 2024 and then further postponed until 2026, leading to the current political crisis, as reported by Maghrebi on November 29th 2024.
The postponement of elections has exacerbated tensions and the distrust between Kiir and Machar is affecting news across the country, as Nicolas Haysom said: “Rampant misinformation, disinformation and hate speech is also ratcheting up tensions and driving ethnic divisions, and fear.”
Violence has begun to break out in regions across the country in recent months.
The most recent tensions are a result of fighting in the northern states between government forces and the rebel group known as the White Army.
As violence develops and political tensions grow, the UN is monitoring the situation incredibly closely and in order to try and prevent the outbreak of a new civil war, they are engaging in shuttle diplomacy with international and regional partners such as the African Union.
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