South Sudan's Struggle
The need for a government reform
South Sudan is on the verge of a yet another civil war. With the outcome of the previous wars (First and second Sudanese,) people from other countries now seek alternatives, as this potential civil war will negatively affect them in the future. A fragile economy will become more fragile with time, and collapse. This collapse of economy will interfere with trade from other countries - countries that rely on trade with South Sudan. Some of these alternatives outside countries seek will take a long time to develop in an intelligent way. One of them is a total government reform in South Sudan. The background of this potential civil war was caused by a man with a ten gallon hat - South Sudanese president Salva Kiir.
This whole ordeal began as a political dispute between Kiir, and South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar. The president accused Riek Machar of launching a sudden, violent, and highly illegal seizure of power. What started as a simple dispute between the two has now escalated into violent conflict. But the thing is, Kiir not only removed Machar, he fired the majority of his cabinet ministers (29 to 18 decrease). There have been countless peace talks to create a cease fire - and these talks have created such, but now opposing sides are accusing each other of breaking that cease fire and being unloyal to their break in conflict. This conflict between rebels (anti government) and pro government is only worsening. This conflict isn't for nothing. If a president fires a majority of his cabinet - including the Vice President, violence is bound to break out. This conflict has sparked many other problems in South Sudan. The most pressing conflicts include countless deaths and most importantly, population displacement. (BBC, 2014)
Recently, over 200,000 residents of South Sudan have fled the country, and more than 700,000 have been displaced inside the country due to the unstable peace within
borders. South Sudan's supporters are worried about this potential outbreak of civil war, and as a result the United Nations are allowing a significant increase in peacekeeping troops. This is an example of something handled incorrectly. South Sudan's government takes a conflict that should be handled politically, and handles it as a military action. This is due to the fact that military officials
are in office with political positions. (Pulitzer, 2014)
It would be beneficial if the president of South Sudan took more control of his newly founded country. If Kiir doesn't fix this problem and create peace in South Sudan, more and more problems will occur over time. More issues that could have been prevented in a very quick and efficient manner would develop for the worse in a matter of days.
This would be a good change, but Salva Kiir is having trouble with this. As stated earlier, Salva Kiir keeps militant officials in political power. This is a variable of conflict that is only detrimental to South Sudan's potential Civil War. The conflict between two opposing groups can't just be fixed all at once, and having military officials deal with it won't help anyone. There are many steps that need to be taken in order to right all of the wrongs that have been committed over the course of three years after South Sudan's independence. Some of them created by Salva Kiir.
It may be a very painful and unnerving process, but it would be beneficial if Salva Kiir was taken out of office, or if Salva himself worked to collaborate with other members of office to create a better country. A country that won't fall apart despite an already failing economy. His actions and inability to cope with the already fragile economic situation supporting South Sudan has lead to further problems. A backup of problems can often be solved by a reform, and in South Sudan's case: A government reform.
(n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2014, from http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/africa/2014/03/05/U-N-warns-of-possible-humanitarian-disaster-in-South-Sudan.html
Riek Machar. (2014, March 15). Retrieved February 29, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riek_Machar
Old Enmities in the Newest Nation: Behind the Fighting in South Sudan. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2014, from http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/01/behind-the-fighting-in-south-sudan.html
by rex collenette
pg. 9