Some efforts are being made to prevent another war, the UN is doubling its troops in the country and President Kiir has made several optimistic speeches, like his one at Christmas, where he stated, “I have expressed that I am open to dialogue with Riek Machar in order to put down our differences and achieve peace for this new nation." (AFP News Agencies, March 9, 2014) Despite these efforts, the tension in the new nation is rising steadily, and once again after two short years the whole world is looking at South Sudan. The current conflict is mainly in the existing rebel party. In Juba, the capital of South Sudan, the death toll is estimated to be over 500. Schomerus has said that, “Independence has drawn a cloak over what was really been going on,”(Jansen, Klaus 28. 12. 13) South Sudan’s quest for independence had drawn attention away from what was really going on, and even distracted international organizations from what was really going on, deep under the surface. However, the effort to stop the upcoming conflict are futile.
All fighting that is continuing in South Sudan is shattering the hope that there could be a ceasefire between the government troops and rebels. This is just a repeat of the old war, former enemies fighting old wars in a new country. There are other tensions appearing, South Sudan's neighboring country up North, along with the hostile original Sudan along with Sudan's new ally, Uganda have become hostile toward South Sudan, and may become aggressive. One western diplomat said on the topic of if the conflict will escalate or not, said "you’ve got Uganda fighting Sudan inside South Sudan, with Eritrea fighting Ethiopia inside South Sudan and a complete law and order vacuum.” (AFP News Agencies, March 9, 2014) “As far as the regionalisation of the conflict goes, the question is not if, but when”, said Casie Copeland, South Sudan analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank. (AFP News Agencies, March 9, 2014) South Sudan could eventually revert back to old funding tactics or funding proximities. The current conflict has called the future of South Sudan's oil revenues into question. This could capsize the fragile country that has struggled for so long to be independent.
Now, old conflicts are being brought into the light of international focus. Right now, all global organizations and representatives are in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, trying to calm the storm before it can spiral out of there control. Schomerus has been speculating about the whole ordeal, “What was this place going to be in 2013?”(Jansen, Klaus 28.12. 2013) asked Schomerus. He thinks that maybe expectations were wrong from the beginning, that maybe international regulations and ideals would not work for South Sudan. With everybody trying to figure out what will happen next, and South Sudan heading straight for civil war being the prominent option, one thing is for sure, South sudan is not in for easy times ahead and citizens will have to continue to strive for the rights and opportunities that they deserve.
This result brought up new unrest and brought back old conflicts. Back in 2005, the south got substantial independence from any government, which after the death of Garang, was lead by their current President, Salva Kiir, with Riek Machar as it’s vice president until 2013. However, for an average citizen, life changed very little. The majority of people living in South Sudan are living below the property, are illiterate, there are hardly any school, and barely any doctors. Even though large oil reservoirs were discovered, this didn’t help the farmers in South Sudan, because instead of the profits reaching the population, there were disputes and conflicts over the distribution of the oil and how it was transported. The only oil pipeline that can be used to ship South Sudan’s oil suns through northern Sudan. For months the oil shipments were halted over trivial border disputes between Sudan and South Sudan, and those areas never truly calmed down.
Work Cited
1. Jansen, Klaus. "Can South Sudan Still Avoid Civil War?" DW.DE. DW, 28 Dec. 2013. Web. Mar.
2. News Agency, AFP. "Fears South Sudan Conflict Could Infect Region." Daily Times. AFP NEWS AGENCY, 9 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.14