South Sudan, the youngest state in the world, is a battered country. On July 9, 2011, the hope aroused by its independence, which arose after decades of struggle, was enormous. Ten years and a civil war later, the country is experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
A cross around his neck, green and black scarf on his head, Tireza Sima looks sad through the window of the military hospital in Juba. On May 10, in the middle of the night, his house near Wonduruba, in the state of Central Equatoria, was attacked. One bullet hit his right foot, another hit his 9-year-old son. She was first taken to the local health center, lacking trained staff and drugs, and she was left without proper care for more than 8 days before being admitted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (CICIR). Only 40% of healthcare structures are operational in this country, young but already ravaged by a long civil war, and where the UN, despite the signing of a new peace agreement in 2018, still describes the degree of uncertainty as “Amazing”.
It did not take long for South Sudan’s leaders to sacrifice promises of independence on the altar of their struggle for power. From 2013, President Salva Kiir and his Vice President Riek Machar, the brothers of the two enemies, drag their country into a bloody conflict. Five years of fighting, looting and massacres followed. Results: 380,000 dead and 400,000 displaced.
Peace Agreement 2018
The peace agreement signed in 2018 really allowed a ceasefire between the two most important fighters in the civil war. But many parts of South Sudan are still ravaged by localized conflicts. In some places, violence has even intensified since 2018. This is especially the case in the state Central Equatorium, where the uprising of former General Thomas Cyrillo – who rejected the peace agreement – is facing more than two years of government forces and those of Riek machar. The states of Jonglei and Warrap are also particularly battered by insecurity: revenge crimes, ethnic tensions, theft of cattle, land grabs. Violence with ancient and complex roots, “driven by the country’s elite, even in the capital in order to promote their peasants in the political game,” said a diplomatic source. All against the background of the proliferation of weapons despite the current embargo in the country.
“Rape”, “forced relocation”, “targeted attacks” and “recruitment of children”: the price paid by civilians is enormous and is regularly condemned by the UN. By 2020, a quarter of the gunshot wounds treated by the ICRC in southern Sudan were still women and children. In this more than uncertain context, the prospects for the future presidential election, originally scheduled for 2022 and postponed until 2023 cause concern. The last election in the country was in 2010.
“The situation is even worse than ten years ago”
While violence is flourishing, the southern Sudanese state is still in its infancy. “The situation is even worse than it was ten years ago,” said Alan Boswell, a researcher at the International Crisis Group. “Before independence, the political context was appropriate for building a South Sudanese state, as there was a form of national consensus, which no longer exists today. Not only do they have to go even further than ten years ago to build a state, but the political context is not really suitable for that, the researcher analyzes.
“Our leaders stabbed us in the back,” said bitter Michael Wani, head of the OAF (Okay Africa Foundation) and leader of civil society. “We fought for independence in the hope of getting better schools, better roads, better hospitals, more freedom of speech and being able to manage our resources ourselves. We wanted to end corruption. But nothing has changed, it’s even worse. Millions and millions of public funds disappear every year. It is a betrayal, he regrets. In a report published in September last year, the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan presented the figure of almost $ 36 million stolen by politicians and government members since 2016. The country, which draws most of its resources from oil, is ranked. 179 out of 180 according to the latest corruption index from NGO Transparency International. “We have no transparency about oil revenues, or about the implementation of the state budget,” a diplomatic source said.
The agreement signed in 2018 was intended to lay the foundation for a rebuilding of South Sudan. But its application is slow. Parliament was “re-established” in May, more than one year late, according to a composition negotiated between the signatory parties. Members will be sworn in on Friday, Independence Day. A constitutional reform commission was also launched at the end of May, with the task of discussing a possible decentralization of power and elections. But the crucial building site for a “unified” army, which must gather the armed forces that fought each other during the civil war, stands almost still, especially for lack of funding. In the 18 training centers installed in the country, intended to train the soldiers for this future army, the living conditions, more than uncertain, caused masseur losses. The graduation ceremony for first class, which is constantly announced, has not yet taken place. In addition, there is the tagged issue of the command, which is still being discussed. “We are told that there is a plan to reorganize the army but we have not seen it,” a diplomatic source lamented. “There is no political will. It’s a game of mistigri. They know how to please their international partners, and during that time the country is on the brink and corruption continues. It is as usual, this source continues.
One of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world
The South Sudanese state is “a system of military and internal security institutions guarding and terrorizing its people, with a parasitic elite holding the international community hostage so that it can provide basic services to its people,” said Clémence Pinaud, senior lecturer. at Indiana University (Bloomington) and Specialist in Southern Sudan *.
For meanwhile, under the cumulative effect of armed violence, inflation, climate change and Covid-19 epidemicthe country continues to sink into one of the world’s most serious humanitarian crises. According to Unicef, 8.3 million South Sudanese need humanitarian aid, a number much higher than during the civil war. According to the UN, the country is currently also facing its highest level of uncertainty. Food since independence: more than 7.2 million people, or 60% of the population, are in a situation of “acute severe” food insecurity, including 108,000 people at risk of starvation, according to the World Food Program (WFP). “It is a colossal failure,” admits a diplomatic source, not without a hint of “discouragement” in the face of the disappointed hopes of this independence.
Tireza Sima, who has now recovered from her foot injury, hopes to be able to return to Wonduruba soon to her 9-year-old son, who has hardly ever felt peace. Her husband was killed in 2016 during the height of the war. In 2011, she voted for independence as almost 99% of southern Sudan. “If it had to be done again today, I would vote against,” she says on her hospital bed. “We voted for freedom, but in fact it is even worse than before,” she sighs.
Despite his disappointment, activist Michael Wani has another analysis: “I would vote again. Because if there is one thing I am proud of, it is that today we have a country, he said. Our leaders will eventually leave, but South Sudan will stay. “
* Clémence Pinaud is the author ofWar and genocide in southern Sudan(Cornell University Press, February 2021).
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