Emerging victorious from its arduous journey to independence in 2011, South Sudan remains beleaguered by tumultuous instability, unceasing violence, and pervasive political discord. One might wonder, what path remains for a nation so rich in resources yet so poor in peace?
“Conflict is not a potentiality lurking around the corner,” said an anonymous South Sudanese elder, met with a weary smile etched with lines of both hope and resignation, “it’s an old acquaintance that never says farewell.”
On February 14th and 15th, the fragility of peace shattered once again as violent clashes erupted near the Sudanese border in Nassir, Upper Nile state. It was here that the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) found themselves entangled in battles with so-called “armed youth,” though such euphemistic nomenclature scarcely captures the chaos of reality. Curiously, the specifics regarding the groups involved remain shrouded in the haze of the U.N.’s report.
Fights like these are marked not only by spirited determination but also by the ominous rumble of heavy weaponry used indiscriminately. Ruined homesteads bear testament to the barrage, while innocent and guilty alike fall in its wake. The number of souls lost wanders unmentioned in the U.N.’s grim statement, highlighting merely that a peacekeeper, courageously conducting routine patrol, sustained injuries from mortar fire.
Nicholas Haysom, the devoted special representative of the U.N. secretary-general and head of UNMISS, denounced the senseless violence. With unwavering conviction, he implored the warring factions to practice restraint. “The sanctity of peacekeepers,” he asserted, “needs guarding as much as the lives of those we aim to protect.”
Troubling omens linger not just in Upper Nile but also across the vast stretches of Western Equatoria, a region similarly tethered to tensions without visible resolution. Here too, details wait patiently in the shadows—silent, yet palpably there.
Yet perhaps the most disconcerting specter is the unshakable implication that violence such as this stresses the overdue necessity to deploy South Sudan’s elusive fully unified armed forces. The demands spelled out in the much-vaunted 2018 peace accord, designed to heal the grievous rift between President Salva Kiir and his relentless adversary Vice President Riek Machar, remain unfulfilled. The stipulated unification envisioned by this pact occupies a realm of political limbo, as elections continue to fall prey to the whims of procrastination.
Is reconciliation an utopian ideal in South Sudan? Or do hidden agendas continue to undermine the earnest efforts for peace? The delayed outcome of the unified armed forces throws a long shadow of doubt, a vivid illustration of hope dashed.
Despite these tribulations and inexorable tensions, whispers of resilience still echo through the corridors of history. As veteran journalist William Randolph Hearst once quipped, “A politician will do anything to keep his job— even become a patriot.” Will patriotism in South Sudan become aspiration realized? Only time, with its enigmatic and relentless continuity, shall betray the answer.
The persistent injustices and political failures of South Sudan evoke not just a litany of grievances but an urgency akin to a wound crying out for salve, a peaceable and long-awaited healing. What remains indispensable is the fulfillment of unification, an ambition that shan’t merely decorate rhetoric but must animate the nation’s policies.
As watchers on the global stage, one can only extend thoughts to those ensnared in the clasp of this relentless conflict and hold a candle for resolution that many fear may never come. The sands of time are ever shifting, and one prays they may shift in favor of peace.
Edited By Ali Musa
Axadle Times International – Monitoring
