The peace was short-lived. Two and a half years after secession from Sudan due to religious opression, South Sudan is experiencing conflict of its own. Violence has broken out after President Salva Kiir accused his Vice President, Riek Machar, of staging a coup. In July, Kiir went on to fire Machar and the rest of his cabinet after hearing Machar's plan to run against Kiir in the 2015 presidential election.
Both Kiir and Machar are of the same political party: Sudan's People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). However, they differ in their ethnic backgrounds, Kiir being a Dinka and Machar being a Nuer. The friction between those two rival tribes has erupted into violence.
The White Army, an ethnic Nuer rebel group, is set on marching towards the town of Bor, a government-controlled city viewed as a strategic one.
Why do some African states continue to be plagued with constant violence and civil war? Additionally, why are coups a primary form of achieving power? It could be due to the great number of tribes/political groups/etc. in African states competing individually for power and too little effort towards coalition building. Because of this competition for power, groups will do anything to stay in power, and other groups will do anything to force them out.
The South Sudan conflict is unfortunate as the country was doing well: peaceful and showing some signs of stability. Hopefully the issue can be resolved without outside help as that may create the best opportunity for sustainable progress.
http://america.aljazeera.com/content/ajam/opinions/2013/12/south-sudana-s-salvakiirneedstoputhisblackhatbackon.html
http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2013/04/south-sudan-politics
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0721/South-Sudan-5-key-questions-answered/Why-did-the-Republic-of-South-Sudan-secede-from-the-North
Hello Mary. I love to see points of view so well articulated about African affairs. I teach about African countries. South Sudan may not be as complicated as pundits may seem to think. In my opinion, and I think the "religious" divide was/has been more an external analysis imposed on the then Sudan conflict in the south. South Sudan is a new country without functional institutions, which would include a judiciary system that keeps everyone, including the President, subject to the law of the land. Kiir fired his Cabinet without repercussions, and that triggered the current backlash. You're right too about the individual fight for power, the splintered political parties and ethnic groups being key players in the destabilization of African states. Hope to read more from you!
ReplyDeletePS: Also look into the role of China in South Sudan's conflict, carried over from before its session. It's interesting that they now break their "non-interference" policy to demand that S. Sudan fix their governance issues. The instability, while it played to their advantage before S. Sudan's statehood, now plays against them since they invest heavily in the oil fields whose production had significantly gone down--
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