Elusivepeace

South Sudan conflict continues as Un-mandated troops prepare to play a more assertive role

The lack of political will and good leadership from the principals to implement the spirit and letter of the agreement is the greatest weakness that needs to be addressed.

The August announcement by the UN Security Council authorizing an additional intervention force of 4,000 troops to South Sudan has given some hope to the war-torn country. The mandate of this force to protect civilians and help bolster the tenuous peace process, despite practical deployment challenges, will be tested in the months ahead.

When rebel leader Riek Machar accepted the invitation to Juba in April and formed the brokered Transitional Government of National Unity with President Salva Kiir, it looked like a second liberation and the start of a long road to stability for South Sudan.

It proved to be a false dawn, however, as violence erupted again in the embattled nation beginning on July 8, with troops loyal to Kiir fighting those of Machar. Events moved with lightning speed as the violence escalated, killing close to 300 people. Fears of a civil war loomed again, and Machar fled Juba.

South Sudan’s civil war dates back to December 2013 after Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup, but according to the recent UN reports of killing and raping of civilians by government troops, the country’s fragile situation has plunged to an all-time low. South Sudan has rejected the UN accusations. regional issues, even in a more active way.

The hope of this peaceful settlement and its subsequent process in South Sudan was midwifed by a regional bloc known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Its Executive Secretary Mahboub Maalim recently spoke of a “new strategy” to bring lasting peace in Juba, the nation’s capital.

“We have told both sides that fighting has to stop. That is the immediate demand, but we may go for targeted sanctions to enforce it,” he said in Nairobi in August. “At IGAD we have been clear. That is why we have asked the UN to fortify the peacekeeping forces so they can provide security to civilians. Security is the first thing we must all strive to get. The rest will fall in place.”

IGAD is wary of recent fighting because it oversaw seven previous ceasefires between December 2013 and August 2015, all of which were broken within days.