S Sudan ‘disintegration’ alert

SOUTH Sudan could disintegrate into ethnic enclaves if both South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former opposition leader Dr Riek Machar don’t step down, according to former deputy defence minister Majak Agot.

Agot also warned that both Kiir and Machar, who is currently in South Africa receiving medical treatment, were responsible for the state of anarchy in the country, the Sudan Tribune reported yesterday. However, the former deputy defence minister was arrested in 2013 for allegedly instigating fighting in the capital Juba.

South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2013.

However, in December of that year, a civil war broke out between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), supporters of Kiir who are mostly ethnic Dinka, and the armed supporters of Machar’s SPLA-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) who are Nuer tribesmen. A peace treaty was signed in August last year and Machar returned to Juba in April of this year.

However, he fled the country again in July when fighting once again broke out between the two sides. In his absence, Kiir replaced Machar with Taban Deng Gai, a move that further exacerbated the fractious relationship between Machar and Kiir.

“There is a potential threat of a total breakdown of the state.

“It’s a level of degeneration that was unexpected,” said Agot. “Policies that are being implemented are pushing people apart and destroying the social fabric,” the Tribune reported Agot as saying.

“There is intense hate speech, ethnic mobilisation and this is leading to fragmentation.”

Agot, however, did not provide an alternative leadership proposal in the event the two leaders step aside as per his wish.