Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 21:13:34 +0200
South Sudan: No Quick Solution to Crisis
28 JUNE 2014
As peace talks between South Sudan's government and rebels in Addis Ababa
stall yet again, aid agencies warn that the crisis is driving the nation to
famine. Are flaws in the implementation of earlier deals to blame?
The US think tank Fund For Peace has declared South Sudan as the most
fragile state in world, beating even Somalia to the bottom of its ranking
table.
South Sudan's troubles run deep, but can be partly traced back to the recent
past before it became an independent nation in 2011.
Jok Madud Jok is the founder of the South Sudanese think tank, SUDD
Institute. He said the reason why the treaty signed by Sudan and southern
Sudan in 2005 has failed to bring peace to either side is because the
population wasn't permitted to participate in the peace process.
"It is only a peace agreement between the two leading warring parties
creating two oil kleptocracies in Sudan and South Sudan, dividing the pie,"
he told Deutsche Welle.
New round of talks adjourned
The world's youngest country, South Sudan has been wracked by fighting
between government troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels backing
ex-vice president Reik Machar since December 2013.
Michael Taban, chairman of the South Sudan Council of Churches, wants the
voice of the people to be heard at the peace talks
Protracted, intermittent peace talks in Addis Abba, brokered by the regional
grouping IGAD, have cost over $17 milion (12 million euros), but have so far
failed to stop the war. Ceasefire agreements have been violated repeatedly.
A new round of talks in Addis Ababa was to have included new players such as
civil society organizations, faith-based groups and others, in addition to
the government and rebel negotiators. But the rebels boycotted the talks on
Monday (22.06.2014) because of a dispute over who should attend them. The
talks were adjourned.
Representatives from faith-based groups include Michael Taban from the South
Sudan Council of Churches. He called on the warring parties to "be serious
in their talks."
Creating lasting peace will be time consuming
Churches in South Sudan say that in a previous conflict, during the long
years of civil war, they were able to defuse tensions between the various
factions of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) by organizing
discussions in all parts of the country. Dialogue between individuals laid
the foundation for reconciliation between the feuding parties. The process
is much more time consuming than drawing up and signing an official treaty,
but Gladis Mananju believes it is the only route to lasting peace. Mananju
is one of eight advisors sent to the Addis Ababa talks by the South Sudan
Council of Churches and the South Sudan Islamic Council. She is the only
woman advisor.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities and aid agencies say South Sudan
is on the brink of famine
Mananju told DW people were not surprised when the crisis broke out in
December 2013, because the power struggle between the two sides was clearly
visible and issues that were pending, such as South Sudan's constitution,
were never addressed.
"The constitutional review was supposed to be done by a technical group who
were supposed to go back to the citizens to seek their views, but that was
not done. So a few technocrats met and developed the transitional
constitution which does not reflect the interests of the people," she said.
Mananju also said most of the victims in the fighting have been women and
children. The young are being "used" to carry out atrocities and she
believes it is important to give women a greater say in planning and
monitoring in post-conflict South Sudan.
<http://www.dw.de/no-quick-solution-to-south-sudans-crisis/a-17741805>
Südsudan Juba Riek Machar Salva Kiir 09.07.2013
Riek Machar (left) and Silva Kiir: the power struggle was 'clearly visible'
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