The power-sharing agreement between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar is on the verge of collapse, raising fears of a renewed civil war and leading to violent clashes.
The situation has worsened to the point where the United States has begun evacuating non-essential personnel, and the United Nations has issued warnings about the country’s stability.
The United nations head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Nicholas Haysom described the situation in the country as “dire” adding that efforts to negotiate a peace deal would only be possible if Kiir and Machar were able to “put the interests of their people ahead of their own,”.
Speaking further, Haysom warned that disinformation and hate speech were stirring ethnic hatred and provoking increasing violence that has displaced tens of thousands in the nation.
UN Sheds Light on South Sudan’s Escalating Crisis
Aljazeera reports that the situation escalated earlier in March when the White Army, a group believed to be allied with First Vice President Riek Machar, seized a military base in Nasir County, Upper Nile state.
In response, South Sudanese soldiers surrounded Machar’s home in Juba and arrested several of his allies.
The military has also launched aerial strikes on communities in Upper Nile, causing significant casualties, horrific injuries, and displacing an estimated 63,000 people.
The UN official condemned these indiscriminate attacks, highlighting the devastating impact on civilians, especially burns.
“Given this grim situation, we are left with no other conclusion but to assess that South Sudan is teetering on the edge of a relapse into civil war,” Haysom said.
The underlying issue is the deep-seated mistrust between President Salva Kiir and Machar, who have little faith that the other will uphold the terms of the peace deal.
This mistrust threatens to derail the fragile peace and plunge the country into another devastating conflict.
Backstory on the South Sudan’s crisis
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has been plagued by internal conflict since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. The crisis has its roots in Sudan’s prolonged civil wars, which spanned from 1955 to 1972 and 1983 to 2005.
A power struggle between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar, former allies who became rivals, led to a full-scale civil war in 2013.
The war devastated the country, causing famine, economic collapse, and mass displacement, with tens of thousands of deaths and millions displaced.
The civil war subsided with the signing of a fragile peace deal in 2018.
The 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement brought a measure of stability, but delays in implementation and persistent political rivalries have maintained underlying tensions
As of 2024, South Sudan faces a humanitarian crisis, with nearly 9 million people in need of aid and worsening food shortages.
The country is also on the brink of war due to delayed elections, militia clashes, and ongoing tensions between rival factions.
