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South Sudan: Looking Into the Civil War
Between 9 to 15th January 2011 a historic referendum took place in Sudan. The people in Southern region of Sudan voted for their separation, hoping for a more prosperous and peaceful life. That was a quickly forgotten dream for South Sudanese as violence and insecurity marked the separation, even before it’s independence in July 9th 2011.
After its recognizance as an independent country, South Sudan has known repeated skirmishes between small armed groups. Relatively small but repeated conflicts occurred also between its ethnic groups. The Dinka counted for around 15% of the population and the Nuer – approximately 10%, formed the majority, while Bari, Azande and Shilluk form smaller ethnic groups in the country’s unknown population number. The seasons for such conflicts were border clashes, cattle feud or complaint against the government. On a parallel level, a great number of differences between the newly born state and Sudan (related to secession issues) threatened the economical stability of South Sudan and its power to sustain its people. Disagreements on the oil fees levied by Sudan for its pipe usage lead to a total close down of South’s export pipelines, with major consequences on the later. Despite all of these internal/ external issues, the country stained afloat through massive export of oil, mainly to the United States (US) and the United Kingdom.
Signs of a possible political crisis began in late 2012 when President Salva Kiir Mayardit began large scale reorganization on the military, political and administrative level. Based on a planned coup d’état rumors several high-ranked officials were dismissed. Many politicians inside the governing People Liberation Movement (SPLM) party and the opposition believed this to be an unjustified consolidation of power, leading towards an authoritarian regime. No actual actions were taken against the President’s movements, but tension was building up. Even with such manoeuvres, no one could anticipate a country could fall into civil war in less than a week.
The real full scale crisis began in July 2013 through a schism inside the SPLM party, when President Kiir relieved Vice-President (VP) Riek Machar of his position, along with his entire cabinet. That encouraged international observers to believe that ethnic reasons were also part of the conflict’s reasons, as the President belonged to the Dinka, while the VP was a Nuer. During a December SPLM party assembly President Kiir ruled the arrest of several important party members, accusing them of plotting with Machar a coup d’etat, even though the accused ones denied any relation to the former VP. The US immediately responded to these actions, asking South Sudan’s president to release the political prisoners. As these suggestions fell on deaf years, the imprisonment of political figures has marked the third faction of the ruling party. Machar, escaped the location before being arrested and stated to its sustainers that Kiir organized this action in order to cleanse the SPLM of those who oppose him inside the ruling party. Dinka, inside the president’s guard, and Nuer soldiers in arms, loyal to the former VP, ignited a fight that quickly extended, giving birth to widespread ethnic killings throughout the capital Juba of both Dinka and Nuer soldiers and civilians.
Two days in such tit-for-tat actions, in December 17, 2013, the political conflict mobilized rebel factions that seized control of the city of Bor, in Jobei State (prone to inter-ethnic clashes) and Bentiu in the Unity State. Up until 18 December continual shootings and door to door actions in search of Nuer ethnic civilians left scores dead, hundreds injured, and around 13.000 people in the refuge of UN compounds in the capital Juba. Civilians considered not to be part of the Dinka that were found by soldiers and police on the streets of the country’s capital were imprisoned then shot dead in the cells, survivors say. The numbers of such victims is not known and official’s denied such allegations, but a survivor mentioned that he and another 251 were kept in a cell and almost all of his cell mates were killed. Survivors hid for two days amongst bodies left inside the cell, to guard themselves against the fire bursts through the cell door’s peephole.
At this stage, the country’s army has split and united former SPLM general Peter Yak Gadet (of Nuer ethnic group) with soldiers and generals loyal to or sympathizers of Riek Machar. In his recent history, Peter Yak Gadet lead a group of soldiers that named themselves South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) during April-August 2011, claiming equal representation of ethnic groups in the government and accusing President Kiir of marginalizing him from the country’s army (where leading positions were occupied through tribal nepotism). Albeit reintegrated in 2011, Gadet mutinied again with his mainly Nuer militia during the December 2013 political crisis. So Machar, Gadet’s militia, and the deflecting generals formed the rebel’s group. Accordingly, President Kiir lead SPLM – an estimated 210.000 soldiers as well as an unknown, relatively small, number of personnel of the South Sudan Air Force.
The full-scale tank battle on December 22nd in the Upper Nile, the conflict’s spread into the Central Equatoria and the renewal of fighting in Juba and Bor (that included tanks and heavy artillery) marked the escalation of the conflict, when battles started focusing in key oil exploiting states. By January 8th, US and UN envoys were strongly implicated in peace talks, while UN refugee camps counted approximately 20.000 people; hundreds of thousands were displaced, and others were seeking refuge in neighboring Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan.
In April 2014, the UN envoy blamed the civil war for the killing of thousands of people and the displacement of more than a million. As relief supplies were blocked either by rebels or the army, around five million were appreciated to be in need of humanitarian aid; lack of basic alimony lead to the worst food crisis in the world at that time. In May 2014, the UN had more than 7500 troops in South Sudan in order to assure civilian protection both inside and out of the UN refugee compounds. The conflict was marked by two ceasefire agreements, under international pressure. The first took place at the beginning of January and was broken several times by both parties, leading to a stalemate. The second ceasefire came in May but both parties violated again the agreement.
The month of August 2014 brought along yet another meeting for much thought peace talks in Addis Ababa, the capital Ethiopia. Mediation between the three fractions of SPLM party took place in repeated rounds up until October 23rd when in Arusha Tanzania, President Kiir and his former deputy Riek Mahar accepted mutual responsibility for the civil war that has torn South Sudan apart. Although considered fallible, the signed agreement between the two man, joined by the former imprisoned senior politicians of SPLM, concludes a share of power in the higher interest ofSouth Sudan’s people.
Sources:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/04/2011424145446998235.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-25427965
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14019202
http://www.dw.de/south-sudan-on-the-brink-of-civil-war/a-17353741
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/south-sudan-state-that-fell-apart-in-a-week
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudan#Ethnic_groups
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudanese_Civil_War#Course_of_the_conflict
