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When South Sudan became the world’s newest nation in July 2011, much was expected of it and its northern neighbor.
however South Sudan and Sudan continue to grapple with outstanding secession issues, especially the question of shared oil revenues, citizenship and the exact border demarcation, which continue to foment tensions and conflict between the two successor states.
Drawing much needed global attention to the region, hollywood heavyweight George Clooney, a long standing campaigner against the conflict in Darfur, was arrested in March for civil disobedience outside of the Sudanese embassy in the United States while protesting the escalating humanitarian emergency in Sudan that threatens the lives of over 400,000 people.
These people have been affected in tribal conflict in the states of South Kordofan (which borders Darfur and South Sudan) and Blue nile areas. The Sudanese Government in Khartoum refused to allow aid groups into the two states, saying it would be a cover-up to provide arms to rebels. This is despite a joint proposal by the Un, AU and the Arab League to deliver assistance to the needy.
The Un estimates that in recent months about 417,000 people have had to flee their homes in the two states, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan. The resurgence of conflict in Darfur, a seven-year conflict that only ended in 2010, is damaging relations between Sudan and Chad (in the west). Accusations of cross-border raids spark fears of a regional war.
The region is also being pulled into the conflict in an economic sense. Landlocked South Sudan has shut down the majority of its crude wells after accusing Sudan of stealing its oil and charging too much for the use of pipeline transportation. As an alternative South Sudan is turning to a new pipeline plan through Kenya to send its oil to the envisaged revamped port of Lamu.
With oil providing the majority of South Sudan’s total revenue, the country is playing a dangerous game shutting down its lifeline, as investors are unlikely to lend in such dire circumstances. The country’s fertile agricultural land is still some way off developing and this newest of nations will have no option with the choices it has made but to seek aid from outside, most notably for food.
Desperate to resolve this worsening scenario, the presidential summit between Sudan leader Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir in Juba was always going to be fraught with influences from a wide variety of interest groups. One of the more interesting objections to Bashir’s visit to South Sudan came from a coalition of the country’s civil society groups, who pushed the agenda that Bashir was a man wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as referred by the United nations Security Council. The groups said as the 193rd state of the Un, their country is obliged to arrest Bashir. however South Sudan’s chief negotiator, Pagan Amum, pointed out that his country was not part of the ICC, so arresting Bashir was indeed a non-starter.
What was a starter was even the most hardened cynic admitting to having a sense of optimism at the birth of South
Sudan. Words like ethnic equality, rule of law and democracy filled the air scarcely nine months ago.The optimism was born from Africa’s longest conflict, spanning more than five decades, coming to an end and the belief that after the long battle for unity among ethnic groups, people could come together and live together despite differences.
That belief, as events are showing, has not yet materialized. Despite this, and with all the political will possible, communities of South Sudan and Sudan must ultimately be the masters of their own fate. Reaching the milestone of July 2011 ought not to have been in vain.
however South Sudan and Sudan continue to grapple with outstanding secession issues, especially the question of shared oil revenues, citizenship and the exact border demarcation, which continue to foment tensions and conflict between the two successor states.
Drawing much needed global attention to the region, hollywood heavyweight George Clooney, a long standing campaigner against the conflict in Darfur, was arrested in March for civil disobedience outside of the Sudanese embassy in the United States while protesting the escalating humanitarian emergency in Sudan that threatens the lives of over 400,000 people.
These people have been affected in tribal conflict in the states of South Kordofan (which borders Darfur and South Sudan) and Blue nile areas. The Sudanese Government in Khartoum refused to allow aid groups into the two states, saying it would be a cover-up to provide arms to rebels. This is despite a joint proposal by the Un, AU and the Arab League to deliver assistance to the needy.
The Un estimates that in recent months about 417,000 people have had to flee their homes in the two states, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan. The resurgence of conflict in Darfur, a seven-year conflict that only ended in 2010, is damaging relations between Sudan and Chad (in the west). Accusations of cross-border raids spark fears of a regional war.
The region is also being pulled into the conflict in an economic sense. Landlocked South Sudan has shut down the majority of its crude wells after accusing Sudan of stealing its oil and charging too much for the use of pipeline transportation. As an alternative South Sudan is turning to a new pipeline plan through Kenya to send its oil to the envisaged revamped port of Lamu.
With oil providing the majority of South Sudan’s total revenue, the country is playing a dangerous game shutting down its lifeline, as investors are unlikely to lend in such dire circumstances. The country’s fertile agricultural land is still some way off developing and this newest of nations will have no option with the choices it has made but to seek aid from outside, most notably for food.
Desperate to resolve this worsening scenario, the presidential summit between Sudan leader Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir in Juba was always going to be fraught with influences from a wide variety of interest groups. One of the more interesting objections to Bashir’s visit to South Sudan came from a coalition of the country’s civil society groups, who pushed the agenda that Bashir was a man wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as referred by the United nations Security Council. The groups said as the 193rd state of the Un, their country is obliged to arrest Bashir. however South Sudan’s chief negotiator, Pagan Amum, pointed out that his country was not part of the ICC, so arresting Bashir was indeed a non-starter.
What was a starter was even the most hardened cynic admitting to having a sense of optimism at the birth of South
Sudan. Words like ethnic equality, rule of law and democracy filled the air scarcely nine months ago.The optimism was born from Africa’s longest conflict, spanning more than five decades, coming to an end and the belief that after the long battle for unity among ethnic groups, people could come together and live together despite differences.
That belief, as events are showing, has not yet materialized. Despite this, and with all the political will possible, communities of South Sudan and Sudan must ultimately be the masters of their own fate. Reaching the milestone of July 2011 ought not to have been in vain.