In recent weeks, South Sudan has experienced a worrying setback as clashes in the country’s northeast threaten to undo years of progress towards peace, the United Nations commission on human rights for the country has cautioned.
The commission’s chairperson, Yasmin Sooka, issued a statement on Saturday highlighting a series of violent confrontations between security forces under President Salva Kiir and an armed group allegedly linked to First Vice President Riek Machar.
This situation jeopardizes the delicate power-sharing agreement reached in 2018 to end a five-year civil war and has raised concerns of conflict in Upper Nile state.
“We are witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress,” said Sooka.
“Instead of promoting division and conflict, leaders must urgently turn their focus back to the peace process, uphold the human rights of South Sudanese citizens, and ensure a smooth transition to democracy,” Sooka emphasized.
The African Union Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also expressed “deep concern” on Saturday and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Outbreak of Violence
The recent escalation of violence began with clashes between Sudanese armed forces and a group identified as an “armed youth militia” in Nasir County, Upper Nile state, in February.
While the cause of the fighting remains unclear, rumors of forced disarmament may have contributed to the unrest. Multiple clashes have since occurred, with combatants using heavy weaponry, as reported by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Additional fighting has been reported in Western Equatoria state in the southwestern region of the country.
Earlier this week, South Sudan’s information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, attributed the violence partly to the White Army, a Nuer armed group operating in Upper Nile. He accused the group of collaborating with Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM/IO).
Tensions escalated further this week when Kiir ordered the arrest of two officials and several high-ranking military officers allied with Machar. The military also surrounded Machar’s residence, effectively placing him under house arrest.
Additionally, a UN helicopter attempting a rescue mission in the state was attacked on Friday, resulting in the death of a crew member and injuries to two others. An army general was also killed during the failed rescue attempt, according to UNMISS.
Addressing the incident late Friday, Kiir called for calm and reaffirmed his commitment to peace, stating, “The government I lead will manage this crisis. We will remain steadfast in pursuing peace.”
Irresponsible Power Struggles
South Sudan, the world’s youngest country following its independence in 2011, has faced internal divisions within Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) since its inception.
By 2013, the country had plunged into a brutal civil war that claimed over 400,000 lives and displaced more than a million individuals.
In 2018, a peace agreement known as the Revitalised Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed by the warring factions in an effort to unite their armies, draft a new constitution, prepare for elections, conduct a census, and disarm other armed groups. However, none of these reforms have been implemented.
In the statement released on Saturday, Barney Afako, another member of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, highlighted a return to the irresponsible power struggles that have devastated the country in the past.
He emphasized that the South Sudanese people have endured atrocities, human rights violations amounting to serious crimes, economic mismanagement, and worsening security conditions. “They deserve peace and relief, not another cycle of war,” Afako stated.
