South Sudan: The Challenges Ahead

(Abeje Chumo)

I wrote this piece on South Sudan after reading about last week’s massacre of 200 civilians by the rebel group led by George Athor. More than 160 of the dead were civilians – children, the elderly, refugees and several priests. Such attacks on civilians are sign of the challenges the South faces in bringing its people together. It appears to me that more of such types of crises will happen now and then. The factors encouraging such conflicts come from different directions; the causes and the scope of these conflicts are many and complex. The question is: is South Sudan ready for further civil strife, is the new government ready to accommodate different groups, are there ways to prevent such disasters and in what ways will the international community will support the new state? In this brief piece, I will assess the challenges ahead and point out ways of managing the expectations following freedom.

Soon Sudan will cease to be Africa’s largest country. The country is due to split in July 2011. The people in the South voted in a January 2011 referendum to separate and form the continent’s newest state. This new development will bring in immense opportunities and challenges – both for the
North and South as well as the entire Horn of Africa.

The establishment of the new state of South Sudan will officially conclude the years of animosity that have existed between the North and the South and will commence an era of renewed cooperation. Hence, it is the common responsibility of the North and South Sudan leadership to preserve the natural, historical, cultural, political, and environmental integrity of the people on both sides. They have to acknowledge their interdependent relationship in order to engender and maintain a lasting political and socio-economic relationship among and between each group, to the extent that they preserve the common heritage and recognize the exigency of resolving long-standing political differences.

For the new state of South Sudan, everything needs In the new state of South Sudan, hard work and determination is needed in order to prove that the government upholds the freedom, liberty and equality of all Southerners. In realizing the creation of the new state of South Sudan, governments must be willing to negotiate terms of potential differences and disagreements within its constituency. For decades, many southerners were sidelined from government jobs, scholarships, military ranks and many more rights in their own country. Marginalization and oppression were the orders of the day. Yet, soon enough, a new hope will become part of their history.

The challenges in South Sudan are large and exceedingly difficult. If peace is to become real in South Sudan, working to rebuild the relationship with different clan-based groups in the country is indispensible. The central challenge to this exercise does not lie in the repair of the physical and institutional devastation, nor in the repatriation and reintegration of thousands of Southern IDPs and refugees. The primary challenge in rebuilding a society that has been organized in a clan-based power structure has to do with mending relations and restoring trust. If people do not trust each other, and lack confidence in any political arrangement put in place and in the mechanisms of conflict prevention in general, then the best rebuilding strategies are likely to fail.

Establishing a system of government that is based on the interest of South Sudanese and making sure that South Sudan will have peace and harmony requires a two-track process. The new government of South Sudan has the responsibility to ensure that all South Sudanese have the right to participate and benefit from the opportunities, development, democracy and integrity of the new nation. Independence means freedom – physical, psychological, mental, emotional and spiritual – for all. It is accordingly very important to insure the exercise of fundamental rights in one’s own country without interference. It should be noted that the unavailability of trained national staff to participate and hold offices, cost implications of hiring experienced development experts and limited resources and capacity to involve the public will hamper efforts to advance in South Sudan.

Second, the international community in South Sudan will play an active role in rebuilding South Sudan. Decades of fighting have left South Sudan’s infrastructure in tatters. The recent focus on rule of law and justice sector reform in new and emerging nations demonstrates that the international community has become increasingly aware that functioning legal systems and judicial structures are an essential pre-requisite for lasting peace and security. With the return of millions of displaced Southerners, there is a pressing need to maintain law and order. If the local police, army and justice system are weak or if they take the side of one group over the other or organize themselves in tribal bases, it may be necessary to step up the reform efforts and the international community must undertake a comprehensive disarmament, retraining, reorganization and re-assigning process, or other means of monitoring their personnel to ensure that they do not become “spoilers” of the transition to independence.

Lack of peace and security in Darfur and Abyei, as well as the presence of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and Ethiopian and Eritrean resistance groups in its jurisdiction are few of the major challenges that will defiantly affect relations between South Sudan and its neighbors. The interdependent nature of international relations hints that if violent conflicts are not contained in a timely manner, they can constitute grave risks to people in the region. In realizing the creation of a peaceful South Sudan and accepting the common responsibilities, the interest of each of the parties in conflict must be represented, specifically with regards to the negotiation, implementation, and settlement of disputes arising from the integration process.

The deployment of development workers from all over the world with varied language, culture, legal and political systems further undermines the standard, quality and sustainability of development work in South Sudan. So far, the response by humanitarian agencies focuses on the referendum and the humanitarian aspects of the return of millions of displaced Southerners. Many of the international agencies have been reluctant to raise or become involved in sensitive issues for fear that this will compromise their neutrality or provoke restrictions of their access; additionally, there are issues of inexperience and a high turnover of staff and lack of expertise in this field.

In order to realize and address the challenges ahead, the government of South Sudan needs to design and adopt a national instrument that addresses the needs and interests of various groups. Stakeholders must fully participate and indicate their interest in the drafting and adopting of such a document to govern the relationships among themselves. This document can serve in shaping the relations, actions and limitations of actors in the state. The government must express intent to be bound by the obligations and responsibilities of such provisions. The document shall be complementary to other pertinent national legal instruments, agreements and treaties, and shall not contravene any other international instruments that the country will be committed to.

The international community can adopt a comprehensive approach to include all the interdependent institutions, sensitive to the needs of key groups and mindful of the need for complementarily ties between domestic and international mechanisms. Disputes shall be referred to the proper national and international judicial bodies, unless the parties concerned agree on another mode of settlement within a reasonable period of time. However, priority should be given to strengthening the capacity of the police, the army, and the legal systems to maintain law and order. This requires fair legal framework that is enforced impartially. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible police force. Hence, strengthening local police, courts, and the prison system to maintain public order, control crime, prosecute tribal criminals, protect minorities, and ensure respect for human rights plays a central role in maintaining the rule of law in a post-conflict society.

It should be clear that good governance is an ideal which is difficult to achieve. Very few countries and societies have come close to achieving good governance in its totality. A society’s wellbeing depends on ensuring that all its members feel that they have a stake in it and do not feel excluded from the mainstream of their society. This requires all groups, and particularly the most vulnerable in South Sudan, have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being from the upcoming arraignment. In making peace happen in South Sudan, the Juba leadership can and must be ready to sacrifice its interests for the benefits of all stakeholders.

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