The elusive South Sudan peace talks shifted

By Steve Paterno

For the first time, the people of South Sudan andtheir government felt the weights are lifted off their shoulders. The newlyemerged country has endured so muchstress, both from within and from outside. From within, there have been those masqueradingas public officials who are corrupted, incompetent, tribalistic, but yet wantto press on the seat by all means possible. From the outsiders, there have beenthe self interested ones, the countries and individuals who are purely pursuingtheir self interest at the expense of South Sudanese people. Perhaps, there are also the outsiders well wishers, who inadvertently contributed to the burdens of South Sudanese, deriving from their oversight as a result of their sheer ignorance. All of these can clearly be deduced from some of the most recentexamples.

For instance, when the issue of corruption,incompetence, and tribalism became a daily talk, the Soudan Sudan President,Salva Kiir Mayardit did the right thing by firing all the top officials ingovernment, with some of them placed under investigations, whereby there werepotentially facing prosecutions in the court of laws. By then, the people ofSouth Sudan celebrated the long overdue actions by their president. Theoutsiders, who all along pointing the malice in the government were baffled bythe daring actions of the President, and then blamed the President for firing the wrong doers. The wrong doers got energized by the bafflement, and believed they could also fire the President, hence, an attempted mismanaged coup d’état,which its sole agenda was to wrestling for power and continue with the statusquo.

The mismanaged coup, which by the way supposed to be crashed within days has already taken a mutated life of its own, largely due to those meddling into the conflict from the outside. Therefore, the elusive quest for peace, which was supposed to be among a ruling party–then turned tribal–and now it is at a loggerhead between the United Nations (UN) against the African Union (AU),becomes a burden to the South Sudanese people.

In perspective, this whole mess, between the two opposing giants, which has nothing to do with South Sudanese people, started like this:
1) The AU, which is founded with the aim that Africans are cabals of resolving their own problems, initiated a mediating role in resolving the conflict in South Sudan, under the regional auspicious of Intergovernmental Authority on Development(IGAD). Somehow, the UN, a Big brother appeared into the scene and tended to play a dictating role. For example, the UN threateningly urged the AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan, (a commission tasked with investigating the root causes of conflicts in South Sudan), to release its damning report, irrespective of the report’s consequences to the ongoing conflict and peace process. In its part, the AU firmly stood its ground and relented to release the report, citing the potential consequences the report will play in derailing the ongoing conflicts and peace talks. The AU statements declared to the Big Brother (the UN), ‘we are Africans and know how to resolve our own problems.’
2) The UN then retaliated, by undermining the entire AU negotiating process by unilaterally issuing a threat of sanctions against South Sudan in case an imposed peace deal is never reached with an imposed timeline. The AU, once again felt humiliated by the Big Brother, hence, leaked the report of AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan.
3) In response, the UN came out and dismissed the AU report of the Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan, which the world body was already privy to that it is against the principle and spirit of prearranged power sharing, whereby President Salva Kiir and the tribal militia leader Riek Machar must share power, wealth, and military command, among other things.

Now that the peace talks are shifted away from the hands of South Sudanese into a faraway land, between Addis Ababa and New York,one must echo the voice of Michael Makuei Lueth, South Sudan Minister of Information that under the current circumstances, South Sudan does not need a mediator, but rather a supporter. If other sisterly African countries such as Rwanda can achieve peace, through traditional community to community reconciliation, South Sudan can do so as well. Therefore, let South Sudan friends and allies from outside support such an effort, than let an imminent peace slipped out of hands.

Steve Paterno is the author of The Rev. Fr. Saturnino Lohure, A Romain Catholic Priest Turned Rebel. He can be reached at [email protected]