When the\u00a0Revitalised\u00a0Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed just over seven years ago, it was hoped that it would bring peace after the country\u2019s\u00a0initial\u00a0years of independence were scarred by conflict, including brutal violence against civilians. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the support of the international community, the optimism and relief that followed the R-ARCSS\u00a0was\u00a0undeserved. \u00a0Under the terms of the R-ARCSS, President Kiir should be leading a transitional government of national unity. It does not live up to the name, with the principles of power\u00a0sharing violated\u00a0and\u00a0no\u00a0meaningful progress towards implementing the\u00a0agreement.\u00a0Public resources continue to be misused:\u00a0public servant\u00a0salaries\u00a0are going unpaid and international donors are spending significantly more on delivering basic services to the people of South Sudan than\u00a0the\u00a0government\u00a0is\u00a0itself. At independence, South Sudan\u2019s oil revenue made it a middle-income country. It is now the world\u2019s poorest, and\u00a0its\u00a0most corrupt.\u00a0The leadership\u00a0is continuing with\u00a0destabilising\u00a0unilateral reshuffles,\u00a0rather than focusing on governing the country or preparing for elections. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Most seriously, we\u00a0have seen\u00a0a return to\u00a0widespread\u00a0conflict across the country. It would be\u00a0tragic\u00a0for the people of South Sudan if we see a return to the levels of violence of 2013 and 2016. It would also\u00a0represent\u00a0a serious setback for South Sudan\u2019s\u00a0neighbours, already suffering the\u00a0destabilising\u00a0influence of the conflict in Sudan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the good of the people of South Sudan and for the sake of regional stability, South Sudan\u2019s leaders must urgently reverse course.\u00a0All parties, especially SPLM-IG and SPLM-IO,\u00a0must stop armed attacks and\u00a0immediately\u00a0return to the nationwide ceasefire\u00a0and to\u00a0sustained\u00a0leader-level dialogue.\u00a0The transitional government must end its\u00a0aerial attacks\u00a0against its own citizens; release political prisoners; use public revenue to pay\u00a0public sector employees;\u00a0and\u00a0fund health, education, and other essential services for its citizens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Transitional government officials at all levels must also cease interfering in the operations of humanitarian\u00a0assistance\u00a0providers and regional and international organizations. \u00a0The transitional government\u2019s\u00a0obstruction of departure as well as in-country movements of UN peacekeepers is a prime example of this\u00a0behaviour and\u00a0must stop immediately. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
All\u00a0South Sudan\u2019s friends and partners, and especially those neighbouring South Sudan who have the most to lose from the prospect of renewed large-scale conflict, should be united in their messaging \u2013 that enough is enough. South Sudan\u2019s leaders must\u00a0stop\u00a0the current conflict and focus on restoring the trust of its people and the international community through concrete actions. \u00a0If\u00a0they\u00a0do so,\u00a0they will attract the world\u2019s support, investment, and respect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the\u00a0Revitalised\u00a0Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed just over seven years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-326794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}