Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – South Sudan marked its third independence anniversary yesterday against the backdrop of a mounting political crisis and failure to build a cohesive society.
President Salva Kiir, who insists his government is committed to a peaceful end to the civil crisis facing the country, has expressed the regret that the new state slipped into a political pit so soon after gaining independence and blames the armed opposition for the crisis.
Talks to peacefully end the current political crisis, which started off as an internal rebellion within the ruling Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM), have stalled after an opposition walkout late in June, leaving the civil crisis to continue simmering.
Both sides to the peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, agreed to stop fighting and to resolve the political differences only through peaceful means in a 9 May 2014 ceasefire agreement, raising the hopes of millions of people caught in the conflict.
But the hopes appear to have faded as both sides to the conflict tighten their political demands.
“The South Sudanese are last-minute people. They will turn around and reach an agreement,” said Ezekiel Gatkuoth, one of the four senior political detainees released after months of political pressure on president Kiir’s government.
South Sudanese opposition insist there would only be a return to peaceful co-existence if the government agrees to “genuine reconciliation” and starts negotiations on a federal governance structure leading to the transfer of resources to the people .
“The resources must reach the local communities. We need to take the resources to the people in the villages,” said Gatkuoth, a former South Sudanese Ambassador to the UN, who was accused by the Kiir government of raising funds for the opposition.
During the celebrations to mark the third anniversary of independence Wednesday, Kiir branded the calls for a federal structure of government as a threat to unity, and accused opponents of using ethnicity and regionalism to create divisions.
In three years, South Sudanese politicians have trade blame for the failure to build state institutions.
The opposition accuses the government of creating divisions along tribal lines and misusing some US$1.5 billion monthly revenue from oil exports.
“We have no better institutions to implement the reforms we desire. The general population is disappointed by the leadership,” Gatkuoth said.
President Kiir told a recent Summit of African leaders in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, that South Sudan was equally very concerned about violence in Africa and was even more embarrassed to become one of the first countries to fall into the trap.
President Kiir welcomed the deployment of the East African protection force, comprising troops from Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda, saying it would create the right environment to enhance the peace negotiations.
“I am committed to a peaceful settlement and I ordered the stay of criminal proceedings against coup plotters in the interest of national reconciliation,” Kiir told the African Union Peace and Security Council session.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups said Tuesday the continuing disregard for the rules of war in South Sudan was leading to massive human rights violations.
