The South Sudan Civil War begun in December 2013 when a sense of mistrust ensued between President Kiir Mayardit and Vice President Riek Machar, of The South Sudanese National Anatomy. President Kiir through his own investigations, speculated that, Mr. Machar had planned to remove him from Power through a coup and become the next President. Mr. Riek Machar was then sacked as the Vice President of the National Anatomy by President Salva Kiir. This led to chaos between the Dinka and Nuer soldiers who guarded the Office of the Presidency and Vice Presidency in South Sudan. The Dinkas and Nuers are two largest ethnic groups in South Sudan.
The Dinka Soldiers supported President Salva Kiir Mayardit whilst the Nuer Soldiers supported Vice President Riek Machar. President Kiir made it clear that he removed Mr. Machar because Mr. Riek Machar had planned to have a Coup. This led to various fightings throughout the country, whilst various several cases of rape, mass shootings and various forms of child labour were on the high. This violence also made it difficult for farmers to produce at high scale which led to the country experiencing Famine in the year, 2017. At least 5 milliom people suffered from the food shortage crisis.
Mr. Machar after signing a Peace Agreement with Mr. Kiir in 2015 came back to South Sudan and was made the Vice President again of the National Anatomy. Chaos erupted again soon after his coming which led to more shootings, more recruited children, more deaths and burnt homes. Mr. Riek Machar run out of the country but was detained in South Africa.
In 2018, Uganda and Sudan mediated in negotiations that brought forth the Khartoum Declaration of Agreement. This Agreement entailed the ending of shootings and commitment to ensuring power sharing to bring the conflict, to an end. The agreement was signed in August 2018 and Mr. Machar came back to South Sudan again the same year in October. New cases of attacks arose again and this led to The United Nations Security Council bringing 6,000 security forces to the country which already had about 7,000 peacekeepers there, to help the curb the situation. In August 2017, the Security Council again brought in, about 4,000 more peacekeepers to the country.
The war ended on 22nd February, 2020. President Kiir asked for forgiveness for the long time rivalry that had ensued between him and Mr. Riek Machar. Various interventions aimed at bridging the gap between the ethnicities and Political Parties was also drawn. A Unity Government between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition which broke away from Sudan People’s Liberation Movement due to the tensions between President Kiir and Vice President Machar was formed. There are currently 5 Vice Presidents in South Sudan since the new regime of The Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity from February 2020 .
AFRICAN VOICES INTERNATIONAL entreats all Leaderships in all Political Anatomies to work justly with visions that promote Democratic and Political Freedom and stand in unity for the Freedom of the People. Freedom is Security and we must not in any way deprive the people, of the Security, they have.
AFRICAN VOICES INTERNATIONAL, FREEDOM IN AFRICA