Inside South Sudan, hopes for peace but rebels ready to resume fighting

As the morning sun illuminates the lush-green fields surrounding Pagak in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, a group of young Nuer men chase a half-inflated soccer ball across the muddy airfield. It is a rare respite – despite their youth, many have already fought in South Sudan’s ongoing conflict^[1].

“When we heard about the fighting in Juba, we decided to join the soldiers,” said Nynon Kuon, 23, the eldest of the group. Like many young men in Pagak, he is a member of the White Army, a Nuer militia that has been fighting alongside rebel troops.

Kuon and many of his peers are ready to go back into battle. “I’d much rather do something useful with my life, but as long as President Salva Kiir remains in power, I don’t see how we can make peace.”

Related: South Sudan brewery closure would be no small beer as civil war wreaks havoc^[2]

The intractability of the latest conflict in Africa’s youngest state was highlighted again this week at peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia, where the warring parties were meant to ratify a peace deal. Kiir declined to sign the agreement, saying he needed more time.

Reuters^[3] quoted the talks’ mediator as saying that Kiir’s side required another two weeks before signing the deal that was accepted by the rebels. The US State Department said it deeply regretted the government’s decision, urged it to sign within 15 days, and renewed a threat to put further pressure on those opposing the peace proposal.

The latest fighting started^[4] in December 2013, when Kiir accused his former vice-president, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup. The civil war has killed more than 10,000 people^[5], forced more than 2 million from their homes and left some 4.6 million severely food-insecure.^[6] The conflict has set Kiir’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer, exacerbating bitterness born of previous clashes.

Ahead of the latest talks in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, life in Pagak – the rebel headquarters on the border with Ethiopia – appeared to be on hold. Children do not attend school. There is no government to deliver services. Farmers do not cultivate their fields because they fear losing their crops should fighting reach their village.

“Nobody wants to invest in the future. Everyone is just waiting to see what happens with the peace talks,” said Maduk Tut, an aid worker.

After the inconclusive end to the talks on Monday, it seems things are likely to remain in limbo. The fighting has crippled South Sudan’s oil-driven economy, raised fears of famine, and undermined once-buoyant international support for Kiir’s government.

Before heading to Addis this month, Machar gathered senior commanders from his rebel force in Pagak to prepare their response to the draft deal, billed as the final offer from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), the east African group that has been mediating between the warring parties.

“Our people’s suffering will be short-lived – let them suffer to get the right agreement and be prosperous in the future,” said Major General Martin Kenyi, a senior rebel commander. “If we don’t get the right agreement, I prefer we fight our way to power.”

These views are not uncommon among the rebel generals, who say they have the upper hand militarily. Kiir’s government denies this, as well as rebel claims that they have forces across the whole country.

“The civil war covers all of South Sudan^[7],” said Machar in Pagak. “If the government doesn’t accept that, it’s very good for us, because we can continue fighting in those areas without being made accountable.”

However, on Monday, Machar was quoted as saying^[8] he was satisfied with the peace deal, and that the rebels had no reason to continue fighting.

The conflict has been characterised by extraordinary brutality on all sides – women and girls have been gang-raped and burned alive, and people have been tortured and brutally killed, with all sides showing a “shocking disregard for civilian life”, according to Human Rights Watch.^[9][10]

The African Union has yet to act on its inquiry into abuses in South Sudan^[11], which reportedly implicates both sides in atrocities. UN sanctions against six senior commanders^[12], four of whom don’t even hold a passport, have had little effect, in part due to the failure of South Sudan’s neighbours to put them into force.

One of the targeted rebel commanders, James Kuang Chuol, travelled via Sudan and Ethiopia to attend the meeting in Pagak, apparently without any fear the travel ban against him might be enforced.

In Maiwoot, a short drive from Pagak, a dozen civilians are recovering from recent injuries, mostly gunshot wounds. Dak Riek Chan, 48, said he was shot in the foot when he tried to defend his village in Leer county against attacks by government forces earlier this year. “They raided our cattle and took some of the young girls and women,” Chan said from his hospital bed.

Chan hopes that by the time his wound heals there will be peace so that he can embark on the long walk back to Leer in search of his missing family members. “The country has been at war for so long,” he said. “We finally need peace, and if there is a will, they will manage to find a compromise.”

References

1. ^{^} South Sudan’s ongoing conflict (www.theguardian.com)
2. ^{^} South Sudan brewery closure would be no small beer as civil war wreaks havoc (www.theguardian.com)
3. ^{^} Reuters (af.reuters.com)
4. ^{^} started (www.theguardian.com)
5. ^{^} killed more than 10,000 people (www.theguardian.com)
6. ^{^} 4.6 million severely food-insecure. (www.un.org)
7. ^{^} South Sudan (www.theguardian.com)
8. ^{^} quoted as saying (af.reuters.com)
9. ^{^} been gang-raped and burned alive (www.theguardian.com)
10. ^{^} shocking disregard for civilian life (www.hrw.org)
11. ^{^} its inquiry into abuses in South Sudan (www.theguardian.com)
12. ^{^} senior commanders (news.yahoo.com)