South Sudan crisis: Should Kenya withdraw their peacekeeping troops?

On the 6^th of November in Juba, South Sudan, gunmen opened^[1] fire in a building where people were watching an English Premier League match. The gunmen killed 9 people. This is the story of the people of South Sudan who are not safe, even when watching soccer.

South Sudan sunk into an unending civil war in 2013, after a falling out between the President Kiir and First Vice President Machar. This led to the rise of rebel forces and guerilla wars. Caught in the middle of this crossfire were innocent South Sudanese who died in their numbers and were displaced by the war. According to a report, over 2 million South Sudanese have been displaced^[2] by the civil unrest since 2013.

South Sudan enjoyed a brief stint of peace in 2015 after President Kiir and Vice President Machar (who was exiled) reached a peace agreement. But this didn’t last^[3], as people continued to die en-mass due to hunger, and clashes between government and rebel forces.

The most recent outbreak of civil unrest happened between 8 and 11th of July this year. At least more than 120,000 were displaced and 73 people were killed^[4] in these clashes. This violence led to the sack of the Kenyan commander of peacekeeping forces by Ban Ki-moon for failure to protect civilians. This was as a result of the lack of leadership^[5] by key senior mission (UNMISS) personnel which led to a messy and ineffective response to the violence.

This decision from Mr Ban was followed by Kenya’s decision to withdraw^[6] 1,000 members of their peacekeeping troops and pulling out of the South Sudan peace process which it has played a key role in.

According to a statement by Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations suffers from systematic dysfunction and one person shouldn’t be blamed for dozens of people’s death.

“What is clear is that UNMISS suffers from fundamental structural and systemic [dysfunction] which has severely hindered its ability to discharge its mandate since its inception. Regrettably, instead of addressing these shortcomings directly, the United Nations has instead opted to unfairly attribute them to a single individual, in the name of the Lieutenant General Ondieki,” The statement of the obviously upset Ministry said.

It is understandable for Kenya to be outraged, seeing that Lieu. General Ondieki only resumed office 3 months ago and shouldn’t be faulted for a dysfunction that had existed before his arrival. But isn’t the withdrawal of over 1000 peacekeepers a little bit too much?

The volatility of South Sudan’s security cannot be underestimated. Even with the presence of 1,4000 peace makers, clashes like that of July and massacres like that of November 6^th still unfold in their numbers. With their withdrawal, it is without a doubt that the world’s newest country will become even more fragile.

Ergo, it is important for Kenya to deal with these issues diplomatically without endangering the lives of millions of South Sudanese who depend on their troops for security and involvement in peace talks for the stint of peace to last longer than it did in 2015.

1. ^{^} opened (www.theguardian.com)
2. ^{^} displaced (interactive.aljazeera.com)
3. ^{^} this didn’t last (venturesafrica.com)
4. ^{^} killed (www.bbc.com)
5. ^{^} lack of leadership (venturesafrica.com)
6. ^{^} withdraw (www.aljazeera.com)