Let’s robustly deal with S. Sudan crisis

Report of renewed clashes among rival factions of Sudan People’s Liberation Army/ Movement (SPLA/M –IO) is nothing new. Neither is the report that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) have been put on high alert over renewed fighting in South Sudan to defend the country from any spillover of the skirmishes (Daily Monitor, August 10, 2021). South Sudan’s key neighbours comprised in regional blocs – Inter-governmental Authority on Development (Igad), and the East African Community – should rethink their responses. The South Sudan crisis has forced out more than 2.2 million refugees into the Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and DR Congo, and has displaced some 1.8 million people in South Sudan.

It should no longer be tenable that South Sudan’s neighbours live with this cyclic bloody circus. The haemorrhagic feuds should not be entertained anymore as it enters its sixth year because it comes with devastating consequences for itself and neighbours.As for Uganda, the country has bent backwards several times to accommodate this gun violence without any improvement on the side of Juba. It should never be business as usual by Uganda putting its national army, the UPDF, on high alert to defend the country. Just for how long shall we have to defend our borders or even make incursions into restive South Sudan to save the lives of our citizens, their properties and businesses? Or even to secure the lives of South Sudanese and their properties from their own marauding forces?

Similarly, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) cannot permanently be preparing for refugee influx from South Sudan. It is high time that Uganda actively sought a more durable peace in South Sudan. This can be done in concert with Uganda’s regional affiliations. It should be now that Uganda, together with Igad, and EAC partner states, came up with practical guideposts to ending the long-standing cycle of wars and internal and external displacement of South Sudanese. 

This is not to show that we are uncharitable, rather we’re seeking lasting solutions for co-existence and peace in South Sudan. For without a doubt, Uganda continues to run an open-arm refugee policy that has seen it top all refugee-receiving countries in the region, with the majority originating from Rwanda, DR Congo, Somalia, and South Sudan, totaling 1,499,562. Sadly, the children, who are the innocent victims of this war, are more than 65 per cent of this refugee population. This complicated and difficult situation can only end with robustly sorting out the South Sudan crisis.