South Sudan: Dim Outlook for Peace in South Sudan

The conflict parties in South Sudan may soon resume peace talks, including on negotiating an interim government. US Secretary of State John Kerry was in the country briefly for talks with President Salva Kiir.

US Secretary of State John Kerry made a brief, unannounced visit in South Sudan, but he made sure to take the opportunity to express his concerns about the warring country's crisis to its president.

After meeting with Salva Kiir for around one hour, John Kerry addressed the press with clear words, saying nothing less than the prevention of genocide is at stake in South Sudan.

Deep turmoil

Just a few kilometers from the president's office, at the University of Juba's campus, students seem to be going about their daily routines. In a country where armed conflicts have broken out repeatedly for the last 60 years, people have grown accustomed to living with daily uncertainty. Students pore over their notes in the shade of trees and wait for the next lecture.

Bloody clashes began in mid-December in Juba, but the capital has thus far been spared any major massacres. The fighting tends to flare up in individual districts in the city - often those near military bases or refugee camps. The civilian massacres are taking place in the oil-rich states in the nascent country's north.

The students in Juba are, however, following Kerry's moves very carefully. They know that their country is on the verge of slipping into deeper and deeper turmoil. The word "genocide" can be heard more and more often. Many hope that the worst case scenario can still be prevented, and they expect support from the West to achieve that end.

"We are crying out to them. We thought by this time, they would have helped us," said 20-year-old Stephanie, lamenting what she described as an unwillingness of the international community to bring South Sudan's leaders to reason.

South Sudanese conflict researcher Simon Minoja

A failed project

Simon Minoja, one of her lecturers and a respected South Sudanese conflict researcher, is far more skeptical that the West can do something to end the current conflict. He remembers well the euphoria that accompanied the founding of the world's youngest countries just three years ago. Along with his institute, he made the move from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to Juba, the new capital.