South Sudan: Peace Is Possible

South Sudan can achieve peace but it must first confront its many unresolved issues head-on rather than sweep them under the carpet.

Despite the peace deal signed by President Salva Kiir and former vice-president Riek Machar earlier this month, fighting in parts of South Sudan has continued.

Both sides have accused the other of breaking the ceasefire, with the army claiming that rebels launched attacks in remote regions of Jonglei and Upper Nile states as well as near the Unity state capital of Bentiu.

It was massacres in the latter that reignited international pressure this April when reports emerged of hundreds of civilians being murdered.

Bentiu has changed hands between the army and the rebels numerous times since the conflict began in December, and after rebels regained the town most recently, they are believed to have gone about killing those they suspected of supporting the government.

The brutality in Bentiu made the international community sit up and listen after attention on the crisis had partly faded away, and the UN's top humanitarian official Toby Lanzer described the massacres, fuelled by hate speech on the radio, as a "game changer." Though what happened there was not an isolated incident.

In the town of Malakal in Upper Nile state, for example, Catholic Bishop Emeritus Vincent Mojwok protected civilians in his house during two rebel takeovers.

On the third attack, however, he was persuaded to leave as it became clear that the rebels were no longer respecting churches as places of refuge and were deliberately targeting the Shilluk ethnic group.

The elderly bishop waded up to his neck in the River Nile as bullets splashed into the water around him, and then walked for days through the bush before reaching safety.

He has lived through two previous civil wars but says he has never seen anything like this before. His colleague and veteran peace-builder Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban sadly observed that South Sudan has become the place where God weeps.

Unifying the nation

It is clear to everyone except the warring parties that the fighting and killing must be stopped and humanitarian assistance be provided to the suffering people.