South Sudan: 'From civil war to economic chaos'

By Osoro Nyawangah

On July 9, 2011, South Sudan’s first day of independence, the country’s new president, Salva Kiir, received a copy of Ron Chernow’s biography of the American Founding Father George Washington.

It was a gift from a former American diplomat, intended to serve as a guide to democratic governance and to underscore the connection between the world’s oldest democracy and the nation it helped birth.

But after a decade in office, South Sudan’s founding president has largely failed to establish a viable state, let alone a fledgling democracy modelled on Washington’s America.

Instead he has led the country through a self-destructive ethnic civil war, repeatedly put off commitments to hold elections, and squandered the country’s considerable oil wealth to erect a security apparatus devoted to guaranteeing his political survival.

For many in South Sudan, any hope for a better future depends on the departure of Kiir, a leader of the Dinka, a group that accounts for more than a third of the country’s population.

It will also require the exit of Kiir’s long-standing rival and vice president, Riek Machar, who is a leader of South Sudan’s second-largest ethnic group, the Nuer.

Seven and a half years ago, the two leaders launched a bitter civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead and forced millions from their homes.

Today, South Sudan is as poor and reliant on foreign assistance as it has ever been.

Despite billions of dollars in U.S. assistance over the past decade, including nearly $500 million in fiscal year 2021, the South Sudanese people’s need for humanitarian assistance has grown significantly.

In 2021, the number of people there in need of support grew to 8.5 million, roughly two-thirds of the country’s entire population.

According to the United Nations panel, multiple senior South Sudanese officials have expressed concern that ‘Kiir and Machar have become obstacles to democracy, economic development and human progress in South Sudan.’ The panel’s report went on to recommend the two should step down to allow the country to explore other political alternatives and prevent new conflict.

South Sudan marks ten years of independence from Sudan this Friday with little fanfare, as the world’s newest country faces economic chaos and a hunger crisis, three years after the end of a devastating civil war.

The conflict ruined South Sudan’s emerging economy, and today basic services are in short supply, financed almost entirely by foreign aid.

A currency crisis, and runaway inflation, has made day-to-day living difficult, and droughts, floods and locusts have destroyed harvest seasons.

South Sudan is experiencing its worst hunger crisis since independenceSome 60 percent of the population faces severe food shortages, and more than 100,000 people are close to famine, according to the the UN World Food Programme.

Kiir, who rules the country with Machar in a fragile unity government, blamed international sanctions for keeping South Sudan poor and depriving the state of revenue.

"People are hungry. Whatever resources that we have can be mobilised for the celebration (but) that would disappoint our people." He told Kenyan broadcaster Citizen TV on Wednesday.

"This is why we are not celebrating the tenth anniversary the way the people would have wanted it to be." He added.

Joint statement from Britain, Norway and the United States to mark the day said "The first 10 years of this young country's history have seen much suffering."

"We commend the commitment many have shown in working together to build a brighter future, so it is deeply saddening that the promise of peace and prosperity that independence represented remains unfulfilled."

The country enjoyed immense international goodwill and billions of dollars in financial support when its people voted overwhelmingly in a 2011 referendum to secede from the north.

But its leaders failed to stem corruption, and the new South Sudan was looted rather than rebuilt, as huge sums from its vast oil fields were syphoned off and squandered.

A South Sudanese refugee living at Sudan's al-Takamol camp, on the outskirts of the capital Khartoum, smiles and she peeps from inside her tent.

The political leaders who led South Sudan to independence and then back to war are still in power today, ruling in a tenuous coalition forged under a peace deal.

The power-sharing arrangement between Kiir, a former military commander from the Dinka ethnic group, and his deputy Riek Machar, a rebel leader from the Nuer people, has kept fighting between their forces largely at bay since the ceasefire in 2018.

But the old foes have violated past truces and progress on this latest accord has drifted, exacerbating distrust between the pair and raising fears of a return to fighting.

The "unity" government they belatedly formed in February 2020 under great international pressure is weak, while other crucial measures designed to avert another war have not been fulfilled.

Though the peace accords paused the worst of the bloodshed between conventional armies, armed conflict between rival ethnic groups has surged in ungoverned areas, exacting a civilian death toll not seen since the war.

The political inertia and broken promises also come as South Sudan reels from economic chaos, with soaring inflation and a currency crisis, and faces its worst hunger crisis since independence. 

Conflict, drought, floods and a record bad locust plague have combined to ruin harvests and leave 60 percent of South Sudan's 12 million people facing severe levels of food shortages.

Of those, 108,000 are on the very edge of famine, the World Food Programme (WFP) says.

"Despite some lost opportunities, it is never too late to invigorate the peace process so that humanitarian assistance is more effective, and conditions are created where development activities can have broader and greater impact," said Matthew Hollingworth, country director for WFP.