Amid violence and hunger, South Sudan marks 4th birthday

And so on July 9, 2011, after two wars covering almost a half-century, South Sudan finally gained its independence – led by President Salva Kiir, a man from the Dinka tribe, and hailed as a reconciler and a peacemaker.

“In Khartoum I expected it. What do you expect from a regime that is in a sense lawless itself?”

In an impassioned video message marking the fourth anniversary of South Sudan’s Independence Day, Rice called on parties to form a transitional government and said “it breaks my heart to see what South Sudan has become”.

This Friday, Akshaya Kumar, Enough Project Sudan and South Sudan Analyst, will testify to the U.S. Congress on “The Current Human Rights Situation in South Sudan”.

“Political leaders on both sides must make unequivocal public statements that the targeting of civilians will not be tolerated”.

After a decades-long fight for independence, South Sudan peacefully broke away from Sudan in 2011.

But Machar, who last month welcomed into his ranks a rogue ex-government general, Johnson Olony – who has been accused of forcibly recruiting hundreds of child soldiers – defended the rebel trio. Unfortunately, the world’s newest nation never got the chance to build these institutions, because strongmen like Kiir and Machar put their own personal interests ahead of their people and country.

Over the past 19 months, the government has abdicated its responsibilities, failed to protect its citizens, and squandered its legitimacy. The United States continues to support these efforts. 60% of the South Sudanese refugees in the region are children and youth under 18 years old. Resolution 2206, which paved the way for the sanctions, also opened the door for an arms embargo at a later time, but without a clear path towards initiating the embargo.

Mr Ladsous says political will is needed to bring the conflict to an end.

Until the recent upsurge in violence, CAFOD and Trocaire were working with their local partner Caritas Malakal to deliver emergency livelihoods programmes, water and sanitation projects and emergency supplies to more than 20,000 people in Torkuach and Mabek villages, north of Melut in Upper Nile state.

More South Sudanese are fleeing the country now than at any point during the previous civil wars.

Since then, tens of thousands of people have been killed across the country. That is the choice the leaders of South Sudan must make now.

The civil war in the new nation began when Kiir accused Machar, a ex- vice president, of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings across the country that has split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic and tribal lines. As well as calling for an end to hostilities, CAFOD and Trocaire are urging the worldwide community to act fast to provide the necessary funding to allow aid to be pre-positioned and delivered to those in need.

“I am a victim, just like all the other victims who died, except I am not dead”, he said. “The country now has no other export routes if the existing pipelines are cut off. Without alternative routes, South Sudan will remain vulnerable to shutdown threats and unfavorable transportation contracts”.