The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) was this week warned South Sudan is “on the brink of relapse into civil war” by Nicholas Haysom, head of the United Nations (UN) mission in the world’s newest country.
Now in its fourteenth year of existence, the east African country, nestled between the Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), requires “immediate and collective intervention to ensure war is averted,” Haysom said. In addition to heading UNMISS (UN Mission in South Sudan), Haysom also UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Special Representative in the 644,329 square kilometre country home to 11.48 million.
He told an 18 March meeting of the continental body’s Peace and Security Council the “hard won peace gains” since signing of the revitalised agreement eight years ago stood to be eradicated.
“After the takeover of the Nasir barracks in Upper Nile by the White Army on 4 March, tensions throughout the country have been extremely high. A number of senior SPLA IO (Sudan People’s Liberation Army In Opposition) military and civilian officials have been arrested in Juba, while some have gone into hiding or fled the country.
On Wednesday, the Government’s Spokesperson confirmed the deployment of foreign forces in South Sudan. Meanwhile, airstrikes on Nasir have inflicted civilian casualties. With the proliferation of mis/disinformation in the public domain, hate speech is now rampant, raising concerns that the conflict could assume an ethnic dimension,” Haysom is reported as saying in a statement.
He commended South Sudan President Salva Kiir for reassuring citizens there will be no return to war adding “actualisation” of this commitment would only happen if all involved “take the necessary steps and remain steadfast” to implementing the revitalised agreement.
The statement has him advising the AU PSC “look no further than across the northern border to Sudan for a stark reminder of how quickly countries can descend into catastrophic war. To avoid this outcome in South Sudan, there must be an immediate return by the parties to consensus-based decision-making. There must be intensive dialogue to resolve grievances and rebuild trust and confidence between the parties and between the parties and their supporters”.
“There is only one path out of this cycle of conflict and that is through the revitalised agreement. The overriding imperative now is to direct all our efforts to prevent a relapse into war, support the full implementation of the agreement and progress the transition towards the country’s first democratic elections,” according to the statement.
