This week, South Sudanese at home and abroad are commemorating one of the most important days in the history of the country. It is a day the country’s forefathers picked arms and fought for years to achieve.

It is a day in which most South Sudanese exhibited a sense of patriotism by standing for hours in the voting queue as they headed to poll with an overwhelming hope of a different country, a country of their own, grounded on freedom, socio-economic development, and prosperity.

Some South Sudanese were in tears and disbelief considering the fateful past they had left behind. The moment was an incredible blend of euphoria and emotion.

And for the first two years, the transitional leaders proved the citizens right; the economy performed remarkably with the South Sudanese Pounds being the strongest currency in the region, infrastructural development had taken shape. South Sudan was off to a tremendous start.

How it went wrong

South Sudanese would only enjoy the aforementioned gains for just those two years thanks to the 2013 political turmoil, the first wake of instability which has dented the potential of South Sudan to emerge among Africa’s most stable countries where the services of the United Nations peacekeeping mission are not needed.

The crisis was marred by killings, internal and external displacement, and suppression of dissent. It is the year where all hopes vanished.

In 2014 and 2015, the political atmosphere was calm and Dr. Machar who fled the country at the time returned to the country. Just as citizens were resettling and restarting their lives, they were reminded the conflict was not yet over.

In 2016, another round of fighting broke out with both government and the opposition group accusing one another for provoking the other side. This has led to another influx of refugees seeking safety in neighbouring countries with millions others internally displaced.

In 2018, the government and opposition groups signed a peace deal to the ceasefire. Though there have been violations of the truce dubbed the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan in some parts of the country, there has been relative peace.

Revitalised Peace Agreement

In an effort to cement the prevailing peace, parties to the agreement have signed a revised edition of the document dubbed the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity in February 2020.

But it has been more than one year since the new government was formed. Critical aspects of the agreement like Security Arrangements remained far behind scheduled and the formation of a reconstituted parliament has not been done, leaving politicians to handle the country’s resources without checks and balances.

Pressure from the international community to push leaders to complete the formation of the government has done very little in achieving it objectives. The so-called targeted sanctions have affected ordinary South Sudanese the politicians the sanctions are aimed at.

Defection

Several cases of defection by forces from opposition to the government and vice versa have been reported. Political commentators have always warned that the defections pose a serious threat to the implementation of Chapter Two of the agreement.

At the time of writing, Paul Malong, the former General Chief of Staff announced that he has welcomed more senior commanders from the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces to his South Sudan United Front/Army.

Most notably, one of the common reasons for defection by forces is that their leaders (Kiir and Machar) have lost vision for their parties. The credibility of these claims cannot be verified but if it is true, having politicians without vision at a party level in charge of national offices becomes concerning.

With the peace implementation incomplete and millions of South Sudanese languishing outside their homes, the critical question is, will the hope that vanished after independence ever be restored ten years after independence?