Juba.- The UN called on South Sudan this Wednesday for a “renewed commitment” to peace and dialogue, and urged the leaders of the world’s youngest country to put the well-being of its citizens above any other interest in the framework of the fifteenth anniversary of its independence.
“May the spirit that inspired the birth of this nation also resolve the shared determination to put the needs of the people first,” declared the head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Anita Kiki Gbeho, in an official statement.
The diplomat took advantage of the anniversary to recall that this milestone should serve as a “moment of reflection” on the nation’s path, which has traveled a “long and difficult road” since its creation.
Although the country remains mired in a severe humanitarian crisis and grave political instability, Gbeho praised the “resilience” of the South Sudanese community and their faith in a prosperous future, an effort that, he argued, must be supported by its leaders with the construction of “a future based on justice and unity”.
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Likewise, the head of UNMISS guaranteed that the United Nations will remain a strategic partner on the ground to achieve a “peaceful, inclusive and democratic” transition.
South Sudan formalized its independence on July 9, 2011, following a referendum on self-determination, but the euphoria of its birth as a country was cut short just two years later, in 2013, when a bloody civil war broke out due to the rivalry between the Dinka president, Salva Kiir, and the then-Nuer vice president, Riek Machar.
That conflict, which soon took on ethnic overtones, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and nearly two million internally displaced persons, plunging the South Sudanese economy into collapse despite its vast oil reserves.
Although rival factions signed the Revitalized Peace Agreement in 2018, which paved the way for a fragile national unity government, the implementation of certain key points—such as the unification of the armed forces and the drafting of a Constitution—has suffered constant delays.
This institutional paralysis and the persistence of inter-communal violence keep the country on edge, as it commemorates these 15 years of independent life with its sights set on general elections, called for December 22, which have already been postponed on several occasions due to the lack of security guarantees.
