It’s like as if Santa Claus will be coming to town a month earlier than expected. But it all depends whether the upcoming meeting in Juba to bridge the lingering gap between President Salva Kiir and his arch rival and onetime Vice President Riek Machar would come off this time.
The event holds a start off for South Sudan to show an example of what Africa’s newest state should be and not the current stumble that it is now displaying. Regarded as both a desperate and feverish attempt to get East African state back on track after straying off course, both the government and the opposition, they are to be believed, want the years of bitterness and strife to end to usher in a new dawn of prosperity and hope.
Despite renewed hopes after the celebrated signing of the peace pact few months back, little has changed. The battle for the control of territories is on; using child combatants is on the upsurge and each side keeps crying foul.
One source of hope which if it holds true would bring Christmas warmth to the South Sudanese and Africa would be the meeting in the South Sudanese capital, Juba on Wednesday to which the opposition has agreed to attend. The commitment is being made for the first time by the opposition, which has long dismissed Juba as it’s no go area.
It’s a conciliatory move, experts said, and this should give confidence to all involved in ensuring that peace is achievable.
What is in short supply at the moment is the ability of each side to trust each other. Until the barrier is overcome, not much can be expected in the search for peace and unite the dismembered country.
The major underlying factor remains the rivalry for power. If the Juba meeting comes off without a hitch, it could be a major stepping stone to resolving whatever hangover issues remain.
What would make the Wednesday’s meeting a top notch is that at least six heads of state in the East African community will be there to boost the implementation of the peace process which was signed in August.
The opposition has promised a 500 man delegation to show how seriously it is taking the Wednesday’s meeting but skeptics have dismissed the figure as laughable.
Every ocean has its debris, they say, so it’s up to all negotiators not to treat the opposition’s word as a fisherman’s tale.
South Sudan is vaulted with vast natural resources particularly oil and this may be why it is being courted like a beauty queen. But beauty queens know, sometimes rather too late, that when their beauty fades they are ignored as if they had never existed.
Nations do not grow because of what they have below the ground, otherwise DR Congo, South Africa or Botswana would have long been paradise.
The war, mainly blamed on the two leaders, has cost the lives of over 100 thousand lives and uprooted some 1.5 million people from their land.
Dozens of negotiations hosted by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development have (IGAD) have broken down with each side accusing the other of breaches. Uganda, which once sided with Kiir and sent in troops to fight alongside those of the government mid-October, brought its troops back to Kampala.
Reconciling ethnic groups to which the war has been brought to will not be easy but it is in the interest of both parties to make this possible. Otherwise, by the time when both realize that their dream remains a dream, it will be too late for any remedy to take place.
By Rod Mac-Johnson
Tuesday November 17, 2015
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