After a long-standing civil war, missed deadlines and rivalry between leaders, the South Sudan government on Saturday, 22nd of February took a significant step towards creating peace by forming a transitional coalition government, meeting a twice-delayed power-sharing agreement deadline signed in September 2018.

President Salva Kiir swore in rebel leader Riek Machar as his first vice president. Three other vice presidents were also sworn in, with two from the incumbent government and one from the opposition. A fifth vice president is expected to be inaugurated from another opposition group in the coming days.

Two years after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2013, supporters of President Kiir and troops of rebel leader Machar began a brutal civil war which has over the past six years killed 400,000 people and left millions of others displaced.

Pressure from the international community, particularly the United States (U.S), led to the signing of a power-sharing deal two years ago. Since then, there have been two missed deadlines in the following May and November, resulting from unresolved key issues, security arrangements and an agreement on the number of states.

Last week, Kiir reverted the country from a 32 state to a 10 state system with three administrative areas. However, rebel leader Machar opposed the creation of the administrative areas, referring to it as an “open up to another Pandora’s box” defeating the purpose of reverting to 10 states.

According to a senior advocate for human rights at Refugees International, Dan Sullivan, the return to 10 states will “no doubt create new challenges, including tensions over the loss of government positions, newly unresolved borders and the fate of three administrative areas that remain under dispute.”

Moreover, experts are sceptical about the newly formed government. Alan Boswell, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera there could be “deadlock and dysfunction” in the new government considering the existing outstanding issues and that the security arrangements are “a total mess.”

Although both parties have agreed that security will be provided by the president for Machar and all other signatories, according to government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny, his opposition counterpart Mabior Garang de Mabior said they are “seeking assurances in writing” before any decision is made.

Moving forward, the government must seek to unify thousands of rival forces and integrate them into a single army. Taking a cue from Sudan, Juba should form a government similar to the sovereign council in Khartoum as this could help prevent likely conflicts in the future and create a peaceful environment for the people.

The government also needs to focus on improving the living conditions of its people. A report published last week by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan claimed that citizens are being “deliberately starved, systematically surveilled and silenced, arbitrarily arrested and detained and denied meaningful access to justice.”

The UN report says that 7.5 million people are in need of aid, almost 200,000 civilians shelter in the protected sites across the country and more than 1.1 million people are facing severe hunger. The reason behind the figures according to the global agency can be attributed to certain government officials being implicated in the “pillaging of public funds,” while millions of dollars were diverted from the National Revenue Authority, depleting resources that could have been used to help millions of vulnerable people.

Assistance from the international community and foreign investments can help fast track the revamping of the country’s economy. With the formation of a unified government, the U.S. may consider removing South Sudan from its sanction list, a development that would open doors for foreign investors and donors to come in; creating more infrastructure, employment, and revenue for the country.

Nonetheless, it is important to note that it would take time for the country to recover from the effects of the war. The government will need to be transparent in its dealings and reduce the level of corruption to the minimum.

By Ikade Faith.

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