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Tag: South Sudan

  • Rooney Mara Pleads for America to Get Involved in South Sudan

    Actress Rooney Mara, known to many for her roles in the films The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (American version) and The Social Network, is also heavily involved in something else that most people in the United States may not be aware of.

    Rooney Mara is a global ambassador for Oxfam, an international relief and development organization. Oxfam is based in the idea that poverty is rooted in injustice, and that clean water and basic necessities are the right of every person.

    Oxfam’s website says of Rooney Mara:

    “The Academy Award nominated actress is a long term humanitarian who created her own foundation in 2008 to help fight the cycle of poverty children face in the slums of Kibera. She joined Oxfam in 2012 on a trip to South Sudan to meet refugees and has been back again in 2013 to bring attention and stop the flow of illegal weapons into vulnerable countries.”

    Mara has now been on a total of three trips through South Sudan to observe and document what is happening in that country torn by civil war. What she has seen has convinced her that we here in the United States are not aware of what is actually happening there, but also that it will not stop unless and until we step in to help.

    In a commentary for CNN, Mara recently wrote:

    “What I saw on my three trips through South Sudan were people just like you and me. People with desires and needs. People in love. Mothers and fathers. Sisters and brothers. Friends and enemies. People with resilience, determination. But above all — hope.”

    Mara says that her time in South Sudan gave her many opportunities to see people who were not at war, but whose lives were torn by the war they found themselves in the middle of.

    “At a camp for people who had crossed the Nile to escape the violence that destroyed their homes, a middle-aged Dinka man, who was easily 7 feet tall, told me that armed men had stolen all of his cows — his main source of income. When I offered my sympathy for his loss, he smiled and said, ‘Don’t worry, I will get more cows.’”

    While the American media may simplify what is going on in a faraway place like South Sudan by saying it is a war between tribes, an ethnic issue for the people within that country, Mara says that is not the reality there.

    “People I met are opposed to — and terrified by — what’s happening. But as the summer’s rains have ended and the roads are once again passable, the fighting has resumed and is likely to get worse in the coming weeks.”

    “Although the conflict has taken on an ethnic tone, people I spoke with were at pains to tell me that this wasn’t a conflict between the Dinka and Nuer tribes, who have lived together, worked together, and intermarried for generations.

    “‘When you have problems within your family,’ [one man] told me, ‘you sometimes can’t solve it yourself; you need someone from outside to come in and help you reconcile.’ His words were echoed by so many South Sudanese I spoke with, who highlighted the special role of the United States in helping the country achieve peace and gain its independence, and asked for America’s assistance again now.”

    Mara hopes that Americans will start to see South Sudan as she does, not as a distant place that they have no need to get involved in, but as as a country full of people more like themselves.

    “Even now when I think of South Sudan, I don’t think of war. I don’t think of poverty and children with AK-47s. All of this exists within the country, but I think of the confident cattle herder who believes he will regain his lost cows, even in the face of such despair.

    “It is for those people that the U.S. must act to keep that hope alive.”

  • South Sudan Receives Stern Warning From Washington

    After thousands have died in three weeks of fighting between warring factions in South Sudan, U.S. Secretary John Kerry said peace talks have to come with sincere intentions to stop the violence, and not just be a way for either side to buy time.

    “Negotiations have to be serious, they cannot be a delay [or] gimmick in order to continue the fighting and try to find advantage on the ground at the expense of the people of South Sudan,” said Kerry. “Both parties need to put the interests of South Sudan above their own. The beginning of direct talks is a very important step, but make no mistake, it is only a first step. There’s a lot more to do.”

    The two opposing sides–those who back South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and those who back former vice president Riek Machar–have been involved in a bloody conflict since Dec. 15, and on Friday, Jan. 3, the U.S. embassy in South Sudan pulled out additional staff members, because it felt the amount of security it had subsided in recent days.

    But Kerry said obtaining political power through force will not be tolerated and any side that does so will be on the receiving end of a strong global backlash. “[Washington] will deny support and we will work to apply international pressure to any elements who attempt to use force to seize power,” he said. The world will be “watching very closely to see that a halt to the fighting on the ground takes place.”

    Michael Makuei, South Sudan’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, said his country’s government will not be strong armed by the international community to release prisoners who allegedly staged a recent coup.

    “We thought the international community would come in support of us,” he said to reporters in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. “There is no way we can be asked to release people who are arrested and charged. It would set a “bad precedent.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • White Army Forces in S. Sudan Stand Down, Mostly

    Following more than two weeks of violent conflict that has killed almost 1,000 players and displaced thousands more, the 25,000 man-strong White Army militia has mostly disbanded and returned home, according to a government spokesman for South Sudan.

    Michael Makuei Lueth reported that the White Army, comprised of young men of the Nuer tribe, has been persuaded by Nuer tribal leaders and are beginning to stand down, stating, “They have listened to the reasoning and they have accepted to go back. Not all of them, of course. There are some who are resistant. It’s not clear if they will advance. The number which is left is negligible and they may not be able to proceed.”

    Lueth went on to report that “About 5,000 refused to abandon the march and they have proceeded with their advance on Bor. They then dislodged (government troops) from Mathiang, about 18 miles from Bor.”

    Bor is the capital of the Jonglei State in South Sudan and is a city of much importance. It first started as a city home to Christian missionaries and later became the administrative center for the Dinka tribe, to which current president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, belongs. Bor was also the center of the Second Sudanese Civil War and Bor massacre in 1991, fighting in which the White Army, led by former Vice President of South Sudan Riek Machar, killed an estimated 2,000 Dinkas directly and led to the death of approximately 25,000 more due to famine and displacement.

    While most of the members of the White Army (so named due to the ash the soldiers spread on their body to ward away insects) have decided to stand down, member-states of the United Nations are still worried, citing perpetual ethnic and tribal conflict in Africa as the cause of said concern: “South Sudan does not need another escalation of the crisis involving armed youth, pitching communities against communities. This can end in a vicious cycle of violence,” stated U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary General Hilde Johnson.

    Fighting in South Sudan started on December 15th when soldiers attacked Juba, the nation’s capital. At the time, many blamed former Vice President Riek Machar for the violence. Machar, who was ousted from the government by President Kiir this summer, denied the allegations, but has since retreated from the city in order to lead opposition forces against the government.

    Due to the severity of the violence thus far, and the fragile state of the globe’s newest nation, the UN and the nations of East Africa have called for a cease fire. Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, is leading the charge for Machar to cease hostilities, stating, “We gave Riek Machar four days to respond (to the ceasefire offer) and if he doesn’t we shall have to go for him, all of us.”

    When asked what he meant by “go for him”, Museveni simply responded, “to defeat him”.

    The four day time limit expires today.

    Image via YouTube

  • South Sudan Coup Attempt Has Been Halted

    In 2011, South Sudan became the newest nation on planet Earth, splitting from Sudan after years of brutal civil wars. Since it gained its independence, South Sudan has struggled to implement a strong and effective government, mainly due to the same problems that plague many African nations – inherent political corruption, lack of economic resources, and constant warfare.

    Sunday, South Sudan faced its first official coup attempt in its fledgling existence as soldiers loyal to an opposition force started firing shots near Juba, the country’s capital. South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin stated that the insurrection began when soldiers raided the armory in barracks near the capital city’s center, leading to a gunfight between the dissenting forces and the South Sudanese military.

    However, the exchange did not last long as the governmental forces were able to push the rebels out of the city: “Your government is in full control of the security situation in Juba. The attackers fled and your forces are pursuing them. I promise you justice will prevail,” President Salva Kiir stated in a television address to the Sudanese people on Monday.

    To ensure the safety of its citizens, though, the government issued a curfew from 6 PM to 6AM.

    This coup attempt comes after a year of internal power-struggles. Former Vice President Riek Machar, the supposed leader of the coup, and many other members of Kiir’s presidential cabinet were ousted in July of this year following reports of in-party conflicts. Since that time, Machar has stated that he would run for president in 2015 and has argued that Kiir’s reign is totalitarian, opining that South Sudan cannot exist “one man’s rule or it cannot tolerate dictatorship.”

    The violence displayed Sunday night in Juba reflects tribal conflict which has existed in the Sudanese area since its inception. President Kiir comes from the majority Dinka tribe in South Sudan, while his rival Machar identifies with the Nuer tribe. These two tribes have been constantly warring throughout their existence, a feud which dates back to 1839 at the latest.

    South Sudan map

    Thus far, reports indicate that 7 people have died and over 100 people have been injured as a result of the coup attempt. Due to the importance of ensuring that South Sudan’s beginnings are not as rocky and violent as its past, the UN has voiced deep concerns over the impending political crisis and issued a statement expressing their wishes for peace: “As the special representative of the secretary general, I urge all parties in the fighting to cease hostilities immediately and exercise restraint,” stated UN Special Representative Hilde Johnson.

    Stability will be crucial for South Sudan as they attempt to move forward as a nation. Oil is the major export of the newly minted country, and it recently faced a 15 month cut-off due to conflict with Sudan. Because of having to sustain itself during a long drought of oil exportation, South Sudan now ranks as one of Africa’s poorest countries. In order to salvage its attempt at forming its own, independent nation, South Sudan needs to reach out to the UN and African Union to quickly regain a sense of peace, or it may just find itself entrenched in decades of civil war once again.

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]