Peace process on test

Despite the peace agreement signed January 2005, southern Sudan faces a myriad of conflicts as key players feel alienated from the peace process

In Yei the tall dark Dinkas, with their scar-tattooed faces, herd their white wide horned cows, through the centre of town. The Dinkas are one of the approximately sixty different ethnic groups in southern Sudan.

The multitude of peoples can be perceived as an asset - and a threat.

“The greatest danger to the future peace in southern Sudan is that we are many different tribes and spirits and we don’t necessarily want the same things,” says Steven Lemi, Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Committee’s Liaison Officer in Kenya.

People are speaking different languages and professing their own traditional religions in addition to Christianity and Islam. The ethnic groups inhabit defined geographical locations and some are so organised that they constitute the size of states. In some areas the ethnic divisions are paralleled by political and military divisions.

Although the peace agreement is called a “comprehensive” one, it is clear that many key actors feel alienated from the process and have not been involved in the negotiations that led to the agreement. For example in the north the National Democratic Alliance, NDA, the northern opposition’s main coalition, is still not fully engaged and the conflicts in Darfur. Likewise, conflict in the east still needs to be resolved. In the south a solution is still pending for the government aligned southern militia group the South Sudan Defence Force, SSDF.

“Equity is the only solution to the tribal conflicts in Sudan, we need equal development and for the rule of law to be in place,” Steven Lemi says.

One of the challenges is receiving the people returning to their homes. According to a survey led by the UN International Organisation for Migration, approximately one-third of Sudan’s four million internally displaced people plan to return to the south within the next six months. It is predicted that the region of Equatoria will witness the transit of 352,000 refugees and internally displaced persons this first year. Such large waves of people coming into an area have the potential of creating great stress on the limited resources available, potentially igniting new or old conflicts. Existing tensions between groups as a result of ethnic and political divisions or access to land between indigenous and internally displaced people can already be noticed.
“The problem will also be further exacerbated when refugees start returning in greater numbers,” Lemi warns.