Civil War Blights the World’s Youngest State
South Sudan, the world’s youngest state, marks four years of independence on July 9. But many South Sudanese, who struggled for that statehood for decades, are finding nothing to celebrate. When they won independence in 2011, the 11 million South Sudanese hoped that their new nation would let them develop their land in peace. Instead, it has plunged into civil war.
The fighting started following a struggle for power between President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar. It has driven 1.4 million people from their homes and has spread economic destitution to nearly 60 percent of the population.
“Many South Sudanese do not feel that we can celebrate our independence,” says Silvio Deng, the coordinator of the Roman Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state. Deng is spending part of this year at the U.S. Institute of Peace for research and training before returning to continue his peacebuilding efforts at home.
Deng is the latest of several South Sudanese youth leaders to work at USIP as part of the Institute’s peacebuilding programs in their country. In South Sudan, USIP has supported community peace agreements to prevent fighting and provide security for the migrations of nomadic tribes in the country’s northwest. A USIP-backed popular radio drama, Sawa Shabab (Together Youth) encourages youth nationwide to work as peacebuilders.
Still, Deng said in a video interview, while he continues to work for peace, the suffering of his country’s people means that he and many of his compatriots will not be celebrating their independence day on July 9.