South Sudan: All eyes on the 77th UN General Assembly

NEW YORK: SEPTEMBER 13, 2022: After the parties to the revitalized Peace Agreement extended the transitional period by 24 months, the people of South Sudan are looking forward to hearing their government representatives present the world’s newest nation’s roadmap to political, economic, and security stability at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly.

After the signing of the peace agreement in September 2018, citizens celebrated joyously following the breakthrough. In Juba, different communities came out in their cultural dresses and attires, singing and dancing to their cultural songs.

But the jubilation did not last long enough across the country. Most parts of the Equatoria region still experience targeted killings of civilians while thousands continue to be displaced by floods, rows between cattle keepers and farmers, and intercommunal conflicts in Jonglei, Upper Nile, Eastern Equatoria, Central Equatoria and Unity States The two conflicts have eroded some of the social fabrics that held the society together.

The Trust between communities and their neighbours has been broken by the 2013 civil war which led to the polarisation of the population on regional, tribal, and ethnic lines.

The people of South Sudan are looking for the opportunity to build their nation from the ashes. Four years on, the citizens are now reliant on hope. The romantic joy of peace has largely faded.

The scale of sub-national conflict is alarming. Violence, cattle raiding, abductions, revenge killings, gender-based violence, worsening humanitarian crisis, extrajudicial killings, worsening press freedom, and flooding are a few highlights of the many issues facing the country.

In a September 9th press statement, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) condemned fresh attacks and violence by armed elements, targeting internally displaced persons seeking refuge at the Adidiang Island site, about 40 kilometers south of Malakal, Upper Nile state.

Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan with the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), condemned the attack on the IDP camps.

“This kind of violence, in an area hosting displaced civilians is unconscionable. All parties need to remember their obligations under international law and ensure civilians are protected, no matter where they are,” Nyanti said in a September 8^th letter.

The extended transitional period will run from February 2023 through February 2025. This has left the public with divided opinions, including the international community.

The UN Mission, UNMISS, welcomed the extension but the “Troika” countries, the U.S., the UK, and Norway, which supported the peace implementation process since 2018, boycotted the announcement.

Shortly after the parties’ decision, The People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA), an organization composed of a coalition of activists calling for political change rejected the extension of the transitional period and instead called on the people of South Sudan to spontaneously protest against the extension. But all failed because the event collided with the graduation of the first batch of the unified forces on 30^th August.

It is against all these pressing issues that all eyes will be glued to the 77^th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, the main policy-making organ of the organization.

Comprising all Member States, which provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations. 

At a press briefing on Wednesday, UN chief, Antonio Guterres promised to address the many challenging issues facing the planet.

According to the UN News, Guterres castigated the global response to the climate crisis as ‘inadequate, unjust and, at its heart, a betrayal.”

“Whether it’s Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, small islands or Least Developed Countries, the world’s most vulnerable, who did nothing to cause this crisis, are paying a horrific price for decades of intransigence by big emitters,” The UN chief told reporters in New York.