South Sudan is back to war. This time with itself. The crisis, which enters its ninth day today, appears to have taken the world by surprise. Initially, many thought it was just another thwarted coup in a post-conflict country, but the situation quickly escalated into widespread fighting, with a rebel group emerging and a town seized by the renegades.Now there are fears for a possible civil war if this fighting is not nipped in the bud. The writing is on the wall: Former vice president Riek Machar has rejected offer for talks and demanded President Salva Kiir to step down.Both sides have accused each other of stoking ethnic tensions and violence, which has already claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians as well as two UN peacekeepers. If the pace at which the world’s youngest nation has descended into violence is anything to go by, it is clear that, all along, there were simmering tensions among key players in the country’s political leadership with little effort to prevent them from getting out of hand.The scale and form of the violence is a rude reminder of the costly tribal politics that continue to afflict much of Africa.When South Sudan became a sovereign country after a Southern referendum that paved the way for cessation from Sudan, there was optimism and cheerfulness on the face of the citizens who viewed the development as the dawn of a new era of equal opportunity.Indeed, two years later, other than the on-and-off quarrels with the north, South Sudan was steadily emerging. Socio-economic progress was starting to take shape and the country was increasingly strengthening ties with neighbours, especially the East African Community (EAC).  South Sudan has applied to join the EAC and is expected to join the dynamic trilateral development arrangement, involving Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The country had also fast become a magnet for regional investors and businesses. South Sudan lost many years and cannot afford to waste more. They need sustained progress and opportunity. But that’s not possible without peace and security. More than anything, investors need to be guaranteed of safety and stability. Anything less amounts to a red flag and they will not hesitate to pull out at once, hurting the economy and the people.Governments in the region need to immediately intervene and help stop the situation from deteriorating further. War is the last thing this region needs because it would be a dangerous step backwards. It must be averted at all costs.