EDITORIAL: The world should not watch as South Sudan burns

YESTERDAY, renewed clashes broke out in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, despite calls for rival factions to “urgently end the fighting” that has engulfed the city in recent days. On Sunday, a day after the country‘s 5th independence anniversary, residents of Juba woke up to heavy gunfire in which hundreds of people, mostly soldiers, were reportedly killed. This is indeed a troubling time for the South Sudanese people who have suffered the brunt of war since 1954, and had finally tested peace after getting independence from Sudan in 2011. When the country got independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, after a popular referendum, the move had been seen as the beginning of a new era for peace and prosperity in the world’s newest country. However, two years after independence, the country descended into conflict in December 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused Riek Machar, his former deputy who he had sacked earlier that year, of plotting a coup. The chronology of events since then clearly shows that this is a war between two men, who have failed to put the interests of the country before self. But the world should not allow this arrogance to go on because history will judge us harshly. What is at stake is bigger than the two warring groups which have failed to respect the recent peace agreement. The current crisis is a sign of lack of political will to give peace a chance by leadership of the two factions. The fate of millions of innocent people and regional security is at stake. People of South Sudan want to settle and build their country in peace. If the cost of that peace is to have Kiir and Machar both step aside, so be it. It is time for common sense to prevail in South Sudan.

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EDITORIAL: The world should not watch as South Sudan burns