South Sudan needs to focus more on seeking Peace and less on exploiting Oil

It doesn't matter if the very earth you’re walking on is soaked with oil or that one can fetch oil by simply turning on a tap. Without a peaceful nation, visionary leadership, respect for rule of law and order, credible institutions backed up by a robust constitution, all these resources are simply nothing! South Sudan has none of these and the crisis unfolding in Juba must therefore not come as a surprise.

The case of South Sudan following a successful referendum to secede from the North is akin to gifting an amateur with a car and still expect them to drive passengers competently to their destination in a highway full of ups and downs.

The problem(s) of South Sudan dates several years back  when the country was still a monolithic state with Arabs dominating key government positions while the southerners - consisting mainly of the blacks - fighting this dominance in an attempt to restore what they called justice. Rebel groups like SPLA/LM led by the late Dr. John Garang have been at the forefront of this struggle which culminated in the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement popularly known as the CPA brokered in Kenya in 2005 and ratified by both the current president of the Sudan Mr. Al Bashir and the late Garang himself. As part of the pact, SPLA/LM was supposed to share power with the Khartoum government, with the issue of autonomy and cessation to be determined at a later date in a referendum. As things stand, southerners overwhelmingly voted for autonomy which led to the formation of the current government which is less than 2 years old.

So when exactly did the rains start beating South Sudan? In my opinion, since day one. The Juba government is a victim of its dark past. Majority of its leaders are former guerrilla fighters who spent years in the bush fighting the Arab-dominated Khartoum government. When the South officially broke away from the North, there were no structures or institutions in place to guide government operations; therefore, with the assistance of foreign organizations, the Juba government haphazardly set up some structures to get the government going while they put their house in order. The army was largely constituted of the same guerrilla fighters who – by their current behavior - only seemed to have changed their uniforms to official fatigues yet their allegiance is still divided and pledged to an individual. The current president Salva Kirr Mayarndit maybe the commander-in-chief but it appears he doesn't control the whole army battalion. The former vice president whom he sacked back in July Mr. Riek Machar from the minority Nuer group, appears to be controlling at least half of the soldiers. These are the same soldiers accused of staging a coupe following his sacking and the subsequent disarmament operations targeted at the soldiers perceived to be loyal to Machar.

What South Sudan needs is a fresh start. For starters, the leadership ought to ensure peace and stability is restored pronto as a matter of priority.  The country also needs to recruit and train a fresh, professional and disciplined army, devoid of blood in their hands. Where these army would come from I don’t know but what I know for sure is that as long as these rogue soldiers who fought in the bush are still part of the national defense apparatus, instability will remain part and parcel of the youngest nation in Africa at least in the foreseeable future.

Secondly, the country should invest in institutions and structures and not individuals. Reforms targeted at the judiciary, the civil service and a professional police service should be expedited. The government should also open up space for political parties and democracy to thrive. The civil society should be allowed to grow in order to ensure checks and balances while keeping the government accountable to the people of South Sudan. The education system should be reformed and made accessible including technical institutes which will allow especially the demobilized soldiers acquire new skills in order to tame the temptation to return to the bush. Once all these things are up and running, South Sudan can now begin to focus on exploiting oil and other resources in the country in a massive scale.