'In everyone else’s shadow' - by Oda Kjampenes

The story of the world's youngest country and its children.

The world’s youngest country is barely seven years old. In the aftermath of two bloody civil wars, 98.9% of South Sudanese citizens voted yes to independence from Sudan in 2011. Tragically, within only seven years of their independence, two million South Sudanese have been forced to flee, and almost half of the population are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. This is the story of the country in the Sahel and its children, that within three years of sovereignty saw itself in the midst of a new civil war. Today, this is one of the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises.

South Sudan’s troubling relationship with independence is often drawn back to 1822, when Mohammed Ali of Egypt conquered contemporary Sudan and subjugated the country to Ottoman rule. The religious and political dissatisfaction with Egyptian influence in the region sparked the 1881 Mahdist war, where the Mahdists took advantage of the rising tension in the then colonized Sudan. The Mahdists held power in the country for fourteen years, but the Sudanese were to experience a far longer and bloodier war of liberation. 17 years after the 1881 war, the Mahdists rule was overthrown by British-Egyptian forces, and the next year saw Sudan subject to a condominium, now called Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

The internal split within Sudan became apparent early in the country’s time as a condominium. In the long 50 years that Sudan was subject to a condominium, functioning as a British colony, it found itself ruled by two separate units – the Islamic north and the Christian south. However, the Sudanese were allowed, with British approval, to start their process of independence in 1953. It only took a few years before the country’s first prime minister, Ismail al-Azhari, went against his own principles, wanting to aim for a close relationship with Egypt, when he in 1956 declared Sudan’s independence. In Sudan’s time as a sovereign state, its politics have been dominated by pro-Islamic governments, with strong ties to the major northern part of the country. This internal split was what al-Azhari, and his successors, were to struggle with for the rest of united Sudanese sovereign history.

The South Sudanese war of independence was far from over in 1956. Although the Sudanese state had gained their independence from colonial powers and the condominium, two bloody civil wars ravaged the country for 50 years to come, only experiencing ten years of peace between 1972-82. The political, social and economic dominance that the north-Sudanese exercised upon the south led to a great dissatisfaction that saw its end in 2005, when a peace treaty was signed between the government in the north (Khartoum) and the guerrilla in the south (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – SPLM). The key factor in this treaty was that a referendum should be held in South-Sudan in 2011, voting on the country’s independence. When the vote was held in January 2011, an overwhelming 98.9% of the South Sudanese people voted yes. Within half a year, South Sudan saw the dawn of their independence.

When the South Sudanese civil war broke loose in December 2013, it was because of the internal fray within the SPLM. The loss of a common enemy in the north created the ground on which counterparties within the party could grow. President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar, who had been foes in the preceding civil war, became the center of the growing conflict in the region. The tense relationship between the two escalated in June 2013, when the president fired the vice president in the aftermath of what Kiir interpreted as a coup attempt. Half a year later, the conflict between the two factions had reached breaking point, and violent clashes between soldiers loyal to their respective parties took place in the capital, Juba. In addition to the tense, now violent, situation between the coalitions, we must acknowledge the relationship between Dinka and Nuer. Within three days, Juba saw itself cleansed of Nuer people – the tribe of vice president Machar. These days, from 15th to 18th December, have been called the South Sudanese crystal night.

As the peace treaty of 2015 saw itself succumb to international pressure and violence, the situation became even more pressing. In order to gain a understanding of the conflict, we must recognize that the situation first and foremost is human-made; the inflation, hunger and drought that followed can all be traced back to man-made impact. The production of oil and agriculture were the first industries to suffer when the conflict erupted, which paralyzed the South Sudanese economy, triggering inflation. The UN declared that South Sudan was in a state of famine in 2017 – the first declaration of its sort since 2011, underlining how such a declaration is not taken lightly by the international community. The earlier United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Herve Ladous, declared in 2016 that the numbers of fatalities in the war remain unknown. The complexity of the situation is dwelling, as peace treaties prove unobtainable, lacking in both mandate and vigor. UNICEF estimates that 4.2 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance, as a total of 60% of the displaced South Sudanese people are children - more than half of the country’s children are affected by the conflict. We must ask: How will the nation rebuild when its children suffer the most?

The children of South Sudan are facing famine, disease, forced recruitment and a lack of access to schooling. The worsening economic conditions only make the situation more dire, and the food insecurity that women and children have found themselves particularly vulnerable to is only expected to get worse. As much as 56% of the South Sudanese population is estimated by the UN to suffer from severe food insecurity as of December 2017, and UNICEF estimates that 250,000 children will be affected by severe acute malnutrition in 2018. The increasing lack of water is also acute, both for drinking and hygiene. As cholera disproportionately impact children, malaria remains the primary cause of morbidity among children under the age of 5 years. In the face of the civil war, as many as 1,8 million children are without school, and girls are only counting for 40% of pupils. Girls are also at a great risk of both sexual violence and child marriage. The situation in South Sudan is increasingly pressing, in the nation’s children are suffering the most. What is being done?

As of October 2017, UNICEF had 154 million US dollars available, allowing them to deliver assistance to 2.3 million people, of these 2.1 million children. UNICEF and their partners reached 1.1 million people with cholera vaccinations, 1.7 million children were immunized against measles and 1.5 million people received primary health care consultations, especially focusing on children under the age of 5. Psychosocial support was given to 230,000 children, and as many as 315,000 were given access to schooling. The important work of establishing integrated rapid response mechanism missions is continuing, creating 41 such missions in 2017, reaching more than 780,000 people in hard-to-reach locations. However, there are still both major educational and sanitational needs that need to be met. The increasing work that UNICEF is doing in terms of sanitary facilities is an important contribution to bot children’s health and safety, but there is still much more needed to be done. In order to improve education, UNICEF is focusing on improving facilities and outreach for children in conflict-affected areas - in particular for girls. This is done through child-friendly learning spaces, learning materials and teacher training. In terms of sanitation, there will be a much needed focus on increasing access to safe water in urban areas. Nonetheless, the most pressing issue is still nutrition, and UNICEF continues their work by utilizing integrated and preventive approaches, working closely with the World Food Programme. A staggering 26% of the UNICEF 2018 budget will be used on nutrition alone, meanwhile 23% is allocated to sanitation facilities and 21% towards education. More than 200,000 children aged 6 to 59 months with severe acute malnutrition are currently admitted to therapeutic care, and about 1 million pregnant and lactating women are attending or have attended support groups and group counselling in order to ensure safe pregnancies. Although work is being done, and should be acknowledged, there is still a long way to go. The question that remains is whether we may expect any solution to the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan any time soon.

Unfortunately, there are many reasons to believe that the situation in South Sudan is entering its worst era yet. As the conflict reaches new parts of the country, creating multiple smaller armed groups, it is assumed that eight out of the ten states of the country are directly affected by the conflict. The crisis is dominated by inhumane war crimes, from the use of child soldiers to sexual violence and genocide. As the people are suffering the cruelty of the warfare, a great percentage of the population have been forced to flee, suffering from the continuing stagnation of the economic situation. The country’s export of oil has been severely impacted by the nature of the civil war, and in combination with the oil crisis of 2014, brought about the crushing inflation of the South Sudanese pound. As peace treaty after peace treaty prove inadequate, few things are pointing towards dialogue and peaceful success. A conglomeration of an economic crisis, famine, a people forced to flee, gruesome warfare and the lack of internal will, as well as an ineffectual international society, has ensured that the situation in South Sudan remains pressing in military, social, economic - and first and foremost - humanitarian ways.