Celebration of Ten Years of Independence in South Sudan: A Glimpse into the new decade

By Ignatius Bahizi – East Africa Editor, The African Gazette

Africa’s youngest country South Sudan celebrated her tenth independence anniversary this month, but it is a country far from what many South Sudanese expected when they hoisted their flag on July 10, 2001. Malual Bor Kiir, a South Sudan refugee says he was excited about his country marking ten years of independence, although he is disappointed that the country took an unexpected turn towards chaos and confusion.

After decades of war of independence led by the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SPLM) against the Arab-dominated north, the majority of black people in the south and of Christian faith celebrated overcoming the domination by the Arab Muslims.

After independence, many southerners who had lived in exile as refugees within East Africa and beyond started trekking back home with so many dreams. They imagined the opportunities, freedoms, and a sense of fulfillment their own state born out of the bloodshed by their brothers and sisters was going to provide. To many, the new state was supposed to give them a sense of belonging as citizens, after having lived in exile for many years.

A few months after Independence, Juba the capital city became a hive of activities, people started building their lives, and construction sites were in every corner of the city. Businesses started booming with neighboring countries like Kenya and Uganda dominating both the goods and services markets.

Non-governmental organizations set up offices, foreign missions and development consultancy firms set foot in the new city, and South Sudan started to function as a government with President Salva Kiir, a former rebel at the top as the first President.

This, however, did not last long. In May 2013, the capital Juba went up into flames due to disagreements between the Army which divided its allegiance to the two most powerful men in the country – President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar. Bloodshed took place again and the conflict quickly took a tribal angle, pitting the Dinka of Salva Kiir against the Nuer of Riek Machar.

Thousands started fleeing again and Uganda immediately sent in her troops to secure the capital Juba, the Presidency, and Juba International airport. The then Uganda Army spokesperson Paddy Ankunda tweeted that the Uganda Army had averted a genocide in South Sudan.

As the country celebrated its 10th independence anniversary this month, over two million of its citizens who fled during the post-independence tribal conflict of 2013 were still refugees, majority in Kenya and Uganda. Uganda was home to about fifteen thousand at independence, today it is keeping over one million of them.

What went wrong?

A former SPLM senior member and now an opposition leader Dr. Lam Akol told the BBC news day program on the eve of this year’s independence celebrations that the kind of people who took over the leadership of South Sudan had no plans for the new country. According to Dr. Lam, management of the affairs of the government was riddled with corruption from the start. The country endowed with huge amounts of oil deposits was making billions of dollars from its oil deposits, but there is nothing developmental to show for those resources, the politician claims.

Politics of patronage and extensive tribalism facilitated corruption. According to Transparency International, the new state was dominated by the military elite which was strongly fragmented and marked by competing clienteles’ networks along tribal and ethnic lines. So, the conflict also arose as a result of one tribe feeling that it was not getting an equal share in the corrupt system.

The corruption perception Index of 2020 by Transparency International ranked South Sudan among the five most corrupt countries out of 180 surveyed world over trailing other East African member states. The same year’s report by the United Nations Human rights council revealed that millions of south Sudanese civilians have been deliberately deprived of access to basic services while others are deliberately starved as national revenues are diverted by the country’s politicians.

Recent reports by some international organizations also accuse a few South Sudanese leaders of money laundering through several networks abroad.

Camp refugees Vs Urban refugees.

Amidst the heavy fighting between members of the National Army who fought on tribal lines and in support of two top leaders inclined to either of the tribes, people who fled for safety included families of those involved in the fighting. Some of them drove expensive cars to exile, others flew there, while the majority of others walked hundreds of miles to cross borders and the very lucky ones boarded cargo trucks.

The first category quickly found a settlement in the affluent suburbs of Kampala and Nairobi renting expensive apartments. In Kampala, some residents were not happy since the South Sudanese refugees inflated the cost of living, as they had come with millions of dollars. However, property owners were happy for they could rent or sell a property at almost double the market value to the rich refugees.

The cost of land also shot up around Kampala and in a short time, most of the housing estates around the city experienced an increase in construction activities – a mansion or a flat that would take an ordinary Ugandan more than two years to complete could be completed and occupied in less than a year.

This category of refugees boosted the economies of the countries they fled to and provided a market for all kinds of goods, especially construction materials. They gave citizens work, and their children could go to expensive private schools.

The second category of refugees who are the big majority was and are still spread in refugee camps in Northern Uganda waiting for international aid. Until today, they can only think of a meal when a World food program (WFP) truck comes by. Their children lack adequate education in refugee camps, are malnourished, and their hopes of returning home hang in the air even after Machar and Kiir seem to have reconciled and guns went silent following the 2018 peace agreement.

What does Independence mean to this category of refugees?

Malual Bol Kirr, a South Sudanese refugee rights activist says all is not lost. He told the African Gazette that although the country’s Heroes and Heroines have been betrayed by those chasing selfish tribal interests, he foresees light at the end of the tunnel since the top protagonists are now working together, and acknowledging the contribution of the other towards achieving independence.

Malual also thinks that the 10th independence anniversary was worth celebrating for purposes of honoring those who shed their blood for it, although the citizens are yet to enjoy its fruits.

These hopes of sustained peace in the country will indeed depend upon the top characters. In his independence speech, President Kiir acknowledged that the first decade of independence had been a waste. He pledged never to return to war again, ‘’Let us all work together to recover the lost decade and put back the country to the path of development’’ Kiir said. He also promised to tackle corruption through reforms meant to strengthen the Ministry of Finance and the Central Government.

Ignatius Bahizi is a journalist of repute and an analyst of geopolitics and security of the Great lakes region of Africa. He has worked in the region for over ten years with different local and international media houses.

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