Is South Sudan another Somalia in the making?

For many in South Sudan’s troubled Jonglei state, independence has brought only political freedom but is yet to deliver any real peace.

The cumulative effects of internal rebellions, ethnic rivalry, border clashes with Sudan and aerial raids have claimed thousands of lives of innocent civilians in Africa’ newest country since independence last July.

Although the army has managed to eliminate leaders of some active rebel groups and forced others to ink deals with the government, the instability still persists.

The Lou-Nuer and Murle, both tribes in Jonglei state, are engaged in a vicious circle of killing, child abduction and cattle raiding. The Dinka Bor are equally at the receiving end of the hostilities.

And while there are no signs of cessation of hostilities in the near future, the escalating revenge attacks have taken the angles of mass destruction.

The Jonglei state government appears overwhelmed, and the central government has not done enough or fast enough.

Individual communities believe that by taking very little action on such brutal ethnic wars, the government may have given a go-ahead.

Some feel the government itself is polarised along the same troublesome ethnic lines.

According to ex-government chief whip Banguot Amum, soldiers often withdraw from their respective army units to take part in tribal fighting.

Prof Robert I. Rotberg, once director of Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University could have captured the Sudanese situation.

“Nation-states fail because they are convulsed by internal violence and can no longer deliver positive political goods to their inhabitants,” he wrote in his book, When States Fail: Causes and Consequences.

“Their governments lose legitimacy, and the very nature of the particular nation-state itself becomes illegitimate in the eyes and in the hearts of a growing plurality of its citizens,” he added.

In South Sudan, tribes have been armed to the teeth and are slowly carving out territories for themselves.

Basic services are not reaching remote areas and the centre of power in Juba is losing authority over the use of arms to tribal youths.

In the local newspapers and radio stations, death toll reports grab headlines almost daily. The fighting is now being condoned in terms of figures and villages burnt.

Unless tangible action is taken by the government and development partners, South Sudan could be headed to becoming another Somalia.