{"id":24617,"date":"2016-04-15T01:49:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T01:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/messy-peace-hope-in-s-sudan\/"},"modified":"2016-04-15T01:48:38","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T01:48:38","slug":"messy-peace-hope-in-s-sudan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/messy-peace-hope-in-s-sudan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Messy\u2019 peace hope in S. Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Machar is to become vice-president and form a unity government with President Kiir.}<\/p>\n

On a dusty patch of earth cut into thick bush on the outskirts of South Sudan\u2019s capital, hundreds of rebel soldiers who took part in a more than two-year civil war have set up a new base.<\/p>\n

The camp is basic: a few blue tents in the baking heat, piles of cut grass to build thatch hut shelters, pit latrines and a few leaky water taps.<\/p>\n

Here lies the best hope yet to end a brutal civil war that saw the world\u2019s youngest nation spiral into catastrophe and pushed to the brink of famine, with tens of thousands killed, over two million forced to flee their homes, and multiple ceasefires shattered.<\/p>\n

The camp, one of three in Juba, has no visible defensive positions or walls – and the rebels are edgy with all sides still heavily armed.<\/p>\n

Rebel General John Mabieh Garr points towards a nearby government army base.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It) would be better if they stay distant from us, until we know the reality of the peace agreement,\u201d he mutters.<\/p>\n

The risks are great and the stakes high.<\/p>\n

MACHAR’S RETURN<\/p>\n

The 1,370-strong armed rebel force completed their arrival into Juba last week as part of a long-delayed August 2015 peace deal, a prelude to rebel chief Riek Machar\u2019s expected return on April 18.<\/p>\n

Machar, who fled during the massacres that erupted in December 2013 when war broke out in Juba, is set to take up the post of vice-president – the same job he was sacked from months before conflict erupted – and form a unity government with arch-rival President Salva Kiir.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Machar returns, it will allow the formation of the transitional government, the most significant step in the implementation of the peace agreement,\u201d said Casie Copeland from the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.<\/p>\n

While Machar\u2019s arrival will be a major symbolic step forward, many warn that practical implementation of the peace deal will be a long and tough task.<\/p>\n

There are other rebel forces still fighting who are not included in the peace agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMachar\u2019s arrival to Juba will mean the peace agreement is now on the right path,\u201d said civil society leader Edmund Yakani, directer of South Sudan\u2019s Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO). \u201cBut it does not mean the country is free from violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conflict now involves multiple militia forces driven by local agendas or revenge, who pay little heed to paper peace deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many questions as to the feasibility of the arrangement,\u201d said David Deng from the South Sudan Law Society (SSLS).<\/p>\n

Even the usually upbeat Festus Mogae, a former Botswanan president heading the international ceasefire monitoring team, has warned that the \u201cformation of a new government will not in itself be a panacea.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICG\u2019s Copeland warned Machar\u2019s arrival would be only one step in a \u201cmessy peace\u201d, but that crucially it is backed by regional nations, putting pressure on the leaders to make the deal work.<\/p>\n

Tensions remain deep, with the rebels accusing the army of boosting troops in the capital, which should be officially demilitarised within 25 kilometre radius.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Machar is to become vice-president and form a unity government with President Kiir.} On a dusty patch of earth cut into thick bush on the outskirts of South Sudan\u2019s capital, hundreds of rebel soldiers who took part in a more than two-year civil war have set up a new base. The camp is basic: a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[228],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-24617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-afp"],"bylines":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"contributors":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24617\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24617"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=24617"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=24617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}