By John Ikani
In a move that deals a fresh blow to South Sudan’s elusive quest for stability, the Central/East African nation has announced its withdrawal from a body overseeing its lumbering peace process.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition said the latest armed assault took place on Monday.
“We see no point in participating in non-productive meetings where issues are raised but not resolved,” the party said in a statement.
“Our areas are under attack from our peace partner without action from those mandated to hold them accountable for such violations,” it said, adding that the latest assault had been on Monday in the north-east of the country.
The opposition party is led by the Vice-President, Riek Machar, who two years ago formed a unity government with his former enemy Salva Kiir.
Continued tension between the two men has prevented the implementation of a peace deal aimed at ending a five-year civil war that began in 2013, resulting to the death of 400,000 people and uprooting millions from their homes.
Since the formation of the unitary government, South Sudan has lurched from crisis to crisis, battling flooding, hunger, as well as violence and political bickering as the promises of the peace agreement have failed to materialise.
The UN has repeatedly criticised South Sudan’s leadership for its role in stoking violence, cracking down on political freedoms and plundering public coffers.
At least 440 civilians were killed in brutal fighting between rival militias in the country’s southwest between June and September last year, a joint report by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office said earlier this month.
It blamed forces loyal to Kiir and rival troops under Machar, as well as “their respective affiliated militias”, for the violence.
The report came on the heels of a UN warning that the country risked a return to war, with interethnic violence and political infighting threatening to undo even limited progress.
