Salva Kiir, the President of South Sudan, has signed a peace treaty with his warring rival and former first Vice-President Riek Machar. However, the focus is on whether this agreement will hold long enough to ensure that there is no further bloodshed.
Tens of thousands of civilians have lost their lives as Kiir and Machar were involved in a power struggle. The economy has been shattered with thousands displaced internally and externally. This peace treaty must be strictly monitored by international agencies to avoid another outbreak of violence, given that previously seven ceasefires were agreed upon and shattered within days.
The clauses of this current treaty will be stress-tested — Machar is due to be reinstated to his position as first Vice-President, which he held earlier in 2013. The mutual mistrust between the two leaders must dissolve for the benefit of better governance. The fledging state has been shattered and the effects of this conflict have had regional repercussions. The priority is for violence to stop immediately. There should be an investigation into human rights abuses and a provisional government must be formed with free and fair elections in the future.
