Anatomy of Power Struggle in South Sudan

South Sudan, a land locked country located in the middle Africa is facing a crisis of democratic transformation since it won its independence on 9 July 2011 after years of civil war with Sudan. A tussle for political supremacy between its top two leaders, President Salva Kir and sacked vice President Riek Machar has taken ethnic shape which has resulted in ethnic violence at large scale in thiscountry.

We will explore in this article the current issue as well as the conflict areas between Sudan and South Sudan. We will also take a short glimpse of the history, geography and economy of South Sudan and how it is important for India and what is the response of Indian government to the present crisis.

Current Issue

• It all started when President Salva Kiir dismissed Riek Machar as his vice president in July 2013. Since Salva Kiir belongs to Dinka tribe and Rick Machar is from Nuer tribe, the crisis soon escalated into tribal clashes because these two tribes have always been rivals against each other. The Nuer tribe accuses Dinka tribe, the largest and the most power ethnic group in South Sudan, of monopolizing everything from politics to the army.
• President Kiir accused Riek Machar of masterminding a failed coup d'état on 16 December 2013, a claim denied by the latter.
• Because of the ongoing violence in South Sudan more than 1000 people have died and 200000 people have fled their homes in search of safety.

What is the cause?

• The constitution of South Sudan enacted by ruling SPLM (Sudan people’s liberation movement) gives its president immense power which includes sacking of elected governors for the country’s 10 states. He also enjoys power to choose his own members of parliament.
• This led to ethnic tension and power struggle within the ruling party since both Kiir and Machar are former rebel fighters and holds key positions in the governing SPLM, which led South Sudan to independence after a civil war with Sudan that lasted 22 years.
• Besides, the state’s formation since independence is done in way that it is alleged to have politicized ethnicity at both levels, military and local administration. The army doesn’t have a national character. Rather, it is bunch of local militias; each owing its allegiance to its respective tribe. Moreover, making ethnic identity the basis of rights to land and employment caused ethnic antagonism.
• This is the reason why when the vice president was sacked, consequently the army also split on ethnic lines. The fighting in South Sudan can’t be termed as a civil war, actually it took place first in the military barracks and then found its foothold in surrounding civilian population when soldiers started identifying and targeting the civilians on the basis of ethnic identity.

History, Geography and Economy of South Sudan

• When Sudan got independence from joint British and Egyptian rule in 1956, the leaders from southern part accused the new government of imposing an Islamic and Arabic identity and not fulfilling the promise of creating a federal system.
• A civil war broke out between the South Sudan led by the Anya Nya guerrilla movement and the Sudanese government.
• The conflict ended with the Addis Ababa peace agreement of 1972 which accorded the southern parts a certain degree of autonomy. In 1983, the south again rose in rebellion against the Sudanese government when the latter cancelled the autonomy arrangements. The conflict finally came to an end when Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed between the warring parties. Under CPA, the south was granted regional autonomy in addition to guaranteed representation in a power-sharing government.
• The agreement also provided for a referendum in the south on independence in 2011, in which 99 percent of southern Sudanese voted for independence from Sudan. to become Africa's 54th and the world's 194th nation. 
• South Sudan is formed from the 10 southern-most states of Sudan. It is a land of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest. Ethnically and linguistically, South Sudan is highly diverse. Dinka, Shilluk and Nuer are the largest ethnic groups.
• The majority of the population in Sudan is Muslim while people in South Sudan follow traditional religions. A minority among them follow Christianity.
• South Sudan's economy is now highly oil-dependent. According to an estimate, 75 percent of all the former Sudan's oil reserves are in South Sudan, whereas the refineries and the pipeline are in Sudan.
• Oil and other mineral resources can be found everywhere in South Sudan, but the area around Bentiu is especially rich in oil, while Jonglei, Warrap, and Lakes have potential reserves. The other oil producing blocks in the South Sudan are blocks 3 and 7 in eastern Upper Nile state. Despite so much potential oil wealth, South Sudan is one of the least developed countries of Africa.

Conflict areas with Sudan
The majority of oil production takes place in South Sudan while the required machinery to refine and reprocess it is in Sudan. There are frequent breakdown of talks between these two nations on the sharing of oil revenues. Besides the oil issue, South Sudan has several border disputes with Sudan. The main dispute is over border region of Abyei, where a referendum has yet to take place. The bone of contention is a dispute over land between farmers of the Dinka tribe and cattle-herding Misseriya Arab tribesmen. Another border conflict zone is the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan's South Kordofan state.

Indian response to the Crisis

• India recognized South Sudan on 10 July 2011. ONGC's overseas arm, ONGC Vides, has a 25 percent stake in two joint-venture companies which operate in two oil blocks in South Sudan. OVL owns 25 per cent stake in the Greater Nile Oil Project which has a production of about 40000 barrels of oil per day and 24.125 per cent in Block 5A which has a production capacity of 5000 bpd.
• India has conveyed its support for the African Union roadmap and asked the leaders of the two nations to resolve all contentious issues related to oil revenue-sharing, the border dispute and citizenship.
• The seven-point AU roadmap asks the two nations to restart negotiations in three months to finalise an agreement for resolving all outstanding issues.

What is the Way out?
The solution to the crisis in South Sudan lies in sinking the tribal differences and work as a single political unit for the economic development and political stability of the nation.