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In 2018, the signing of a peace agreement between the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, and his old rival, Riek Machar, raised hope. The nation, independent since 2011, was emerging from a brutal civil war. However, five years later, this peace agreement is mostly respected only in Juba, the capital of the young country. Elsewhere, fear of conflict remains palpable, a fear that has been further heightened by the conflict in neighboring Sudan.
During a historic visit to South Sudan in February, Pope Francis called on the country’s leaders to restore “dignity” to the displaced, nearly five years after the end of the civil war.
Between 2013 and 2018, the country of 12 million people, 60 percent of them Christians, was plagued by brutal conflict between forces loyal to warring rivals Kiir and Machar. According to an analysis by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an estimated 380,000 people died, both during the violence and from starvation or lack of medical care.
Despite a peace agreement signed in 2018, the violence continues. The country had 2.2 million internally displaced persons as of December 2022, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
During his visit, Pope Francis urged South Sudanese leaders to “start anew” for peace and specifically called for a “fight against corruption.” “No more destruction,” Francisco said.
“Future generations will venerate your names or cancel their memory, depending on what you do now,” warned the pontiff.
The UN and the international community regularly accuse South Sudanese leaders of maintaining the status quo, stoking violence, suppressing political freedoms and embezzling public funds. High food insecurity and severe climate change-related flooding also continue to undermine prospects for economic progress in one of the world’s poorest countries.
