This archive report was first published on 10 July 2021.
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir marked the country's 10th anniversary on Friday, July 9, 2021, with a promise not to return the nation to war. The pledge came as Pope Francis expressed his willingness to visit the country, provided leaders take concrete steps to maintain a fragile peace.
Violence erupted in South Sudan in late 2013, two years after it gained independence from Sudan, following a power struggle between President Kiir and his then-vice president, Riek Machar. The conflict, fueled by long-standing ethnic tensions, has resulted in the deaths of over 400,000 people.
Despite signing several peace deals, including the formation of a government of national unity last year, President Kiir dissolved parliament in May, paving the way for an expanded legislature of 550 members. The move aims to include representatives from all ethnic groupings under the terms of the most recent peace deal.
“I assure you that I will not return you back to war again,” President Kiir said in a speech marking Independence Day. “Let us all work together to recover the lost decade and put our country back on the path of development in this new decade.”
Pope Francis, in a joint message with two other Christian leaders, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Jim Wallace, urged South Sudan's leaders to do more to establish peace. The Pope expressed his willingness to visit the country, where violence still rages in some areas, according to United Nations reports.
“Sadly, your people continue to live in fear and uncertainty,” Francis said. “They lack confidence that their nation can indeed deliver the ‘justice, liberty and prosperity’ celebrated in your national anthem.”
Earlier, President Kiir claimed that Kenya's Head of State, Uhuru Kenyatta, had worked against him seven years ago to rescue a group of politicians detained for trying to oust him in December 2013. The group, now referred to as Former Political Detainees, had initially been charged with treason and detained by President Kiir's government following the eruption of violence.
