The current challenges in South Sudan require drastic reforms beyond the call for President Salva Kiir to resign. South Sudan needs politicians, men and women, whose motivation is the wellbeing of the people of South Sudan and not self enrichment. 

Heads of State from East and the Horn of Africa have endorsed a proposal to deploy a rapid protection force to South Sudan, which would later serve under the UN mission (UNMISS) with an enhanced mandate. But this is unlikely to solve the crisis in the world’s newest nation. UNMISS has serious weaknesses and, perhaps more importantly, the South Sudanese conflict is largely economic.

President Salva Kiir eventually appended his signature on 26 August to the peace deal with his rival Riek Machar. The agreement is set to be debated and ratified by parliament. Will it bring an end to the complex crisis that has plagued Africa’s youngest nation for nearly two years?

The South Sudan state is dysfunctional. Public institutions are weak, while the nation’s oil wealth benefits regional power brokers and local elites. Scavenging foreign profiteers and NGO types retained by the government have dug deep to protect their interests. Peace deals are not enough to heal the troubled young nation.

Last week the constitutional deadline of the presidential term in Africa’s youngest nation South Sudan expired, but current President Kiir and his parliament extended their mandates through a constitutional amendment. Is it a prudent move in a country embroiled in a civil war or an excuse to hold on to power?