The suffering of the entire South Sudanese population in diaspora is due to the failure to implement the revitalized peace agreement in the country.
Political figures seem responsible for all the wars and have participated in deteriorating the peace agreement. South Sudanese have been in camps since 1983, when Southerners fought hard to liberate themselves from the then-Sudan government, a regime of racism and greed for power. Southerners were viewed as less than human until a long process of peace negotiations led to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on 9 January 2005 between the Government of Sudan and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). This raised preliminary hopes among the people that this would be the foundational block for lasting peace in South Sudan.
However, following the signing of the CPA, issues of power sharing, wealth distribution, and self-determination continued to be contentious. In power sharing, it allowed room for the protocol parties, including the National Congress Party (NCP) and SPLM/A, to agree to decentralize governance through significant devolution of power to the 26 states within the federal system.
The refugees continue to suffer due to UN limitations and violence from host communities, poor health care, and many other situations that make them reluctant to consider returning home. Their areas of origin have not fully recovered since the wars of 2013 and 2016 broke out. Though few have voluntarily returned, many were forced to leave their villages again in 2025 and join the camps, abandoning productive activities and becoming idle. For now, what matters is the guarantee of implementing peace, nothing else.
There is a call for humanitarian agencies to provide a quick response to the refugees and offer them necessary assistance, such as food and health care, since the principal parties to the agreement have failed to implement peace for their people, while the refugees continue to cultivate and contribute to the UN rations.
Meanwhile, the government needs to ensure total security throughout the country to attract more returnees. In case of any attacks, the government should ensure that the culprits are held accountable and punished according to South Sudanese law. Peace is the only medicine to bring everyone home, but without it, the situation remains bleak.
The question is: What is the government going to do to support the refugees who are starving in the camps? And for how long are the refugees going to stay in the camps?
The government must implement peace in the country and bring the people home, stabilize security so the citizens can access their farms, and avoid depending on humanitarian aid.
I appeal to the Government of South Sudan to stabilize security and return people home; there is no need for creating an expensive war in this country again.
God, South Sudan,
Be the spectator!