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South Sudanese disillusioned by lumbering peace process
When Tunda Henry's family fled South Sudan's brutal civil war five years ago, they vowed to return after the upheaval. But now he fears that day may never come.
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Tunda Henry, 40, speaks about his frustration with the implementation of South Sudan's revitalized peace deal signed in 2018 during an interview with AFP in Juba on February 18, 2022. (AFP/Peter Louis Gume)
W
hen Tunda Henry's family fled South Sudan's brutal civil war five years ago, they vowed to return after the upheaval. But as the young nation's shaky peace process struggles to make progress, he fears that day may never come.
Tuesday will mark two years since President Salva Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar formed a unity government, cementing a peace deal signed in 2018 that brought an end to a conflict that cost almost 400,000 lives.
Since then, the world's newest nation has lurched from crisis to crisis, battling flooding, hunger, interethnic violence and political malaise as the promises held out by the peace agreement fail to materialise, leaving citizens like Henry deeply disillusioned.
"I am not happy," said the father-of-five, the only person in his family to stay in South Sudan. Fear continues to dog his life, making it near impossible for him to travel to his home village from the capital Juba.
"Some people disappear on the way," he said, with rebel groups such as the National Salvation Front (NAS) -- which did not sign up to the peace deal -- still at large.
Meanwhile political bickering threatens to undo even the fragile gains made in implementing the peace process.
Machar and Kiir have been unable to agree on key provisions such as the creation of a unified army that will bring their forces under a single command.
