In South Sudan, peace accord falters, refugees remain in camps
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — When a delegation of South Sudanese rebels returned to the government-controlled capital Juba last month after two years of war, Nyajok Koat thought she would finally return to the home she fled when the fighting began.
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- An asylum seeker and her baby from Sudan, who recently arrived in South Sudan, stands beside a truck holding some of her belongings before she is transferred to the refugee camp in Ajuong Thok, near Yida, northern South Sudan, on January 26, 2016. Both South Sudan’s Rebel leader Riek Machar and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir signed a peace deal in August but have consistently broken ceasefires. The opposing sides missed a January 22, 2016 deadline to form a unity government amid a dispute over Kiirs reorganization of the oil-producing country into 28 states. United Nations (UN) sanctions monitors have stated in a confidential report that The U.N Security Council should place an arms embargo on South Sudan, and that both President Kiir and Riek Machar “qualify” for sanctions over atrocities committed during the two year civil war in the country. The civil war in South Sudan has left tens of thousands of people dead and forced more than 2 million others to flee their homes since erupting in December 2013. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Asylum seekers from Sudan, who recently arrived into South Sudan, receive medical assistance at the refugee camp in Ajuong Thok, near Yida, northern South Sudan, on January 26, 2016. Both South Sudan’s Rebel leader Riek Machar and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir signed a peace deal in August but have consistently broken ceasefires. The opposing sides missed a January 22, 2016 deadline to form a unity government amid a dispute over Kiirs reorganization of the oil-producing country into 28 states. United Nations (UN) sanctions monitors have stated in a confidential report that The U.N Security Council should place an arms embargo on South Sudan, and that both President Kiir and Riek Machar “qualify” for sanctions over atrocities committed during the two year civil war in the country. The civil war in South Sudan has left tens of thousands of people dead and forced more than 2 million others to flee their homes since erupting in December 2013. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A bus departs from Ajuong Thok refugee camp in South Sudan, less than 100 kms away from the border with Sudan, on January 28, 2016. The bus will travel to Yida, the last village in South Sudan, before eventually crossing the border. Sudan ordered the reopening of the country’s contested borders with South Sudan. Relations between Juba and Khartoum had been tense since South Sudan’s secession split in 2011 under a peace deal that ended a bloody 22-year civil war, with disputes over several areas along the border. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images)
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- In this photo taken Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, a displaced child holds clay model toys of a peacekeeper and a rifle, in the United Nations camp for displaced people in the capital Juba, South Sudan. When a delegation of South Sudanese rebels returned to the government-controlled capital Juba last month after two years of war, many refugees thought they would finally return to the homes they fled. But prospects for peace seem dim after the government and rebels missed a deadline last week to form a power-sharing government and end the war. President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer, signed a peace deal in August, but fighting continues. Machar said Tuesday, Jan. 26 in Kampala, Uganda that he wont return to Juba, South Sudans capital, because the decree violated the peace accord. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin)
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- In this photo taken Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, Nyajok Koat sits with her one year-old son Thach Kuony in her makeshift home covered with plastic sheets, in the United Nations camp for displaced people in the capital Juba, South Sudan. When a delegation of South Sudanese rebels returned to the government-controlled capital Juba last month after two years of war, many refugees thought they would finally return to the homes they fled. But prospects for peace seem dim after the government and rebels missed a deadline last week to form a power-sharing government and end the war. President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer, signed a peace deal in August, but fighting continues. Machar said Tuesday, Jan. 26 in Kampala, Uganda that he wont return to Juba, South Sudans capital, because the decree violated the peace accord. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin)
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- In this photo taken Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, displaced people walk next to a razor wire fence at the United Nations base in the capital Juba, South Sudan. When a delegation of South Sudanese rebels returned to the government-controlled capital Juba last month after two years of war, many refugees thought they would finally return to the homes they fled. But prospects for peace seem dim after the government and rebels missed a deadline last week to form a power-sharing government and end the war. President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer, signed a peace deal in August, but fighting continues. Machar said Tuesday, Jan. 26 in Kampala, Uganda that he wont return to Juba, South Sudans capital, because the decree violated the peace accord. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin)
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- In this photo taken Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, a United Nations peacekeeper stands with displaced children on a wall around the United Nations base in the capital Juba, South Sudan. When a delegation of South Sudanese rebels returned to the government-controlled capital Juba last month after two years of war, many refugees thought they would finally return to the homes they fled. But prospects for peace seem dim after the government and rebels missed a deadline last week to form a power-sharing government and end the war. President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer, signed a peace deal in August, but fighting continues. Machar said Tuesday, Jan. 26 in Kampala, Uganda that he wont return to Juba, South Sudans capital, because the decree violated the peace accord. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin)
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- In this photo taken Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, displaced people draw water from a hole dug in the ground, in the United Nations camp for displaced people in the capital Juba, South Sudan. When a delegation of South Sudanese rebels returned to the government-controlled capital Juba last month after two years of war, many refugees thought they would finally return to the homes they fled. But prospects for peace seem dim after the government and rebels missed a deadline last week to form a power-sharing government and end the war. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin)
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- A bus departs from Ajuong Thok refugee camp in South Sudan, less than 100 kms away from the border with Sudan, on January 28, 2016. The bus will travel to Yida, the last village in South Sudan, before eventually crossing the border. Sudan ordered the reopening of the country’s contested borders with South Sudan. Relations between Juba and Khartoum had been tense since South Sudan’s secession split in 2011 under a peace deal that ended a bloody 22-year civil war, with disputes over several areas along the border. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images)
But more than a month later, prospects of her leaving the U.N. base where she has taken shelter seem dim after the government and rebels missed a deadline last week to form a power-sharing government and end the war.
“It’s only for God to know how long I’ll be here,” an exasperated Koat told a reporter who visited a U.N. camp in the capital that she shares with more than 27,000 other people.
Although President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer, signed a peace deal in August, the fighting continues sporadically. Machar has not come to the capital to be Kiir’s vice president, as agreed.
The peace deal said Machar’s side would get control of South Sudan’s two oil-producing states, but Kiir created 28 new states by decree, jeopardizing that provision of the agreement. Machar said Tuesday in Kampala, Uganda that he won’t return to Juba because the decree violated the peace accord.
Kiir’s spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, said reversing the decision would create more instability, and accused rebels of dragging their feet by refusing to nominate ministers to the transitional government.
Machar also wants the government to pull its troops from Juba, as called for in the peace deal, according to his spokesman, James Gatdet Dak. Ateny said the government doesn’t have money for tents to house the soldiers elsewhere.
Despite the peace accord, both sides continue to seek new weapons, according to a report this week by a U.N. panel of experts. The panel said that as of mid-September, South Sudan’s government was apparently trying to arrange payment for four attack helicopters from a Uganda-based company, Bosasy Logistics. The rebels have received ammunition and arms from neighboring Sudan, the report says.
The lack of progress toward peace leaves over 200,000 refugees in U.N. camps in makeshift tents of plastic sheets, dependent on food aid and enduring heat and dust in the dry season and mud and disease during rains.
Space is tight in the Juba camp, where Koat now lives. There isn’t enough clean water trucked in for the camp’s growing population, so residents dig deep holes in the hard packed earth to reach muddy groundwater.
When the rebel delegation returned to Juba, Koat, a Nuer, was joyful.
“I was very happy. People were dancing. Even I danced,” she said. “But I danced for nothing … I should have waited for real peace.”
By Jason Patinkin, Associated Press
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