Reflecting on the South Sudan we want: 10 years on after independence

Joseph-Geng-AkechAuthor: Joseph Geng Akech
South Sudanese human rights lawyer and LLD candidate, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Summary

New nations struggle to find their route to stability, and they have the opportunity to learn from those which have already travelled the path towards nation-building. The birth of South Sudan was received with joy, far and wide, as it emerged out of decades of sacrifices for principles that every South Sudanese believe in – justice, liberty and prosperity. The  hard-won new State was born with much hope, but it rapidly became a monster of its own making. Consumed by  senseless wars, endemic corruption and underdevelopment – iniquities which fomented popular resistance and drove the need for secession.

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The AU’s initiative on silencing the guns and human rights: the missing link

Author: Ayalew Getachew Assefa
African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

The African Union (AU) has designated its theme for the year 2020 to be on ‘Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development’. The theme is informed by prior initiative that the Union has established mainly during the occasion of the OAU/AU 50th anniversary, where the Heads of State and Government adopted a Solemn Declaration, in which they expressed their determination to achieve the goal of a conflict-free Africa by ridding, among other things, human rights violations from the continent. Following the commitment expressed through the Solemn Declaration, the Peace and Security Council (PSC), in 2016, developed an AU Master Roadmap of Practical Steps to Silence the Guns in Africa by Year 2020 (AUMR), which eventually was endorsed by the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments (Assembly) in 2017.

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