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Harrison Freeman

Professor Fischer

ENGL 102

23 March 2017

Saving South Sudan

The Holocaust is inarguably the most severe genocide in human history. Nearly all of the

history classes in the world teach about the horrors of this genocide. However, several smaller

conflicts involving genocides and crimes against humanity have occurred since the Holocaust,

yet nearly all of them go unnoticed in the Western world. The situation that is unfolding in South

Sudan is a prime example of this genocidal ignorance. The origins of the current conflict can be

traced back to the twenty-two-year civil war between the northern and southern regions of

Sudan. The area that is now South Sudan has a Christian majority and several smaller traditional

groups, while the northern region which remains named Sudan is predominantly Muslim

(Williams). This divide caused problems for years, until a peace agreement was signed in 2005

and South Sudan declared its independence on July 9, 2011 (Nathan 25). At the time, it seemed

as though the years of fighting were over and the region could begin to rebuild. However, this

was cut short late in 2013 when two major ethic groups began a power struggle that brought the

newborn country to its knees. The Western world is turning a blind eye and ignoring the warning

signs of a genocide occurring in the worlds newest country.

Before the conflict resumed in 2013, two new leaders were appointed to govern the

fledgling country away from the brink of war. Salva Kiir of the Dinka became the president, and

Riek Machar of the Nuer was selected to become his vice president. Kiir selected Machar in an

effort to show unity among two of the largest ethnic groups in South Sudan, despite the long
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history of violence between them. In 1991, Riek Machar ordered the vicious massacre of two

thousand Dinka villagers in a small town in the region, therefore there were a plethora of South

Sudanese that did not approve of Kiir and Machar sharing power (Williams). Two years after the

countrys independence, Machar began a campaign to turn the population against Kiir and set up

a run for the presidency in 2015. Kiir responded to these acts by firing his vice president, thus

calming the situation. However, violence erupted between the two sides at the end of 2013, and

according to Jennifer Williams the cause remains unclear, Kiir publicly accused Machar of

having attempted a coup, but others say the violence broke out when presidential guards from

Kiirs majority Dinka tribe tried to disarm guards from the Nuer ethnic group of Machar.

Nevertheless, the two rival groups plunged the country into a new war in which more than one

thousand people lost their lives during the first week (Pinaud). Despite building the South Sudan

with a sense of peace and unity, its leaders destroyed everything they had worked for only two

years after it all began.

Genocide is defined by a simple Google search as the deliberate killing of a large group

of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. According to Genocide

Watchs president, Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, that definition merely scratches the surface of a much

larger entity. Genocide is a process that develops in ten stages that are predictable but not

inexorable. At each stage, preventive measures can stop it. The process is not linear. Stages may

occur simultaneously. Logically, later stages must be preceded by earlier stages. But all stages

continue to operate throughout the process (Stanton). Therefore, a conflict can be considered a

genocide when only one or two stages are present, depending upon their severity. Classification

and Symbolism are the first two stages, and they include names of ethnic groups, symbols of

groups, and other means of identification assigned to minority groups by larger groups (Stanton).
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These two stages are not an issue unless they are associated with one of the latter stages. For

example, Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups are named and have flags to resemble their armies, but

those acts are not genocidal. Additionally, using political power to deny rights to groups falls

under stage three, which is called Discrimination (Stanton). Again, this stage by itself is not

enough to warrant an investigation by the United Nations, but if a country passes laws that are

similar to Jim Crowe laws in the United States, it could raise some eyebrows. Similar to stage

three, stage four, Dehumanization, discriminates against minorities by referring to them as forms

of animals, pests, insects, or diseases (Stanton). Yelling obscenities at people on the side of the

road is not an act of genocide, but if enough people refer to a certain ethnic group as rats then it

could lead to other stages of genocide. When a conflict reaches the fifth step, Organization, it

typically means that a majority group has come together in order to target an opposing group

(Stanton). These groups may be preexisting, but they now have one major goal of targeting an

opposing ethnic group. For example, the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups have existed for

hundreds of years, but now they have organized themselves into war machines to eliminate each

other. The beginning stages of genocide are not very dangerous and can be prevented by

government forces or UN intervention.

The final five stages of genocide are more serious than the first five, and only one or two

can be enough proof to label a conflict a genocide. Polarization occurs when both ends of the

spectrum resort to violent extremism in order to intimidate the moderates into joining one side or

the other. Once the majority group gains an edge over its target, the Preparation phase begins and

the final plans are drawn up to remove the target from the situation (Stanton). By striking fear

into the hearts of moderates, the extremists can either force them into joining their cause, or they

will flee the country to avoid the violence. This stage occurred during the first week of fighting
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in December of 2013, and it is evident based on the thousands of citizens that fled the country

fearing for their lives. Stages eight and nine overlap because they happen when the perpetrating

group Persecutes and Exterminates the opposition by rounding them up into ghettos or

concentration camps and swiftly and systematically killing all of their members (Stanton). When

Riek Machar ordered the deaths of the Dinka villagers, he was committing an act of genocide.

The villagers were unarmed when they were mobbed, and this led the Nuer forces to torture them

for hours before killing them. The tenth and final stage of genocide always comes last and can

continue for years after the initial violence (Stanton). The Denial stage is highlighted by the

accused ignoring all signs of their acts by covering up the evidence and acting as though no

violent acts took place at all. These stages are almost completely ignored by the Western world

until a conflict reaches the final three phases. Several of these warning signs have been displayed

since 2013 in South Sudan, like many other African countries.

It is obvious that all of the stages of genocide are present in the South Sudanese civil war,

and there are gratuitous amounts of sources that back this claim and provide in-depth examples

of genocidal acts. A large amount of the violence in the country is going unnoticed by the armed

forces due the overwhelming corruption found within their ranks. many acts of violence

committed by members of the armed forces have gone unpunishedmaking it appear that

soldiers are beyond the reach of the law, perhaps even protected by the institution to avoid being

held accountable for their actions (Olsen 64). The author ventured to the region to experience

the situation firsthand, and this corruption is among the first things written in the account. This

lack of accountability in the South Sudan is a prime example of stages three and five of

genocide; discrimination and organization respectively. The state is denying rights to the victims

of the army, and the army is organizing itself into a form of a terrorist organization that suffers
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no consequences for harming the people it should be protecting. Also, the Dinka ethnic group has

a history of targeting other ethnic groups and carrying out violent acts against them. In 2014,

they raided several villages home to the Fertit people, which is a smaller ethnic group that has

been subject to violent raids by a plethora of groups since the end of the British occupation

(Blocq). Violence was reportedly fierce. One leader explained that assailants forced Fertit

women to lie with their backs on top of their husbands, and then were raped (Blocq). The Dinka

pillaged the villages and unnecessarily tortured their inhabitants in order to acquire their lands.

Not counting the other heinous acts committed by the Dinka, their actions against the Fertit

people are proof of several of the stages of genocide, including organization, preparation, and

persecution. Violent attacks against the citizens of South Sudan are obvious indicators of

genocide in the country.

Although it is clear that the conflict in South Sudan is a genocidal civil war between the

countrys two largest ethnic groups, there is another argument that claims the battles are part of a

larger power struggle. According to Clemence Pinaud, the current crisis in South Sudan has

to be understood not simply in the context of ethnicity, but within a system of class domination

based on wartime predation. In other words, Pinaud is examining the conflict from a political

perspective instead of an ethnic point of view. Looking at the situation from this new stance

allows one to see other minor factors that have contributed to the violence, such as political

conflicts and the militaristic nature of the region. R. J. Rummel approaches the concept of

genocide in a similar manner, but he creates a new term in order to explain his perspective. To

cover all such murder as well as genocide and politicide, I use the concept democide. This is the

intentional killing of people by government (Rummel). Rummel, like Pinaud, does not directly

address the ethnic side of genocidal conflicts. Instead, they focus their research and discussion on
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the political side because they opine that the state is the source of conflict. Although the South

Sudanese government has played a major part in the civil war, it is important to acknowledge the

diverse ethnic tapestry that makes up the population of the newborn country. These views are

useful in reporting the overall situation in South Sudan, but they fail to grasp the gravity of the

ethnic conflict happening in the midst of the political power struggle. The chaos at the top of

the governmental ladder began as a result of years of ethnic tensions between the two largest

ethnic groups in the region, not because Riek Machar wanted Salva Kiirs job. Although Machar

wanted to be the president, their differences can be traced back to their ethnic backgrounds; Kiir

is a Dinka and Machar is a Nuer. Therefore, in order to understand the South Sudanese genocide,

one must begin by looking at ethnic tensions before examining the political landscape of the

region.

The conflict in South Sudan is significantly less severe than the Holocaust, but it still

deserves major recognition in the international media. Although the fighting began over three

years ago, the violence is continuous and shows no sign of stopping in the near future. The

Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a constantly updating website that

provides spreadsheets filled with information about acts of violence occurring throughout Africa

and Asia. These spreadsheets were last updated on March 18, and the most recent act of violence

involved a police officer raping a civilian on March 15, but he has been arrested by the army

(ACLED). It is clear that the violence has not stopped, but some progress has been made by the

government. If Kiir can continue to hold people accountable for committing crimes, then the

newest country in the world has a bright future ahead of itself. South Sudan will move forward

from these genocidal times to prosper as a sovereign state, and the perpetrators of genocide will

be held accountable for their actions at the benefit of the citizens and the country itself.
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Works Cited

"ACLED - 2017 Realtime Complete All Africa File." ACLED. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Blocq, Daniel S. (2014) The grassroots nature of counterinsurgent tribal militia formation: the

case of the Fertit in Southern Sudan, 19851989, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 8:4,

710-724, DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2014.946336

Nathan, Dev. The South Sudan Referendum. Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 46, no. 11,

2011, pp. 2527. www.jstor.org/stable/41151965.

Olsen, William C., and W. E. A. Van Beek. Evil in Africa: encounters with the everyday.

Bloomington: Indiana U Press, 2016. Print.

Pinaud, Clemence; South Sudan: Civil war, predation and the making of a military aristocracy.

Afr Aff (Lond) 2014; 113 (451): 192-211. doi: 10.1093/afraf/adu019

Rummell, R. J. "Democracy, Power, Genocide, and Mass Murder." Journal of Conflict

Resolution 1995th ser. 39.1 (July 01, 2016): 3-26. Web.

Stanton, Gregory H., Dr. "10 Stages of Genocide." Genocide Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar.

2017.

Williams, Jennifer. "The conflict in South Sudan, explained." Vox. Vox, 09 Jan. 2017. Web. 09

Feb. 2017.