South Sudan’s ‘New War': what does it mean? – By Tongun Lo Loyuong

[Elisabeth Janaina]

South Sudan’s ‘New War': what does it mean? – By Tongun Lo Loyuong
Posted on December 22, 2014 by AfricanArgumentsEditor

TongunLoLoyuongAs South Sudan’s civil war enters its second year, lost
in the melee of the violent entanglements and the power-sharing peace
process is another more devastating violent conflict. This elusive
war, whose brunt is heavily borne by the ordinary South Sudanese
citizen, is the deeply embedded ‘New War’ within South Sudan’s civil
war.

In the early days of the conflict, I discussed the violence as a New
War in an article entitled ‘The Cultural Bearing of the New War in
South Sudan’. But the focus then was on the cultural dimension of the
violent conflict. I fell short of discussing the meaning, nature,
implications and how to address a New War.

Briefly, a New War in conflict theory is a form of organized violence
practiced by state and non-states actors that became a common feature
of the last decades of the Cold War. It is, according to the academic
Mary Kaldor, an intra-state war that is fought across ideologies built
on identity politics, and particularism based on religion, nation,
tribe and ethnicity.

A distinctive attribute of the New War is the deliberate failure to
abide by international law and conventions regulating the conduct of
combat. It is basically a war in which its perpetrators commit
organized crime and egregious violations of human rights.

The anger, hatred and rage of New War soldiers and their commanders is
often directed at the civilian population identified with the
political opponent. This results in the perpetration of mass murder of
non-combatants that amounts to acts of ethnic cleansing, crimes
against humanity and even genocide.

The general tactic is to spread hate, strike fear and practice
exclusion, depopulation, torture and indiscriminate killing of
political opponents and their support bases. Sexual violence against
girls and women is one of the preferred weapons.

Soldiers of new war form largely incoherent units, with no clear cut
central command and discipline. New War often breeds in weak and
failed states and cripples the already ailing economy of the state.

It is sustained through the war economy, assistance from the diaspora
and rent-seeking and predatory practices such as the looting of
humanitarian relief aid. The actors are primarily made up of
paramilitary groups, thugs, criminals and children hastily and often
forcefully recruited to fight on behalf of the greedy lords of war.

What is happening in South Sudan is a New War in nature, as shown by
the scope of the atrocities that have been committed against the
civilian population. New Wars are illegitimate wars, which should not
be perceived as conventional warfare or the ‘Old War’, and therefore
cannot be addressed through archaic conflict management and power
sharing models designed for the resolution of the old wars.

Instead justice and accountability, international policing, sanctions,
asset freezes, travel bans, arms embargo and rule of law enforcement
must define any approach to end the violence and restore peace and
order. Once the guns are silent, peace-building processes and
activities that seek to transform the conflict, rebuild the social
fabric through healing and reconciliation initiatives and programs to
rebuild just state structures must follow.

For South Sudan to rise above identity politics and become a viable,
stable, peaceful and prosperous state the cultural identity aspect of
the conflict must be addressed. But most importantly, rather than
rewarding the greed of the leaders, the grievances and gruesome
atrocities inflicted on the people must guide the peace-making as well
as the peace-building processes following the signing of a peace
accord.

Lasting peace can only happen by holding the current batch of
leadership who are responsible for this violence to account, to deter
and discourage leaders of their ilk from following a similar violent
path in the future. It is encouraging that some international
institutions are now beginning to perceive the civil war in South
Sudan as a New War and are advocating for justice and accountability
as central to resolving the crisis.

New wars are only addressed by serving justice and accountability and
enforcing the rule of law.

Tongun Lo Loyuong is a conflict and peace researcher. He studied at
the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and is currently pursuing a
PhD in the UK. He is reachable at: tlolo...@gmail.com or:
http://tloloyuong.wordpress.com/
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One thought on “South Sudan’s ‘New War': what does it mean? – By
Tongun Lo Loyuong”

Edwin From Kenya says:
December 23, 2014 at 10:34 pm

Informative write-up. Very scholarly. However you haven’t given
details of the bone of contentions in south sudan conflict. What are
this hard nuts that the opposing camps have failed to crack? With the
“New War” what is the future of South Sudan?? How can the two guys
hold the youngest nation on earth at Ranson?? What should be done to
bring peace and silence the guns in Sudan???