Francois Hollande welcomes his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir Mayardit, to the Elysee summit for peace and safety in Africa in Paris, December, 2013. Stephane Lemouton/Press Association. All rights reserved.The world expects South Sudan’s political landscape to descend into anarchy at any moment. Unmoved by the worrying signs of political and economic inefficiencies, some South Sudanese political elite are still pursuing the exact same strategies of divisive politics which triggered political instability and economic uncertainty in the first place.
There is a growing appeal to the outside world to rescue South Sudan from itself by activists and academics who are calling for diverging external interventions. Why should the outside world bear any responsibility to restore political and economic order in an environment where those responsible for political and economic disorders aren’t yet scared enough to take a very different direction? The war was planned and executed without first hearing the opinions of external actors and its cessation as well as coping with its destructive fall-out should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the South Sudanese elite and the governed masses.
The world has been faced with the challenge of dealing with these leaders or looking for other willing stakeholders to work with. The international community cannot succeed in halting the war machine in South Sudan without involving local actors. The fire will only be put out through a collaborative effort that involves actors both international and local who command a large following. These local actors are rational and they want to survive politically too at the end of this elite rivalry.
