With the dust from the second Sudanese civil war barely settled, South Sudan has plunged back into full-scale conflict that shows no sign of a peaceful resolution. Just as the civil war drove millions from their homes between 1983-2005, and set off a massive humanitarian catastrophe, renewed conflict has left the young nation on the brink of starvation.
Youth have been key fighters in South Sudan’s various conflicts for decades, as depicted in the new feature film The Good Lie. As the country’s ongoing crisis unfolds, with little evidence of abatement, youth continue to suffer the consequences as both the victims and perpetrators of violence, with few alternatives for a better life.
The Good Lie should be about the past. Unfortunately, a new war, rooted in the embers of the one that brought the Lost Boys and Girls to America, has engulfed South Sudan today.
The Good Lie, a new Warner Brothers film, depicts the shared experiences of several of the "Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan" during the Second Sudanese Civil War and is a powerful point of entry into the story of peace and conflict in South Sudan. This discussion guide can be used in the classroom or among youth groups to enhance and inform conversations surrounding the film.
Sudan’s second civil war and U.S. humanitarian efforts elevated the “lost boys” to widespread recognition. But little attention has been paid to the “lost girls” of Sudan. As South Sudan plunges back into violent conflict, the risks girls face are mounting, including sexual and gender-based violence.
South Sudan achieved independence from Sudan in 2011, marking a major milestone and promising to bring with it peace, prosperity, equality, and development. However, in December 2013, a political power struggle unleashed a new and brutal armed conflict that continues today and civilians are paying the highest price.
October 1, 2014 --- Warner Brothers’ new motion picture “THE GOOD LIE,” starring Reese Witherspoon, opens this Friday, October 3, to select theaters nationwide. The film, already garnering critical acclaim – and a 10 minute standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival – depicts the courageous, terrifying journey of the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan, children who trekked on foot hundreds of miles to escape a war in Sudan that ended in 2005.
Katie-Jay Scott Stauring, Director of Operations and Community Involvement at i-ACT, wrote this piece following her attendance at the screening of The Good Lie at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
Our latest publication on the crisis in South Sudan urges the international community to build economic leverage for peace by imposing consequences for the country’s warring elites who are undermining the peace process, committing atrocities, and obstructing humanitarian aid.
On the Occasion of the September 25 Ministerial High-Level Meeting on South Sudan during the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, 19 non-governmental organizations released released a joint statement on the conflict in South Sudan.
South Sudan's civil war, which has exacted a terrible toll on its civilian population, has its origins in a power struggle between factions aligned with President Salva Kiir and those who have joined former Vice President Riek Machar. Despite repeated pledges to put down their weapons, both sides have demonstrated a clear commitment to a military “solution” instead of a negotiated settlement. The country’s competing privileged elites are sacrificing their own peoples’ lives to secure the political and economic benefits—including massive state-corroding corruption—derived from control of the state. In his opening remarks at the latest round of peace talks underway in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, chief negotiator Seyoum Mesfin told the parties, “If you are committed to peace, you will not find it through the barrel of the gun, but around this table.”
24 September 2014 -- This Thursday, world leaders at the 69th UN General Assembly convene a meeting on the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan. In spite of nine months of negotiations led by a nine-country regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), fighting in the world’s youngest nation is expected to intensify in the coming months, with deadly consequences for millions.
South Sudan’s civil war began in December 2013 as a political power struggle, but quickly led to ethnic-targeted killings and revenge attacks. Thousands have been killed, although no one knows the exact number, and the country now faces what could become the most deadly famine in Africa since the 1990s. The Enough Project’s Justine Fleischner recently returned from a month-long trip to South Sudan and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the regionally mediated peace process is underway. As part of Enough’s new interview series, Fleischner spoke with Greg Hittelman about what she saw.
Approximately 94,000 people are displaced and sheltering in U.N. bases throughout South Sudan as a result of ongoing conflict. In the midst of dire conditions and grave humanitarian needs, the agencies at one Protection of Civilians site in Tong Ping, Juba have found a simple yet highly effective approach to meeting the information needs of internally displaced persons– broadcasting news from roving “boda boda” motorbikes.
For the past two months, the Enough Project has been counting down to mediators' 60 day deadline to establish a transitional government of national unity for South Sudan. Now that the deadline has passed, a chorus of voices from across the globe have threatened South Sudan's leaders with punitive measures and targeted sanctions.
The 60 day deadline to form a transitional government of national unity agreed to by President Salva Kiir and Opposition leader Riek Machar at the IGAD Heads of State summit on June 10 has expired. Little progress has been made on substantive issues due to an overwhelming lack of commitment on both sides to reaching a negotiated settlement. Vicious fighting, including the targeting of aid workers based on ethnicity, has continued, even as the parties discuss security arrangements in Addis.
After seven months of war and several failed attempts at peace, South Sudan’s civil war shows few signs of letting up.
A month ago, the two protagonists in South Sudan’s civil war promised to make peace within 60 days. However, as explained by Enough's Sudan and South Sudan Policy Analyst Akshaya Kumar in a guest post for ThinkProgress, current president Salva Kiir and former vice-president Riek Machar done almost everything but make peace- issuing bizarre decrees, increasing weapons stockpiles, and generally avoiding the hard work of ending a war.
As South Sudan marked its third independence day amid ongoing conflict, Enough Project Sudan and South Sudan Policy Consultant Justine Fleischner wrote about her recent experience with displaced youth in Bentiu, South Sudan, the dire situation that the conflict has created for millions of civilians, and the need to establish consequences for the leaders' failure to cooperate toward creating a peaceful solution.
Seventy-eight international human rights groups, including the Enough Project and Humanity United, joined together today to call for a fresh approach to U.S. policy on the war-torn countries of Sudan and South Sudan.
The Enough Project is no longer operational. Its mission is continued by The Sentry, an investigative organization providing new leverage for human rights, peace, and anti-corruption efforts. Explore The Sentry’s work at TheSentry.org.