Displaced people voice hope over Machar’s return

As part of the peace deal signed in August 2015, Riek Machar Teny, who is expected to arrive in Juba on Monday, April 18, is to rejoin the government as Vice President, with Salva Kiir Mayardit remaining head of state.

Since the conflict turned violent in December 2013 more than 2.3 million South Sudanese have been displaced, out of which over 648,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries.

Speaking to The Niles, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in a huge, crowded UN Protection of Civilian site in the capital Juba voiced hope about the long-awaited return of Machar.

“The return of Machar will come with the dream for stability in South Sudan and we will be able to return home and rebuild our lives,” says Angelo Gatluak, an IDP who has spent two years in the camp.

“We, [IDPs] who are living in Protection of Civilian sites are tremendously thankful to the almighty God and believe that the return of Machar would end our depression and sadness,” John Biel Duoth, the appointed community leader in the settlement says.

The United Nations Protection of Civilians site in Juba hosts approximately 27,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Nuer ethnicity, Machar’s tribe, who say they were targeted in the conflict that broke out in December 2013 and which was partially fought along ethnic lines.

“After more than two years of heartless displacement and distress, we finally see a flicker of hope,” agrees Martha Nyawang Gatkuoth, mother of four.

Andrew Gatbel, displaced from the devastated town of Malakal in the country’s northeast, says Machar’s return to Juba will spell relief for those trapped in United Nations Peacekeeping Mission camps across the country.

It will also be welcomed by those on the streets in Juba and small towns across the country, who are begging for lives free from insecurity, hunger, diseases and famine.

The extended fighting, which escalated from a political power struggle, has left a majority of South Sudanese lacking food and other basics.

“It will be an opportunity for forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. We have seen that fighting has no rewards: people fought for two years in vein, releasing only destruction and loss of life,” Gatbel says, referring to tens of thousands killed in fighting.

Philip Beech agrees: “I hope peace will be restored in our young nation and see the end of this senseless war.”

Nyatap Gatwich, a widow who lives with her three children in a tent in Juba’s Munuki area, calls Machar’s return “a hope” but says it’s no guarantee they will return to their homes.

South Sudan’s Finance Minister Deng Athorbei last month told local media that he expects South Sudan to recover from its severe economic crisis once Machar returns to take his post as first-vice president.

“Implementation of the August 2015 peace deal and the coming of SPLM-IO Chairman Riek Machar for the formation of a transitional government of national unity are fundamental,” he said. “Once these hurdles are overcome, then donors will reinstate funding to government projects.”

Economic and political analyst at the Sudd Institute, Augustine Ting Mayai, points out that there will be the chance to enact political and institutional reform as stimulated in the August peace agreement.

For his part, Machar encourages South Sudan’s displaced to return: “If you are a refugee […] we want you to go home and resettle,” he says.