Lessons from Biafra and South Sudan

Issues of secession in Africa are not new. They have been there for long. There are so many factors that have led countries to secede from the 'mother country'. However, results have shown that most countries who have seceded have failed to find peace on their own. In most cases citizens have ended up fighting against each other struggling for power.

Statistics have shown that countries that have seceded after the defeat of 'colonization' have more problems than before. People of eastern Nigeria tried to fight for their independence from Nigeria under the banner 'Biafra' but it never worked, they got defeated.

It is reported that beforethe civil war, Biafra differed from most developing nations because it had a good supply of food and water, as well as sound public health policies with many physicians, nurses, hospitals, and clinics. Following the slaughter of 40,000 Ibos in 1966, about two million Ibos and other minority groups left their positions throughout Nigeria and fled to Biafra. Additional refugees continue to pour into Biafra to avoid capture by the Nigerian troops who have gained a reputation for slaughtering whole villages.

While Biafra originally encompassed 29,000 square miles, present boundaries now enclose only about one-fourth of that area. This remaining territory is totally landlocked and does not contain the former Biafra's most fertile land. The Mission asserts that somewhere between eight and nine million Biafrans live in this area, although many previous estimates have been as low as four million.

South Sudanese had a successful bid for secession from Northern Sudan. After decades of brutal civil war that left two and a half million dead, the devastated and vastly underdeveloped southern part of Sudan secured independence in 2011. The world's youngest nation came into existence amid great challenges.

Secession from Sudan marked a major milestone and a fresh opportunity for South Sudanese. But massive state-corroding corruption, political instability within the ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), and persistent tensions with Sudan over the sharing of oil revenues left South Sudan deeply vulnerable to renewed conflict.

On December 15 in 2013, tensions between factions loyal to President SalvaKiir, of the Dinka ethnic group, and those aligned with his former Vice President, RiekMachar, of theNuer ethnic group, exploded into fighting on the streets of Juba the capital city. South Sudan's dramatic return to war has torn communities apart and left thousands dead. As of September 2014, 1.8 million people were still too afraid to return to their homes.

Since independence, South Sudan has been handicapped by the competing interests of powerful political actors and the factions and interests they represent. In early July 2013, along with three other friends of South Sudan, Enough's Founding Director wrote to South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, warning "after almost nine years of self-rule, the government is still failing to meet the basic needs of its people.

Despite claims that vast sums of money have been expended on investment in infrastructure, there is very little to show in the way of roads, medical services, and education for millions of South Sudanese who greeted the prospect of independence with eagerness and hope."

Machar and other leading political figures from a variety ethnic group began to openly challenge Kiir's leadership of the ruling party. Pointing to disunity within the ruling SPLM party, Kiir dismissed Vice President Machar and an entire cabinet of ministers in July 2013. As tensions rose within the SPLM, Kiir announced that he had dissolved all internal party structures in November 2013.

Originally contained to fighting between Nuer and Dinka elements of the elite Presidential Guard, the violence quickly spread to residential areas of Juba. Multiple sources confirm door-to-door searches for ethnic Nuer, in one dramatic incident documented by Human Rights Watchand Amnesty Internationalat least 200-300 Nuer men were shot by security forces at a police station in Juba. Thousands of Nuer civilians sought refuge in peacekeepers' bases. Nine months later, many still remain there.

Since then, violence has spread across the Greater Upper Nile region, including Unity, Jonglei, and Upper Nile states. Following mass defections, the national army of South Sudan, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has also split. To many, this is not a surprise, because the national army consisted of a collection of former rebel groups who remained loyal to their leaders, rather than to the army's command and control. Notwithstanding the growing humanitarian catastrophe, thousands of fighters and civilians have been killed, and terrible massacres have been perpetrated on both sides.

Of the estimated 1.8 millionpeople who remain displaced from their homes today, 1.35 million are within South Sudan and 453,600 have fled to neighboring countries. Nearly 100,000civilians are currently sheltering on U.N. bases around the South Sudan. Efforts to combat famine have been successful through the end of the year, but humanitarians warn that this requires a Herculean effort. Continuing to sustain that level of response may not be possible if the violence continues.

As a result of corruption, the Government of South Sudan failed to invest in public infrastructure, education, or health care. This has meant that young South Sudanese have few opportunities, especially in the oilfields of the Greater Upper Nile region where massive wealth from under the soil is exported out of the area with no discernible benefits to the local communities.

Consequently, a huge reservoir of uneducated teenage boys is vulnerable to recruitment by rebel commanders and opportunistic politicians who use them to further their own ambitions. The long simmering challenges associated with the amnesty and integration of splinter rebel factions as well as the failure to reform the national army (the SPLA Army) provided the backdrop to the current conflict.

Mass killings, sexual violence, and other war crimes have been widely documented by journalists and human rights groups in South Sudan. Children have been pulled out of school and the UN estimates there are at least 9,000 child soldiers that have been recruited into the current conflict on both sides.

Peace doesn't come because you have isolated yourself from others; it is something that you choose to live with. It's not by secession that African countries will find peace; there should be a way of reconciliation. There is a lot of debate in many countries in Africa which have some citizens that prefer secession from the countries they are living. This preference is under the belief that with independence things will be better for them- but who knows what type of characters you are going to incubate.

Africans should learn to find better ways of finding solutions to their problems. This is the time to find solutions together not to get divided and risk creating a 'conflict zone'.