UNSC ZAMUN 2018

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POSITION PAPERS: to matejdrdak18@gmail.com (deadline - 5.4.2018)

The crisis in South Sudan

After decades of war, commonly known as Second Sudanese Civil War, South Sudan became an independent state in 2011. Since the end of the atrocities, the peace has not been preserved for very long. In December 2013, the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir has accused the vice president Riek Machar of planning a coup d'état and withdrew him from the office. However, Machar denied the accusation and contrarily, he accused Kiir of spreading false information with the only aim – to gain political power. This sequence of events has set-in the roots of a new conflict.

A follow-up political structure has been formed, called Sudanese People's Liberation Movement–In Opposition (SPLM-IO) and under the command of Machar, it started the fighting against governmental SPLM in the second half of December 2013. Different political and ethnical groups have been involved in the conflict since the break-out. They decided to join one side or another not only seeking their political goals but also according to their ethnic allegiance. Therefore, South Sudanese Civil war can be described more as an ethnic and tribal than a political conflict.

The situation worsened once the opposition started to separate into multiple different groups, mostly in 2015 when another peace agreement was signed and it seemed that the war could be finally over. Unfortunately, it was not and after 4 years, the conflict is as close to the end as it was at its beginning. What is more, not only are numbers of casualties (50 000) and displaced people (4 million) growing higher but also due to the fighting, insecurity and poverty UN estimated that 5,5 million of South Sudanese citizens could be classified as food insecure last year. It seems that the only solution is currently in the hands of the international community and Security Council is an important part of it.

Matej Drdák - chair

MEC (chair), TOMUN (chair, delegate), ZAMUN (co-chair, delegate), Debate club president