Mail & Guardian Op-ed: SA Key to Peace in South Sudan

Note: This op-ed originally appeared in Mail & Guardian and was written by John Prendergast, Co-Founder of The Sentry, and Brian Adeba, South Sudan Investigative Analyst at The Sentry.

South Africa’s ascendance to the United Nations Security Council this year offers an unprecedented opportunity to reshape peace efforts in some of Africa’s deadliest conflicts.

For example, South African leadership is needed in South Sudan — which gained independence from Sudan in 2011 — where a peace deal to end more than five years of violence teeters on the brink of collapse. Key deadlines for troop cantonment and the formation of a government of national unity are far behind schedule, with minimal prospects for implementation.

But, prospects for stability could stand a better chance if key United Nations tools of financial pressure — targeted asset freezes and travel bans — designed to advance the chances for peace are used robustly against the key networks of peace spoilers inside and outside South Sudan…

Click here to read the full op-ed.