Last month, TIME magazine carried a horrific cover story on how the power struggle between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his vice-president, Riek Machar, had turned Africa’s newest country into a slaughterhouse and wasteland, with women and children paying the heaviest price.

According to the United Nations, the fighting between Kiir’s Dinka and Machar’s Nuer tribes has resulted in the death of at least 50,000 people and the displacement of more than two million. Rape was also being used as a weapon of war in these battles.

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Criminal Court for atrocities that the government-sponsored Janjaweed militia inflicted in Darfur in western Sudan, said that Khartoum was willing to accept the refugees fleeing South Sudan, but was not willing to take responsibility for them as they were no longer Sudanese citizens.

Achieved secession

The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, of which Machar was once a leading member, successfully achieved secession from Sudan after a long guerrilla war. During its war of secession, al-Bashir was painted as the villain who deprived the largely Christian non-Arab population of southern Sudan of independence.

Then the same people who accused al-Bashir of atrocities turned against each other. Hostility between Kiir and Machar led to more fighting. After a protracted peace deal, Machar will return to South Sudan to assume his previous position as vice-president.

To understand the dynamics that are shaping South Sudan, I would suggest a book called Emma’s War by journalist Deborah Scroggins. The book tells the story of a strikingly beautiful, but naïve, British aid worker called Emma McCune who falls head over heels in love with, and marries, Machar.

Open schools

The book is not your typical love story. Emma is portrayed as a rather silly, but well-meaning aid worker who, while trying to open schools for the children of South Sudan, ends up being a liability to her husband’s cause.

After her marriage, Emma goes to live with Machar in the village of Nasir, a hot, dusty place that lacked proper sanitation and electricity. She had “a vision of overcoming racism through romantic love” and making herself “that bridge between black and white”.

However, her self-sacrifice was borne out of a naiveté and paternalism that did little to reduce the conflict. She did not realise that the South Sudanese were not just fighting Khartoum; their war was also about tribal supremacy, which not only prolonged the conflict but gave al-Bashir the ammunition to crush the rebels.

Arrogant leader

Machar, on the other hand, comes out looking like a charming and intelligent but arrogant leader who has little to offer his new British bride except the notoriety that she seemed to crave. Unfortunately, Emma never got to be the first lady of South Sudan — she managed to escape bullets in Nasir but ended up being killed in a road accident in Nairobi.

The book weaves a complex tale of betrayal and in-fighting within the SPLA and the inter-ethnic rivalries that pitted the Dinkas against the Nuer, which resulted in the mass slaughter of hundreds of innocent people who were caught in the cross-fire.

It provides some insights into the “pastoral ethos” of South Sudan’s cattle-worshipping tribes, which are characterised by competition, inter-clan rivalry, and disdain for authority.

Scarce resources

Like Somalia, South Sudan is caught up in ancient rivalries based on competition over scarce resources that some say cannot be overcome through democratic institutions because the material conditions of the people have not changed much over the years.

South Sudan suffered years of marginalisation and civil conflicts that have deprived its population of education, health, infrastructure and alternative means of livelihood.

It remains one of the most under-developed countries in Africa. Under these conditions, clan rivalry over resources plays a critical role in how these societies are organised. In his book, A Pastoral Democracy, I.M. Lewis acknowledges the importance of clan loyalty in the political organisation of pastoralist societies.

Political divide

However, he is deeply pessimistic about whether this type of political organisation can deliver Western-style democracy.

In both Somalia and South Sudan, the situation is complicated further by the oil factor, which has intensified tribal rivalry and raised the stakes among all sides in the political divide.

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