Juba IDPs appeal for end to tribalism as elections approach

JUBA, OCTOBER 4, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – Internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Mangateen IDP camp are appealing to the South Sudanese public to reject tribalism and accept living as citizens of one country as the country heads towards elections.

Speaking to Sudan Post, several IDPs said that most displaced persons in the camp where they live have different views and perspectives on the country due to the circumstances that led to their displacement following the outbreak of conflicts in 2013 and 2016.

Veronica Abraham, one of the internally displaced persons at Mangateen camp, said that however, as a result of civil society organizations carrying out awareness and civic education, most IDPs’ perceptions have changed and they now say that the country needs to unite to fight tribalism.

“Sometimes the issue is the way we are brought up,” she said. “If you didn’t get a chance to be around other tribes and you stay only with your tribemates, the possibility of getting parental abuse like ‘look at the way he/she works like that tribe’ might come to mind. There, the child grows up believing in that way. But now we have organizations that are keen and changing people’s brains through bringing people together, whether through sports or so.”

She added that although some people still hold pride in their languages and cultures negatively, South Sudanese are changing every day, because they have seen the end game of tribalism which is claiming lives in the country.

“There is one of the organizations that has been seriously helping us called Active Citizen engaging us,” she said. “Ever since things have started to change, we can even interact with other people, learning from them. We also encourage other organizations to follow what they are doing so that this country will be peaceful as the country prepares for election.”

On his part, IDP Keah Badeng said issues of tribalism have caused a lot of problems in their lives, stating that the major issue facing the IDPs is the belief that some tribes within the country are behind their stay in the camps.

He added that, however, this has so far changed recently after different campaigns have been done within the camps, such as “Fight Against Tribalism” (Ninasawa) or “Love Your Neighbor to Stop Tribalism,” to change the mindsets and attitudes of the people with the aim of stopping tribalism among others.

According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, there are about 2.3 million internally displaced people in South Sudan as of July 2023, with about 65% of South Sudanese refugees being children. IOM reported that conflicts and instability within the country have resulted in large-scale internal and cross-border displacement since December 2013.

In September 2018, the Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed between the main warring parties, which led to an improvement in security, although incidents of communal clashes (frequently linked to cattle raiding) continue to cause new displacement.