Page 89 - EVOLUTION OF THE SUDAN PEOPLE’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT(SPLM),

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE RECONSTRUCTION AND SPLM’S RESPONSE TO CHALLENGES OF STATE
BUILDING

7.0 Introduction

In the last chapter, we noted that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement betrayed the
national liberation struggle by failing to define and address both the social and national question
fundamental to any national liberation movement. Indeed, the country disintegrated into civil
war two years after political independence rendering the country both ungovernable and failed

state. This chapter seeks to address how reconstruction of South Sudan could be realized after the
end of the civil war. The reconstruction of South Sudan ideally is the responsibility of the SPLM
but due to ubiquitous conflicts communal inter-ethnic and elite conflicts, the reconstruction
of South Sudan has been vague as regional leaders and organs of the international community

playing supportive role. The external efforts have failed to reconstruct and create sustainable
state institutions and nation building. This chapter further examines models of reconstruction
that could bring political stability in South Sudan.

In this section we examine post-conflict reconstruction of South Sudan which gained its independence
from the Government of Sudan on 9th July, 2011, as the outcome of a referendum as contained in the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005, thus ending Africa’s longest civil war. We examine
the state of reconstruction in post – conflict South Sudan, and establish the ways reconstruction efforts can
be better done to remedy the immediate needs of the people and to document the lessons learnt from the
reconstruction efforts in the same. It is argued here that post conflict reconstruction is externally driven,

with minimal local participation in the design or ownership of the process. Thus more studies are needed
to explore the potential benefits of indigenous forms of participatory post-conflict reconstruction that
emphasize post conflict transformation based on a genuinely democratically rooted practice that is sensitive
to issues of civic empowerment, national ownership, capacity – building at all levels and an equitable and

sustainable peace.

The post conflict reconstruction globally after the end of the cold war has largely been informed
by liberal peace project that is largely supported by the USA and European Union who provide
resources for post conflict reconstruction in developing countries. The liberal project assumes that
liberal democracy; market economy, democratic elections, respect for human rights and respect

for the rule of law are a prerequisite for post conflict stability and reconstruction. This model
of reconstruction is considered as the only game in town. The model however has few successful
cases and many post conflict reconstruction efforts failed, as it is the case in Mozambique,
El Salvador, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia among other countries. As other

countries, which have applied the reconstruction model, South Sudan was not going to succeed
where others failed in the post conflict reconstruction.

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