At least 1,000 people have died ever since fighting broke out in South Sudan mid this month. More than 121,600 others are believed to have fled their homes.Tens of thousands of civilians have sought refuge in UN camps.An extraordinary session of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states is expected to try and mediate in the conflict on the New Year’s Eve.What began as a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and former vice president Machar is said to be taking a tribal dimension, pitting the President’s Dinka, the world’s newest country’s largest tribe, against Machar’s Nuer, regarded as the second largest tribe.South Sudan needs to understand that decades of violence have not helped Africa and tribalism has no place in modern politics.Tribalism is a symbol of backwardness.Unity and substance should take precedence over ethnic loyalties. Past horrific experiences in the region, including in Rwanda and Kenya, should offer painful lessons to the warring parties in South Sudan and indeed everyone else on the continent.The South Sudanese should also remember that no one else will resolve their differences other than themselves. And that violence is never a solution.Both camps need to talk urgently and end the violence and suffering that has spread in most parts of the country. They know the issues at the heart of the dispute and are best placed, more than anyone else, to address them.The diversity of South Sudanese should be seen as an opportunity and inspire citizens to collectively work to develop their country and themselves, instead of turning on each other’s throats.The whole of Africa must discard ethnic and tribal politics if this continent is to move to the next level.
