By Gatwech Deng Wal, Melbourne, Australia

South Sudan Soldier

The long years of conflict in South Sudan have caused immense suffering to innocent civilians and widespread destruction to their properties. Homes have been reduced to ashes, livelihoods shattered, and families torn apart.

The cost of war has not only been counted in lives lost, but in the deep wounds left on the spirit of our nation that will not heal easily until the leaders know their political failures and apologised to the people of South Sudan.

It is in every South Sudanese mind that South Sudan’s war has not been an accident of history, it is the result of political failure, weak institutions, and leadership under the leadership of Salva Kiir Mayardit and his culprits’ leadership that has too often placed power above the lives of the innocent civilians.

The devastation innocent South Sudanese see today destroyed homes, displaced families, and a broken economy is a direct consequence of decisions made at the highest levels in Salva Kiir Mayardit and his cohorts’ government.

For too long, the suffering of ordinary South Sudanese has been ignored while political elites negotiate positions, share power, and return to the same patterns that created the crisis in the first place.

This cycle must end if leaders take overarching obligations to accept accountability, choose a lasting peace over negative hatred and tribal divisions. Accountability is not optional; it is essential for those who claim to be leaders. That is, leaders who have contributed to violence, division, and the destruction of national unity must be held responsible politically, legally, and morally.

Without accountability, there can be no trust and lasting peace in South Sudan. Peace agreements alone are not enough if they are not implemented in good faith. The people of South Sudan deserve more than signatures on paper, they deserve action, transparency, and measurable change.

This includes security sector reform, an independent judiciary, and institutions that serve the people rather than individuals in power. At the same time, unity cannot be imposed from above while division is practiced below.

Under this case, tribal elites must stop mobilising communities along ethnic or factional lines for personal gain. This strategy has cost the nation too much, and its consequences are written in the blood and suffering of innocent civilians.

For South Sudan and its people to move forward, a new political culture, one grounded in responsibility, service, and respect for human life needs to be established. If such new political culture is established, it will give leadership no room to be defined by control, but by accountability to the people.

I am not writing this piece of article as a call for peace, but a demand for change. Ordinary citizens of South Sudan have paid the highest price, so it is time for leaders to answer for their actions and to commit, not in words but in action

Gatwech Deng Wal is a Contributor of Gambella Vision.