South Sudan power-sharing agreement R-ARCSS: The same thing expecting different results

To date, two power-sharing agreements have been signed since civil war broke out in South Sudan in December 2013. The first agreement collapsed just after one year when renewed fighting broke out in July 2016. The second agreement signed in September 2018 continues to experience implementation challenges and ceasefire violations, while some of the parties declined to sign it. This article explores the role of distrust in stagnating the power-sharing agreements, and how trust building could be a game-changer. In a semi-structured in-depth interview, 29 key stakeholders were interviewed, including the conflict parties, mediators, eminent South Sudanese personalities, scholars and civil society leaders. Five major themes emerged: historical conflicts, estranged political relationships, power struggles, resource control and ethnic violence (not included in this article). The results suggest the conflict is sustained by a trust deficit among the parties arising from unresolved historical conflicts to estranged political relationships and power struggles. The article recommends transitional justice approaches for trust building and sustainable agreements.