Introduction
The civil war in South Sudan broke out in December 2013. More than 50 thousand people have been killed, and more than 1.6 million were forced to leave their houses during the war (“Civil War in South Sudan,” 2018). In 2014, South Sudan’s food crisis was admitted the most severe in the world because military actions had made it impossible for farmers to plant crops. The event followed President Salva Kiir’s announcement that Riek Machar Teny had been plotting a coup and Machar’s removal from the office of the vice president. The conflict became ethnic immediately, the soldiers from the Dinka ethnic group, supporting Kiir, and the Nuer ethnic group, aligning with Machar, started the war. The reason why a political issue turned into a military action was that the army was rather a militia and the organization of the “troops” was based on their ethnicity. Moreover, the military groups that had been organized around the president had been arranged by ethnicity. So, to some extent, the poorly institutionalized army and the ethnic diversity of the participants had predetermined the conflict that remains acute to these days.
Is it possible for the US to stop the conflict? The United States showed South Sudan diplomatic support while facilitating its independence, which means the American government could have an influence on the current situation as well. Before the civil war of 2013, the US supported the new South Sudanese government, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (“Civil War in South Sudan,” 2018). However, in the current situation, there is no realistic way for the US to stop the war, as neighboring countries, or, especially, the African Union should take the initiative. Even though the United States has imposed sanctions on both sides of the conflict, it is clear that the country does not have the legal mechanisms the AU have to regulate the situation.
International Treaties
Although the EU is mainly an economic treaty, it also has a security component. Currently, the European Union includes 28 states. For years, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was exclusively responsible for the EU’s defense and security (Howorth, 2014). However, it is clear that the treaty lacks security capability. The Cold War and the Balkan Wars showed the importance of building a strong military force within the European Union. The Common Foreign Security Policy (1992) was created to address the strategies of the EU to cover its security and military issues. Later, The Saint-Malo Declaration (1998) was established forming the essential steps the European Union needed to improve its defense matters. The document stated that the treaty should be able to act autonomously and have the ability for independent action, such as military forces and the readiness to use them in case of international crisis (Howorth, 2014). To this day, the approach, referred to as The European Security and Defense Policy (2016), remains the core part of the EU’s strategy of crisis management. The defense forces of the European Union currently include the armed forces of the member states and multinational forces. Many institutions such as the European Defense Agency and the EU Military Staff support the EU’s military operations. EU forces have also implemented peacekeeping missions in Africa, Western Balkans, and Western Asia. Over the last few years, the importance of the EU’s security has grown with the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, the British withdrawal from the Union in 2016, and the election of Donald Trump as the US president in 2016. The quality of defense cooperation between the states has increased too. It is safe to say that the EU is in the process of building a strong military force while practicing the peacekeeping approach.
References
Civil War in South Sudan (2018). Web.
Howorth, J. (2014). Security and defense policy in the European Union (2nd ed.). London, England: Palgrave.