By Matik Kueth
The ongoing conflict in South Sudan is often framed along ethnic lines, particularly between the Dinka and Nuer communities, but a leading lawmaker says this characterization oversimplifies the real drivers of violence.
In an exclusive interview with King Media on Thursday, James Kok Ruea, Member of Parliament representing Fangak County in the National Transitional Legislative Assembly (NTLA), said the root cause of South Sudan’s instability lies in leadership failures rather than inter-ethnic rivalries.
“Riek has never pronounced one day that this fighting or this war is waging. He is waging it against Dinka. The fact that the majority who supported Riek are from Nuer does not mean that the fighting that is happening is between Nuer and the Dinka,” Ruea said.
Ruea, a veteran of South Sudan’s liberation struggle, argued that the framing of the conflict as a Dinka-Nuer feud is a deliberate distortion.
“People who have their own interests are always portraying this kind of situation along ethnic lines. Because they have their own intention,” he explained.
He added, “The fighting that is happening is between the IO as an organization of rebels. Whether the majority are Nuer or not, you should not call this war between Dinka and the Nuer.”
According to him, the leadership failures that triggered the 2013 civil war continue to shape the country’s political crises today.
He highlighted the SPLM leadership’s inability to manage the transition from a liberation movement to governing a sovereign state after independence in 2011.
“The conflict of 2013 was actually that the SPLM leadership did not discipline themselves. They thought that they were still in the bush,” he said.
Ruea argued that critical planning for a new nation was ignored and instead rushed to scarce resources because some individuals were impatient.
“SPLM would have asked itself, now we are going to have a new country. Are we ready to govern? Because spraying 47 bullets is different from managing people and managing resources,” he noted.
He pointed to rushed elections, weak institutions, and the lack of a national vision as key mistakes that undermined stability.
The MP also criticized the Revitalized Peace Agreement, calling it more destructive than constructive.
“Honestly speaking, this peace agreement was made to destroy South Sudan. It was made to make people of South Sudan cycle around, struggling for themselves, struggling for their economy,” he stated.
He condemned the inflated number of ministers, vice presidents, and parliamentarians as unsustainable and a recipe for continued conflict.
Ruea stressed that the solution requires collective responsibility from all South Sudanese.
“It is we who say we want to live in peace. It is not a particular group of people. It must be a collective responsibility,” he said, urging citizens to consider whether they want to continue the cycle of violence or pursue stability, prosperity, and permanent peace.
He further reassured that South Sudan’s divisions are the product of leadership failures and unfulfilled governance, not a simplistic Dinka-Nuer conflict.
Addressing these failures, he insists, is the only path toward sustainable peace.