The report, "Rescuing the Peace in Southern Sudan," marks five years since the signing of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and southern rebels, which ended a 22-year civil war that left 2 million people dead and 4 million homeless. Now aid groups say the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement -- signed Jan. 9, 2005 -- is on the brink of collapse.
"It is not yet too late to avert disaster, but the next 12 months are a crossroads for Africa's largest country," said report co-author Maya Mailer, a policy adviser for Oxfam.
Tim McKulka, AFP / Getty Images
Persons displaced by violence and poverty in southern Sudan wait for food distribution in May, 2009.
Meanwhile, word of fresh violence emerged Thursday. News agencies quoted a deputy governor as saying up to 140 people were killed this week in clashes between tribesmen and cattle herders in Tonj, one of the most remote areas of south Sudan.
In 2009, about 2,500 people were killed and 350,000 fled their homes in southern Sudan -- a human toll greater than in Darfur in the country's west, the report said.
"Last year saw a surge in violence in southern Sudan. This could escalate even further and become one of the biggest emergencies in Africa in 2010," Mailer said in a release by Oxfam.
The report warns that the lack of development in southern Sudan also harms chances of keeping the peace there.
Less than half the population has access to clean water. Maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the world. And there are fewer than 30 miles of paved road in the entire region -- an area the size of France. During heavy rains, many villages are cut off for months at a time, making delivery of humanitarian aid almost impossible, the report said. About 80 percent of adults cannot read or write. One in seven children dies before the age of 5.
"After five years of peace, southern Sudan remains one of the poorest regions on earth," Francisco Roque, country director of Save the Children in South Sudan, said in a release accompanying the report. "People hoped the peace would bring economic benefits and development, but this has happened far too slowly and in some areas not at all."
All this is happening as the situation in Darfur remains one of the world's biggest humanitarian emergencies. Thursday's report warns that sustainable peace in Darfur would be impossible if the 5-year-old truce between the north and south were allowed to fail.
The 2005 peace deal brought together former enemies: President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party, an Arab-dominated party from the country's north, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, a rebel group from the south.
But five years on, tensions are flaring. In April, the country is scheduled to hold general elections -- the first nationwide polls in 24 years. The oil-rich south is due to hold a referendum on independence next year.
To safeguard civilians at this fragile juncture, the aid agencies are urging the U.N. Security Council to ensure that protecting civilians becomes a core priority for the U.N. peacekeeping force in the area. The report also calls on the international community to help mediate between northern and southern parties before the elections and referendum, to reduce the likelihood of conflict, and to support the government in the south to provide security.
The international director for Christian Aid, Paul Valentin, warned that a return to conflict would have devastating consequences that extend far beyond southern Sudan.
"Sustained diplomatic engagement from the international community, including Sudan's neighbors, is what is needed. This helped achieve what many thought was impossible and secure the peace agreement in the first place," Valentin said in a statement.
"Now engagement is needed again to ensure all that effort does not go to waste. A return to war is by no means inevitable, but it depends whether the world heeds the warning signs of the past year and has the political will to save the peace," he said.
Thursday's report was issued jointly by 10 aid agencies: Christian Aid, Cordaid, Handicap International, Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam International, Save the Children Sudan, Caritas, TearFund and World Vision.
