December 15, 2017, marked 4 years of a political turmoil in an independent South Sudan. This has culminated in the country’s widespread insecurity, an unmatched humanitarian tragedy, and a heightening economic distress. This misery deepens as a host of efforts to stamp the instability continue to falter, one after another. Since 2014, several political settlements have been reached and nearly all of them have failed wholesale. The latest Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoH), signed on December 21, 2017, as part of another attempt to rescue and put life into a previous agreement, raised hopes for peace in South Sudan once again. The recent agreement, a constituent of the IGAD’s High Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF), supposedly allows for the revival of the Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan, popularly known as the ARCSS. The ARCSS, signed in 2015, committed to addressing a political grievance mainly among SPLM
splintered groups — SPLM-IG, SPLM-IO, and Former Detainees.
