In recent months more people have died in tribal violence in South Sudan than have died in the war torn region of Darfur according to UN special representative for Sudan Ashraf Qazi. South Sudan has been facing tribal conflicts that have claimed the lives of hundreds, displacing thousands.
Several militias were backed by the northern government to disrupt the stability and unity of the south during the long lasting civil war that claimed the lives of some 2 million people. Southern Sudanese officials say that the wounds from inter ethnic conflicts have yet to be healed.
Peace and stability in Southern Sudan is vital for the upcomming elections in 2010 which will be a milestone in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Yet Sothern Sudan's President Salva Kiir says that he anticipates the violence to worsen before the elections. He blames the violence on elements that wish to prove that the South is incapable of maintaining stability with the new status of semi-autonomy.
