South Sudan was born of hope.

Today, that hope is fraying.

Seven years after a peace deal that was meant to close the chapter on its civil war, the country again teeters toward chaos.

The accord’s promises of security reform, constitutional renewal, and elections have all but stalled.

Rival factions within the government trade blame, opposition voices are sidelined, and arrests of critics have become routine.

The UN warns that “a breaking point is becoming visible.”

With elections due in 2026, the contest for power risks tipping back into bloodshed.

Meanwhile, the war in Sudan has spilled over, sending more than a million refugees into a country already struggling to feed its own people.

Violence is once again flaring in Jonglei and Upper Nile, where ambushes and bombings echo old wounds.

Over seven million people now face acute hunger.

Women lead reconciliation efforts at the village level but remain shut out of national politics, far below the 35% representation promised in the peace accord.

“There could be no worse moment to look away,” warned Sima Bahous of UN Women.

For a nation barely out of its adolescence, the danger is cruelly familiar: to win peace on paper, only to lose it in practice.