In the years leading up to the secession of South Sudan from Sudan, the narrative being proposed by the media and many Christian polemics, insisted that the Christian majority south of Sudan needed a separate state because of the brutality and genocide they face from the Muslim majority north of the country. So, in 2005 talks between rival factions began which eventually led to the 2011 split up of the North African country. Thus, South Sudan was now going to be a utopia of Christian rule and freedom from the brutality of Muslims whose only purpose it seemed was to oppress the feeble South Christian majority.

That was the narrative, and now that the Christian majority south is free from their Muslim oppressors, what happened? Well, nothing changed. As it turned out, South Sudan is unstable more now, than it ever was. The narrative given before couldn’t work now, Muslims couldn’t be blamed, suddenly the massacres by Christians against Christians in South Sudan is based on ethnic tribal disputes and not based on religion. Varying Christian majority ethnic groups began to kill and fight for control of the new country:

The country has been in turmoil since President Salva Kiir accused Mr Machar a week ago of attempting a coup. The BBC’s former Sudan correspondent James Copnall says the situation now looks very much like civil war. At least 500 people have been killed since the fighting began with the government struggling to keep control of the capital, Juba. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on both men to “find a political way out of this crisis”. – BBC News.

Continuing since the inception of the newest country in the world, in December 2013 massacres en masse began occurring by the Christian majority ethnic groups:

Thousands of people must have been killed in the past week of violence in South Sudan, the top UN humanitarian co-ordinator there has told the BBC. Toby Lanzer, who is in Bentiu in northern Unity state, said it had been “a devastating week for South Sudan”. The UN Security Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to almost double the number of peacekeepers to 12,500. Earlier President Salva Kiir said his forces had recaptured the key town of Bor days after it was seized by rebels. – BBC News.

As of last week, another genocide occurred, leaving over 1 million Christians reeling from the fighting and blood shedding by their co-religionists:

Hundreds of people were killed because of their ethnicity after South Sudan rebels seized the oil hub of Bentiu last week, the UN has said. They were targeted at a mosque, a church and a hospital, the UN Mission in South Sudan said in a statement. It added that hate speech was broadcast on local radio stations, saying certain groups should leave the town and urging men to rape women. The Nuer community are seen as supporters of rebel leader Riek Machar. President Salva Kiir is a member of the country’s largest group, the Dinka. Although both men have prominent supporters from various communities, there have been numerous reports of rebels killing ethnic Dinkas and the army targeting Nuers since the conflict broke out in December 2013. Since then, more than a million people have fled their homes in what was already among the world’s poorest nations. – BBC News.

It would seem then, that when South Sudan was given independence all the violent and maniac Muslim crazies killing the innocent Christians in the south, stopped and disappeared into thin air. Following that magical occurrence, the massacres between the Christian majority south ethnic groups began to happen. It’s tragic how this narrative has developed. Muslims were demonized for what we can call the benefit of no one, when the real issue was the violence between the ethnically divided Christian majority south. This had nothing to do with Muslims. It had everything to do with inter-religious, tribal, Christian violence in the south of the country.

What a shame.

and God knows best.