Seeking 'truth' after devastating, multi-layered conflict: The complex case of transitional justice in South Sudan

In August 2015, the Government of South Sudan and other parties to the country’s civil conflict signed a peace agreement, the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, aimed at ending the civil conflict that broke out on 15 December 2013. After this agreement failed to hold, South Sudan descended into a second wave of civil conflict. A recommitment to the agreement was secured through regional efforts on 12 September 2018. Dubbed the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, the agreement provides a transitional justice architecture which includes a truth commission, a hybrid court and a reparations authority. This paper examines the potential of the proposed Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing to contribute towards sustainable transitional justice solutions in South Sudan, based on contemporary standards and practice of transitional justice. Through historical, descriptive and analytical approaches, the paper grapples with South Sudan’s complex truth-seeking journey following years of multi-layered conflict.