By every conceivable measure, South Sudan is a nation in acute crisis. According to the World Bank, 80% of the South Sudanese population live below the international poverty line, only 1% of people have access to electricity, and, last month, a UN Security Council delegation warned another full-fledged civil war could break out at any moment.
What South Sudan has in abundance, however, are guns, violence and US sanctions preventing the government from helping its people.
South Sudan is the embodiment of many ills that affect the world – colonialism, militarisation, civil war, climate change, famine and sexual violence.
By the mid-20th century, Sudan, encompassing what is now South Sudan and Sudan, began to fill with firearms. By 1966, the country had received about 30 000 G3 rifles from West…