Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Andrews and Mr. Elliott for their contributions. I read their submission before coming to the meeting and in light of it and what they said earlier, I would like to try to get a politics or tribal-ethnic complexities involved. The word "government" is applied in order to apply pressure on the NGO sector. Will our guests explain the political context of what is involved? South Sudan has a President and, I presume, a government. President Kiir is in situ but the former Vice President, Riek Machar, has broken away. There is a crossover in terms of the words "tribal" and "ethnic". Will our guests explain the nature of the conflict? I understand that a tribe is a tribe but does the ethnic aspect refer to two tribes fighting each other or are matters more complex?

It is both frightening and unbelievable to contemplate that 2.5 million people have died as a result of this conflict and that a further 1.5 million have been displaced.