Women hold South Sudanese society together amid war

Constance Langoya, 50, left, and Agnes Aliardo, 37, are neighbors in the High Jerusalem neighborhood of Juba, South Sudan. (Global Sisters Report/Chris Herlinger)
Constance Langoya, 50, left, and Agnes Aliardo, 37, are neighbors in the High Jerusalem neighborhood of Juba, South Sudan. (Global Sisters Report/Chris Herlinger)

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The story of a puzzling, confounding and needless war is the story of women.

How is that possible? In South Sudan, women don't fight wars, you might say. But women, as well as children, are war's most vulnerable victims. They make up the majority of those living in displacement camps. And women are targets of men at war -- targets of violence, particularly sexual violence.

For the moment, an uneasy peace -- born from several peace agreements, one that collapsed and one that still has yet to prove durable -- has settled over a country where civil conflict has taken a steep toll during the last half year. (And that follows a decadeslong war of independence from Sudan.)

But the conflict in South Sudan, say some observers, may not yet be over, and women have been leaders in grass-roots demonstrations to end the conflict.

Read the full story at Global Sisters Report.

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