May 26, 2014 (SSNA) -- SPLM is at it again using lies, intrigues and deception to dilute the provision of interim government in the agreement of 9^th May 2014 between President Salvatore Kiir and Dr Riek Machar in Addis Ababa. It is not a secret that the government of President Kiir abhors the idea of interim government. The Vice President James Wani Igga and other members of the cabinet have made their views on the subject very clear in the last couple of weeks prior to the agreement expressing their dislike to this noble idea. In their utterance, they went as far as saying they would not allow an interim government to happen in South Sudan.

As a result of pressure from the international community, SPLM had no other option but to sign up to the agreement.  The government of President Kiir is now desperately trying to wriggle out of it. In its endeavour to unhook itself, it has decided to silence the internal front, especially the prominent stakeholders inside the country. The government appears to have taken this position to disempower these groups to enable it eventually to face down the external front (Riek’s group and the SPLM G11) without internal noises.

Since its inception, whenever SPLM has found itself in a difficult situation, they revert to the people with cries of danger! Danger! Danger! But if the supposedly trumpeted danger is carefully examined, what comes out is a dirty trick to disempower the people with the intention to cling to power. I shall elaborate on this point somewhere further on in this article in relation to how SPLM tricked the South Sudan opposition parties in 2008 to consolidate power.

Dirty tricks are exactly what unfolded in the country on Monday 19^th May 2014. Unexpectedly and suddenly the government made an announcement over Radio South Sudan at 8.00 p.m. local time calling on all the leaders of the political parties, civil society organisations and church organisations to attend what was said to be a briefing on the following day by the government delegation to the negotiations at Addis Ababa.

On Tuesday 20^th May 2014, during this so called briefing, Michael Makuei and Bashir Gbendi supported by Joseph Ukel and others ostensibly presented a twisted picture of the talks in Addis Ababa. They argued that the government was facing serious problems which they outlined as follows:

1) That the number of the stakeholders is too big and that they must consider opting for a small number of political parties to represent them.

2) That there is a western conspiracy to deal badly with the government and it is incumbent on all to support the government which is facing external conspiracy.

3) That IGAD mediators are coming on 28^th May 2014 to advice on the modalities of representation at the talks and as such there is going to be a meeting of political parties soon to consider a joint position of all which will be given to IGAD.

4) That this is not a time for federalism.

These points encapsulating the concern of the government on face value, constitute a serious national problem especially when phrases like “external conspiracy” are taken into consideration. But, hold on! Without us being swept away by emotions and fear, it is imperative to look closely at these issues point by point.

First, the government claim that the number of the stakeholders is too big and therefore they must consider opting for a small number of political parties to represent them, is a very strange assertion because at the core of it, there is the intent to take away the right of expression and participation of the stakeholders concerned. By doing this the process obviously becomes undemocratic which defeats the logic of ‘South Sudanese’ finding solutions to the problems of the country. Why should the stakeholders be represented by a small number of political parties that they do not support? Here it can clearly be discerned that the small number of political parties referred to are those parties that have allied themselves with the government. 

In addition, the assertion works stealthily as an indirect recruitment process for these parties which in turn strengthens them and weakens the people. It is important for this small number of political parties to be identified. So the question is then, which are the small parties and what would be the criteria for their preferential treatment? Above all, why do Makuei et al want to disempower the people? In whose interest is the muzzling of the people? Is it in the interest of the SPLM or the country? 

Given what has happened in the country, the size and numbers of the stakeholders is irrelevant because they are stakeholders and they must be listened to. Further to this the cost and funding would not be borne by the government of South Sudan but IGAD and the internal community. A critical look clearly shows that the government has no point to make here other than it wants to disempower the people and recruit new members to its satellite parties. Therefore, the government is using buzz words to silence the people to dilute the provision of the interim government.

Secondly, the government claim that it has knowledge of a conspiracy by the west to deal badly with the government, is groundless and dangerous. Whipping up panic to gain support is not a good way to deal with sensitive issues. The government should know that some people (for instance, the crude and ruthless security) could literally take what they say seriously thereby creating serious risk to citizens of western countries living in South Sudan. The government needs to be aware of their responsibility and duty of care. Such loose talk can create hatred and lead to an unnecessarily negative outcome.

But let us suppose that their claim is true, why are they not specifically naming the countries involved in this conspiracy and the nature of the conspiracy itself? The truth is that the western countries (Troika, Canada and EU) have been excessively lenient towards president Kiir and his murderous government. The evidence to this can be seen in the way the western countries have kept quiet about the grave crimes against humanity committed in Juba. So far the western countries armed with full knowledge of the atrocities have refused to refer the case to International Criminal Court (ICC). 

Given this information, why should South Sudanese buy the government story? The real problem why Juba hates the west is due to the west’s support for an interim government as the initial solution to the wider democratisation of South Sudan. If this is the case, why is it a bad thing when the government has failed to carry out its cardinal duty to protect its citizens? Makuei et al need to be transparent. Seeking blanket support for the government through lies framed around ‘external conspiracy’ clouded with intimidation should not be bought by South Sudanese. It is the government that unnecessarily created the current mess and it is the government that invited external conspiracy by bringing Uganda into South Sudan to soar up a tribal system.   Thus the real external conspiracy threat comes from president Kiir’s closest ally in the region. Please watch NBS Morning Breeze South Sudan at a glance and read Sudan Tribune report titled, ‘South Sudan defence minister flies to Uganda amid rebel demands for foreign forces to withdraw’. Here are the links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLpkUZpJw1o and http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article51103 

In the Sudan Tribune report, President Kiir’s trusted ally not only rubbishes him but actually severely undermines the sovereignty of South Sudan with the following factual but undiplomatic comment. “I (President Yoweri Museveni) have never called the United Nations to guard your (Uganda) security. Me, Yoweri Museveni, to say that I have failed to protect my people and I call in the UN.  I would rather hang myself. We prioritised national security by developing a strong army otherwise our Uganda would be like DRC, South Sudan, Somalia or Nigeria where militias have disappeared with school children. It would be a vote of no confidence to our country (Uganda) and citizens if we can’t guarantee our security. What kind of persons would we be?”

South Sudanese are not fools to be corralled into supporting the real culprit in South Sudan which is the government of president Kiir. If anybody buys this nonsense outlined by Makuei et al and supports this murderous government, know that you will in the near future find yourself a target of this tribal system as others have now found out at a high cost.

Thirdly, in the meeting of the parties, South Sudanese should carefully watch and note those parties that sign up to the government agenda.   Those who sign up will have sold out their rights to participation in shaping their own future in the country in the historic talks in Addis Ababa. With all that have taken place in the country, it would only be opportunists and unpatriotic parties that would let down the aspiration of the people for a proper interim government that will work towards a peaceful South Sudan. When thinking about South Sudan now, it is absolutely important to ask the question: who started the war, where and why? Then further ask the question - why are there talks in Addis Ababa? 

The answer to the first question identifies the aggressor, the place of aggression and provides explanation to the context. The answer to the second question points to a search for solutions. The talks are important because of the horrendous events of 15^th December 2013 followed by the resistance mounted by Dr Riek Machar and others. The consequence of President Kiir’s action has been catastrophic pushing the country into war with expected severe famine forecasted to lead into huge loss of lives.

The talks in Addis Ababa did not come easily. Here, Riek must be commended. It is his resistance that triggered it. The South Sudanese fed up of being misgoverned by SPLM rightly decided to speak out and as a result they called for peace and an interim government. Please see, ‘A new and neutral government is the only solution to South Sudan’s problems’ http://allafrica.com/stories/201402241138.html South Sudan has paid dearly for these talks to happen. These talks offer the best opportunity for South Sudanese to sort out the mess created by president Kiir and his SPLM. 

Fourthly, Bashir Gbendi, the newly pacified Equatorian puppet argues that this is not the time for federalism. When then is the right time for federalism? As far as Equatorians are concerned federalism should have been in operation right from 2005. The issue of federalism can not be wished away. For Gbendi to present the issue of federalism to the stakeholders as something not desirable and essential is an insult on the people of Equatoria as a whole. This is understandable because the tribal system in Juba is intolerant of federalism since it will not allow them to use state power as now for promoting their interest. However, this is more the reason why stakeholders must not sell out, so that the will of the South Sudanese people is heard clearly and understood in the talks in Addis Ababa.

The idiom “A leopard can’t change its spots” is true in the case of the SPLM. This trick that they are now using to rally support to the government was applied in 2008 to disempower the political parties in South Sudan to ensure the political space was prepared for SPLM to monopolise power. Using the overall interest of South Sudan to secede, knowing very well that SPLM’s main objective of united Sudan had lost currency; SPLM paradoxically wrapped itself in separatist garment and went to shamelessly masquerade as a unifier of South Sudanese people, when in fact it was the divider of South Sudanese by firing their first bullets at the separatists in 1983. 

In a foxy pretence the SPLM brought all the opposition parties under an umbrella called “The Alliance of South Sudanese political parties”.  Then it tricked this alliance to nominate Kiir as the only candidate for the presidency of South Sudan autonomous region in the general election of April 2010 in the then Sudan. This was accepted by the political parties in good faith. Once the general election was held and Kiir won the election, SPLM reneged on all the promises it made. Please see the position paper of the alliance which President Kiir signed up to and later tore it to pieces. It is arguable had Kiir kept his promise, perhaps South Sudan would not be in the current predicament. http://pachodo.org/latest-news-articles/pachodo-english-articles/1965-position-of-south-sudan-political-parties-on-the-transition

Now the SPLM has come again with the same trick to outwit the stakeholders to ensure that they become the only power in Addis Ababa mandated by the people to face Riek et al and the SPLM G121 in order to increase its chances of maintaining power under president Kiir. In this game what matters is the use of language of national security and subtle threats to frighten and browbeat the people into submission.  

Therefore, all the political parties, civil society organisations and faith based groups regardless of their numbers need to be in Addis Ababa to express their views and bring about a lasting peace. They can not afford to sell out their rights to a tribal system and certainly they should not cave in to intimidation and threats. If they are intimidated, they should call for emergency general meetings of their parties to seek a mandate on the issue. Alternatively, they should report their difficulties to the mediators and boycott the talks. This in itself will send a message to the mediators and the international community that something is not right. Parties behaving like wild whores have no place in the emerging South Sudan. Hence, the talk of big numbers and external conspiracy flashed by Makuei et al, is nothing but hogwash to deceive the people to support Kiir’s failed administration to cling to power.

[Truth hurts but it is also liberating]

The author lives in the Republic of South Sudan. He can be reached at elhagpaul@aol.com.

May 26, 2014 (SSNA) -- What does the word “I remained the President and will always be the President” signify to the citizens of South Sudan and the world at large?

Well, most of people have taken the statement of the President seriously because I followed some posts on social Media pages like tweeter, face book denouncing and condemning what Mayardit said out of emotion as abuse of public office when he (Kiir) arrived at Juba International Airport from Ethiopia where the document was signed between the Government of South Sudan and the Sudan People Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM/IO) headed by  Dr Machar as rebel leader.

Moreover, others said President always has no good public relations and communications techniques in his speeches and other term the President as the speechless leader globally. And on other hand, other are judging the magnitude and the weight the word from the President carries.

After reading and viewing at the same time what the President of South Sudan Salvatore Kiir Mayardit, said when he was addressing International Communities and Regional Governments in Ethiopian Capital Addis-Ababa on the 9^th of May 2014, I was very surprised why my President aired an irritating word that demoralized audiences across the globe.

Absolutely, in diplomacy and foreign Politics President Kiir has lost his credibility and trust from foreign diplomats and International Communities as well due to the fact that, after he (Kiir) signed a document on Friday 9^th of May 2014 with Dr Machar in Ethiopia, he claimed of being forced to sign by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) proposed agenda that aim at bringing peace and harmony to South Sudanese.

After his return to Juba, he told his cabinets that, he was forced to sign a document which was not his wish. Realistically, what kind of a leader is Mayardit in the eyes of South Sudanese? How can you signed a document when you have not agree with what is contain in the context of the document?

For real, what signify that statement in intellectual context? But for some people who have known the mind of the President in and out, the word he said carries no meaning in the peace process rather than exposing him (Mayardit) to the world that he has got some gaps upstairs and has no experiences in strategic Communication and Public Relations as well.  What a disgrace?

Nevertheless, I don’t know whether Kiir has got speech writers who can evaluate his speech before addressing any gathering. What I know internationally is that, for any President worldwide, he/she must have good speech writers that have specialized in Communication, Public Relations and English as well.

It was like a joke for him the President to say that ambiguous statement but he was not sure that  statement “ I remained and will always remained the President “was too bad for a Country like South Sudan that need peace and harmony at this particular period of time. Truly speaking, where is South Sudan as the Country heading to?

In Public Relations “Giving a necked statement to the public’s, sometimes when you are a politician reduces your audiences in politics” like what Mayardit said, need good evaluation and analytical monitoring mechanism from the International Communities and the people of South Sudan as well. 

Hence this is a very crucial time to document what the head of the State emphasis or aired out.  

Well for author of this article think, this is a good reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to document before they forget. That word “I MUST be the President always “is enough evidence to be document for further future indictment ,because realistically and logically, whether people like it or not President Kiir MUST be trailfor the crimes against humanity and abusing  South Sudanese in the eye of the World.

Justification of President Kiir Statement

What I have visualized and contextualized from President Kiir speech in Addis-Ababa is that, he was not meaning what he said but because of no good tactics and art of public speaking in him, he aired out a word that might bring him problem tomorrow or in the nearer future. Let the world and the people of South Sudan at large forgive Mr. Kiir Mayardit.

However, no one on earth can be a permanent President because there is death that is waiting for each and every one. What I have viewed is that, he was forced to sign something which was not his wish because at the first, he said no Interim or Transitional government formation in South Sudan and now, it is the U turns. Very interesting indeed!!!

The author holds Bachelor Degree in Journalism and Mass Communications and he is Independent Journalist and Columnist who had written extensively on the issues of Democratization and Human Rights in South Sudan. You can contact him through;petergai2006@gmail.com.

Nairobi, May 26, 214 (SSNA) --

In an exclusive interview with the South Sudan News Agency, Amum said he did not write any article and that he is stunned to learn this morning [Monday] that a fake article with his name as the author has been published in media outlets.

“I didn’t write the article, it was not written by anyone from the SPLM’s senior leaders, and the leadership of the SPLM doesn’t endorse or recognize such a letter or an article”, Amum told the South Sudan News Agency by phone on Monday.

Amum also said he is not going to issue a public statement, at least for now, asserting that the people of South Sudan know him better.

“You know, I am not going to issue an official statement at this time, South Sudanese know me, and I want them to know that I am not the author”, he continued.

“The people of the Republic of South Sudan should ask the blogs that published that [bogus] article with my name on it”, Amum added.

Late last week, an article titled: “Pagan Amum: Pagan Amum: SPLM Former Political Detainees are decided, not undecided”, has outraged so many South Sudanese with some people calling for the Former SPLM Secretary General to come clean on the matter.

In the piece, the writer claims that all senior leaders of the SPLM who opposed Kiir’s leadership style didn’t choose Former South Sudanese Vice president Dr. Machar as their leader. The author also added that the killing of Nuer in Juba should not be used as a ploy for war.

Cairo, May 24, 2014 (SSNA) -- I am very disappointed seeing SPLM Former Detainees to be neural in this conflict while we have lost many lives in South Sudan and the killing is still continuing in the country. The SPLM Former Detainees were with Dr Riek Machar and his team to reformed the party as they mentioned last December and we the South Sudanese people thought that these SPLM’s Former Detainees were seeking ways to reform the party and this came out as result into the ethnic killing in the country and this shows us that SPLM Former Detainees were not happy because they lost their positions in the government and that was why they are against the government of South Sudan.

The SPLM’s Former Detainees were coming out in a big number on December 6^th 2013 against President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the South Sudanese thought these people will bring developments in this country and they are not happy with Kiir’s regime.

The SPLM’s Former Detainees were in the government from 2005 until 2013 and there was no development in the country and 4 billion US dollars were stolen by this group as President Kiir said in the year 2013. I want to tell you that if you want to be good in the of eye of International Community in order to seek power in this way, you will not get any leadership in the country because you are the same people who were working in the government and if you think that you are good people than President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar Teny, this is absolutely wrong and this will destroy your politics in the future.

I am here urging the government of South Sudan and SPLM/A in Opposition to bring lasting peace in the country because our innocent people are dying day and night, this will come from two Parties, not the SPLM Former Detainees because they want to confuse the world that they are good people and they are talking without Army. Who will listen to them while they looted billions of dollars when they were in the government in the absence of education, health and others essential public services?

There is no need for you to be neural in this conflict because you are a major part of this problem and now you are looking yourselves to lead the transitional government and my advice to you is better for you to side with government or SPLM/A In Opposition, or you should go home and do your own businesses. Nobody will believe in you in coming the future and selfishness doesn't work as I know that many children, women, elderly and youth were killed in this conflict and the blood is still bleeding up to now.

God bless South Sudan!

Bayak Chuol Puoch is the Former Chairperson of the Nuer Community in Egypt.

“My people perish due to lack of knowledge and understanding of things” , Prophet Joel long ago warned the populaces in the remotes land of Judah more than thousandths years ago.

May 22, 2014 (SSNA) -- The great Bull, Deng Kuajok, the Bull who walks with his children in the bush. Be not discourage my children, a watchful man is herding you.

A man who prays to the sun and moon, ever to the storms, the great bull Deng Kuajok the bull who looks after his children in the bush, be not surprised, for he will gather you up without hurrying.

Deng guards you; someone who refuses to walks with Deng will not gather together with Deng’s children, but will be alone someone who refuses to walks with divinity will not gather with Deng’s children, but will be alone

Numerous have been debating about Prophet Ngundeng. Other did it as critics; other perceives him as a divining and other leveled him as a historian. Some people indeed dismiss his existence and sections of individuals has tussle with divine as a mythical or just a simple Legend ever lived in Nuer land whose tales can only be preach to children.

No matter how you want to approach Ngundeng whether as a historian, divine, legend or decides to dismiss him, one thing remain substantial, Prophet Ngundeng ever walked on earth with a traditional tenets like Jesus Christ and other biblical prophets. His ability to foretell is a threat both to friends and enemies. He has the qualities of teaching his people through songs for the future generations and his divine power to heal not only bothering the attention of outsiders even his haters does.

Taking into consideration this strange perhaps confusing of what our messy country is unto, one failed to look back and take into accounts historical events hundreds years back occurred. Prophet Ngundeng is among the dispatch rider.

HIS BIRTH PLACE

Born as Ngundeng meaning, “God given” due to his peculiar proceedings surrounding his birth.  His mother a terrific odd woman who conceded beyond the age of giving birth was from central Nuer of Nyirol the present day of Uror County. Just like any other world historical women both in the bible and in real life. Nyayiel was whispered to have lived beyond the thinking of nature blessing one with children and the pain of enduring life without a child can barely be trace back from biblical stories of prominent women like Hanna, Elizabeth and Sarah.

Consequently, we can mull over this as a miraculous event that can merely be lather on how his mother spent her youth life and her old age in shames and mockery among friends and relatives of her hubby’s and likes. It’s something which today would bury medical checkup and different approach of modern science and technology. By that time there were no hospitals to praise the miracles of scientific knowledge. One dies with no child or some kind of miracle like the substitutes of what has happened to Nyayiel could only be the option.

Belonging to famous age-mate goes by the name Thut-wielang an extremely rather elderly age mate made up of 70 years and above. This is not only unbelievable but the reality we all must learn to accept and confronts.  

At this age one can only lapse in fact the solitary of God given child can lives among mankind. And exactly that is what has happened. Ngundeng was born rather in an odd neighborhood of eastern Jikany Nuer where his father came from a sub-section of eastern Jikany Nuer of Ciecany massively today occupies the Gambella region of Ethiopia.

Bong Chan the direct descendent of Keir Kaak Keer, the father of today’s Nuer of Eastern Jikany of Latjoor married Nyayiel when she was only 10 years using the Nuer traditional norms of waiting young girls and put something in the hands until they gradually grow to that stage of womanhood. He had no idea the historical fate of his choice. He was a man of illustrious moral fiber like that of Abraham.

Bong Chan and Nyayiel Malual spent rest of their lives in legendary hopes of one day shall have the joy of their youth. God didn’t let them down indeed. And famous Ngundeng was born in their old ages turning the course of history in Nuerland for the next centuries and so into something else. Their exodus to Luoland was backed with interpretation of divine possession of Ngundeng by something people term as some kind of lunacy or stipends else he doesn’t and her mother fit to abundance in Gajaak Kier land of Eastern Jikany Nuer.  

HIS LEGACY

Many believed he died early 1906 a claimed made by historian professor Douglas H. Johnson, the man who returned the Dang or prophet’s Rod to south Sudan in May 2009.

Biey or Pyramid: Prophet Ngundeng for the next 50 years or so before the human civilization marked it right hole of 20^th century. He assembled the elders of Cush, black south Sudanese in old Sudan for what he brand as a grand formation of “Biey” for the next generations to see in a village called Wec Deng.

The purpose of Biey was not clear until the coming of historical Anthropologist Dr. Evan. E. Pritchard who took the pictures in 1923 and later he returned to England. The issues attracted the interest of Douglas H. Johnson enduring him to spend the rest of his adulthood learning about Nuer culture in Lou-Nuer land. Douglas is the biggest critics of prophet Ngundeng denying his prophecies and his magical power distorting their meaning with his advanced historical knowledge about black Africa.

Well, it’s hard to interpret Ngundeng songs and their implication about the future but not the like of Professor Douglas who decided to seek Nuer scholars’ helps to misinterpret these prophecies, seriously sound satirical.

While we largely respect and appreciate him for writing about Prophet Ngundeng, we can’t forget the other side of the story. The testimonies of our elders whose by that time Douglas didn’t reach into their villages and openly ignored them due to their illiteracy.

The stories of Ngundeng affect the entire Nuerland, Sudan as whole and the neighboring countries like Egypt and Ethiopia without forgetting Uganda and Kenya going to Somalia. The meaning of his legacy went up to England and living there for half a century until it was returned back.

DANG: Commonly known as prophet’s Rod, is the substantial evidences of Ngundeng and his atheist friends who officially claims that Ngundeng was mythological and a tale only befitting children to hear when going to bed. The official commemoration of Dang in Juba was known across the world not only to south Sudan but to palace of queen of England and the internet spread the news like a tsunamis quickly swallowing up half part of America while Japanese are deeply a sleep.

DRUMS AND TONYE: They were taken to Egypt and the fairy-tale goes that, they beats themselves at night until the authority in Alexandria decided to returned them to Khartoum.. Dr. Douglas stated that, they were returned to Lou-Nuer land in 1978 from Khartoum. 

GUEK NGUNDENG: It’s an amazing thing to notice that, Ngundeng like any other person ever lived on earth had a family and children. This is something real that we need to take into consideration. During my stays in UNMISS IDPs site in Tongping located near International Airport in Juba, from Dec 19 to 19 April, I talks to his grand great children and some of his extended family members. Though they look more mystified about this man they just heard about like any other person reading this. There was sense of surprise and pride in them about the legendary living in their linage.

Guek who died early in 1927 in the battle of Lou Nuer and British is another crucial fact to convince every sophisticated man dismissing the existence of prophet Ngundeng. From that very day, the prophet’s Rod was taken and lived in England for the next half of a century.

Though prophet Ngundeng survived the great historical episode of foray of Africa countries by European and Arabs of Middle East, he set up a path we are all today following.

The long lasting exploration for total freedom against foreign offensive and their interest in this land is highly welcome meeting the sudden resistance from where he raised his banner of resistance and fought them off only on self-defense.

He fought Turkish, England, Italy and Anglo-Egypt. That was from 1820-1903. Total resistance against foreign incursion has been our vision of self-determination.

TUNG KERNYANG

It was around sun set in the month of January of 1896 when men in disgust approached the historic village of Wecdeng hauling one man in meticulous whose servants around him seems wearied uncertainties beyond their mission. With mighty army stroll owed with Ethiopian traditional weapons and much stronger made from sacrosanct blacksmith from Amahara land on approach.

They vowed a distance before they finally crises crossed into the land of one man whose fame not only spread through the thick highlands of Ethiopia but goes beyond the advisories ears in the palace of King of kings, King Menelik II the descendent of King Solomon via beautiful Queen Sheba whose family ruled Ethiopia for period of more than 2, 000 years.

The name “Buony” took effect from that very day due to nature of king Menelik II vowing before the mighty assumed magician, prophet Ngundeng who promised them victories against their adversaries, the mighty Italy. Superciliously none speak Amharic by that time, Ngundeng Bong Chan friendly chatted with the peculiar neighbor who present their only problem as that of foreigner’s invasion something Ngundeng shared with them in common.

Taking into account battles He Ngundeng fought previously in self defense against England. That very evening both Ethiopia and Nuer shared one universal attachment of social relation that can never be stair away despite the bundles of odd between them. They spent several weeks before they finally walked away with one precious gift from Wecdeng. The famous Bull called Tung Kernyang.

As they made their famous march back to Ethiopia with few servants among them from Somali land, it appeared that, one servant in particular stolen prophet’s “Toich” groundnuts which they were offered to them as welcome popcorn to celebrate their coming. The story goes Ngundeng cursed them turning their teeth stained brown. It’s not about shewing khat or flourishing water full from the ground, then why if so it affects only the incisor?

In that summer of February, Tung Kernyang was offered to King of Ethiopia, Menelik II as sacrificial lamp to fight off invaders. As they walked away in gratitude, the man on chair looked around sung his first miracles song that bonded the two nations forever.  And there in purity he ordered his friends on court of universal spectacular to go and cut at least the tail that today defined the stays of massive south Sudanese in Ethiopia during their struggle and after struggle.

There on process, Ethiopia becomes the hubs course of African people waging unbeatable war against mighty world superpower in battles with riffles against sticks and pangs of Ethiopians. They won it leveling them on the current modern nations as a mass that wench them out of yoke of colonization.

With new spirit from Ngundeng blessing of Tung Kernyang. The combined forces of Africans slaves and Italy ran for their dear lives and on that fateful afternoon in the valley of Adwa on March 1896, king Menelik II became a man of distinction among his African friends and cross the globe.

It’s a legacy we all need to reflect on. The courtesy of Ngundeng Bong

HIS PROPHECIES

Ngundeng prophecies are hard to term but easy to understand if seriously mindful of their deep meaning and their implication about the future. One of the most historical ignorance of 21^st century is the person of Ngundeng and his prophecies. The worse is how south Sudanese twist them and turn away from them. They only vowed and reverend the Pops of Rome and believed men like Dr. Douglas H. Johnson when they say Ngundeng was a mad man who claims nonsense. They all say yes, but I say no he was a historical prophet.  

The returned of Dang predicted.

“Mi cia thuok ka ruac nooge dang, en mac thok eni nyuura” loosely translate;

If you have finish with the talks (debate) bring my Dang (Rod); I, the language grabber still seated.

The coming of King Menelik II in Wecdeng need to be trace with accurate translations of what Ngundeng is talking about. If we may not say Ngundeng don’t understand the language of different races and ethics, Ngundeng would either have been a mad man or something else of what people claims about him.  

Indeed after the so called intellectuals’ debates about the Dang, finally Dr. Douglas H. Johnson returned the Dang back home in May 2009. Here is the testimony of Dr. Douglas H. Johnson according to Martin Plaunt publication article of 06/03/2013 titled south Sudan: Riek Machar and prophet’s Rod.

“It happened that mine was covered in “fragile” stickers and bound by a large pink luggage strap but no one in Oxford station Paddington, or Heathrow raised an eyebrow or asked to see what was inside”.  Dang was inside that large pink luggage

That was the Dang passing through one of the most security tied on earth. Yet no single person in the entire station raised an alarm. Could this be coincidence that Deng was talking to these stations? Yet the story didn’t end there.

“Nor for that matter did anyone raise an alarm as I walked past customs in Jomo Kenyatta airport or when checking the boot of the taxi when we got to the Fairview Hotel (opposite the Israeli Embassy ), or checking the beg onto the flight to Juba. Either the disguise was entirely effective or security worldwide is lax”

And my friends here are seriously suggesting this was a coincidence or some kind of madness happening. Then let me send you away with one more last testimony from the historian.

“It was only later, after we had drives away that I realized that I was now in the Sudan quite illegally, as no one had examined and stamped my passport and travel permit, not to mention cleared my bags through customs. (I mentioned this to Riek later, and he laughed and said, “We will take care of it).

For those who attended the reception of Dang like Mary Boyo, it was in a material looking more of sniper bag. I wonder what silent the suspicious across the world that day, seriously a sniper bag?

Ngundeng not only talks about nature but the predicament that south Sudanese was to experience in the next generations. He concentrated more about war and peace.  

HIS PROPHECIES ABOUT WAR

“Afterward Mary told Deng Nhail Chiok later that she had a dream that a man was fighting the whole of southern Sudan, and that man is Riek. She started running but then a voice told her that those at the reception for the Dang were blessed”. This is purely Dr. Douglas testimonies about the dang.

“Ba rol buop ka ba tar cet ka mi ce bi ranh, bi thuuk dial ngot ni ke diw” loosely translates

I will turn the nation upside down facing upside down; like if it not going to approach; all mouths will continues speaking doubts.

The fact that Ngundeng sung them in songs he was a real historian and self seeking attention man who know that, he lives among the most uneducated people in south Sudan. So it wasn’t hard to calculate that, songs will be remembered for the next generations just like today. He was smart prophet.

In another occasion like a bush fire spreading across the shrubs of shalom in the valleys of Jordon, Ngundeng mentioned the current uprising of mighty White army and how the current Revolutionaries Leader Dr. Machar will be in certain kind of dilemma to control them in the second phase of liberation in the history of south Sudanese. That alone doesn’t fit the combined claims of Dr. Riek Machar being the chosen one. Rethink again.

But to some extend if prophecies will be in deliberation, it will shield how we interprets each verses in Ngundeng songs not as claims by Dr. Douglas H. Johnson as “many of the current prophecies being appointed to Riek are recent inventions”. I also dismiss the grooming of Riek in whatever thing Ngundeng didn’t talks about.

“Ci koak Keera da hoong, ci Teny ku gieer kene dayiom. Ba ji guari kon nak, ba ka nak ni ka nak Diu

My Keer (cows) graves are widely open; Teny and disciples are stranded. I will first kill the military officers; I will kill them like the killing of Diu.

The notion of Keer or cow here mean a lot during Ngundeng time on plot to used imagery. They always says in Nuer, human is God’s cow. So don’t worries going to the battle God of land will give you protection? This makes sense I guess. The stranding of Teny which he means Machar here is another food for thoughts too. Loosely trying to bring the loose coalition of white army and the current confectionist defected Spla soldiers is something I don’t want to proclaim alone.

His cows which are dying like flies is nothing but the unburied Nuer who were massacred in Juba and other south Sudanese not buried in this war. Their graves are widely open in most of the battles fought since December.

In UNMISS I chanted with an old man and when I asked him about the issues of ghosts town of Malakal why it keep exchanging hands between white army and government troops. He looked at me and cites the Ngundeng prophecies by singing them in songs. Very loudly until the whole issues made fame. One particular verse which I recorded attracted my attention.

“Riak Makal ban todt raar a bi mani jom” translated as such, town of Malakal we shall spend the autumn outside even Winter. We have a long way to go about Malakal.

COMING OF FOREIGNERS TROOPS PREDICTED.

Some of the prophecies of Ngundeng I wouldn’t dare go there due to their serious negative implication about the current crisis. He was a warrior. Prophet Ngundeng went too far to talks about the coming of foreigner’s troops in south Sudan.

“Kuar dang nguan ngot ni joor jalke jur ti kur ka bathdoori bi wang cuea da a cang kene paay”

Four leaders are yet to come with hundreds and thousands of strangers (force) on my right eyes will be sun and moon”

Here he exclusively talks about their defeat. The coming of Uganda and president’s mercenaries if it’s something to consider let closed the case of the four leaders. Perhaps he mean the extra president Kiir’s making the Egypt and Ethiopia, Uganda and Sudan to go into blames game of words over south Sudan issues until the whole thing public-ally take effect and turn onto regional war. Nobody is certain yet.

Then one asks, what Ngundeng means about “…..my right eyes will be sun and moon” this is why I can says Ngundeng prophecies are hard to term and translates. The elder I met didn’t explain this to me becuase I didn’t bother asking. I was very excited putting Egypt into the long list of still to come other three leaders to fight single hand tribe White Army and still will be defeated. Such a pride

In another occasion the prophet uttered these expensive but daring words of prophecies about south Sudan crisis. He talks about Nubian and Darfurians terming them as they will lose their marriage between him because they involve themselves into his family affair. Its heart breaking that, the rebels of Sudanese mingle themselves into south Sudan crisis leaving their Justice and Equality Movement. After this war, I doubt Darfur and Nubians will have what they called struggle. Their marriage between Ngundeng is coming to an end. Sad!!!!

Don’t forget it’s the same man who prophesied about the ten south Sudanese states. He talked about,

“ca beera da mat kena ber roal” my flag cannot be combined with that of (roal) Arabs. Dr. John Garang was just fighting something bigger than him. It was unfortunate. 

Prophet Ngundeng according to stories from our elders talks about the death of John Garang de Mabior in hills far away under different influence. The conspiracy death of Dr. John Garang will still be debated. He centers his message about a bearded man he term as, “Tikyual kuoth” who will lead his people but his fire going to blast. Here we go.

“Tikyual kouth da bi mac da bool” like a jokes, “my God bearded man fire will blazed”. He continues to cautioned that,

“laatde je ciet ka mi ca bi ranth; cango wa mar ro we mar ni thaar Bieh ka a ba wa toom” loosely translates, “talks about it as if it will not come; when it explodes under Bieh it will have a very loud sound. Let people talks about it as if it will not come to pass; the very day it will explode around Bieh it will have a very huge sound” it was some king of warning I guess.

When Ngundeng built the pyramid it was an art center for gathering his disciples and south Sudanese. It represents some kind of town or Headquarter. Could what has happened in Juba mean what Ngundeng was talking about? Is hard to tenure but it’s another way to quench thirst.

WHY NUER IN UNIMISS?

It has never happen in history of Sudan that, Nuer can be IDPs in their own country. But it does. History made it happened. It was;

“kuel turuk” “gates of civilization” guarding my children. Notice the words children referred to all south Sudanese.

NGUNDENG AND DR. RIEK MACHAR TENY DHURGON

It’s important to noticed that, the implication of bearded man will grabs power and a left-handed man will raise the flag was meant to dismiss the current prophecies invented on Riek Machar.  

There was never Riek to raise the flag but it was true Ngundeng talks about a left hand man with gaped teeth who will lead his flocks into prosperities and peace. If one decided to say it is Dr. Riek Machar then think again while we examines the facts about who Ngundeng was referring too.

I believe president Kiir failed on that peace and prosperity considering his poor ill performances since independent. One man mistake we cannot brand it on everyone. Historical is an insult to human civilization and modern concurrences and religious edifice and beliefs. Kiir has failed south Sudanese.

“Riek da ba totd raar ka Jiom ba ruac da riet”. Short but powerful statement, hundreds year before the so called Riek was born. A prophecy was perceived about a man who will lead his people into prosperity and peace but warned after the “Mac of tikyual kuoth” blazed he will take over the nation. Let’s not misinterprets the prophecies. Nobody is saying here that Riek is taking power after Kiir.

Translates as, my Riek will be out during autumn but in Winter I will have a words about him.

Some little kind of calculation here and there will finally do well over this controversy about Riek being out during autumn and winter. When was the former powerful vice president of south Sudan sacked? Midst of July 23 2013. That was winter right?

Talking about the two important seasons of the year prophet Ngundeng uttered, then one wonder why it seem so truth. Dr. Riek Machar out of plots to trolled him out of power by Kiir government with one particular reason, that of, to weaken his move for the next general election. President Kiir on midst 23 July evening surprisingly sacked his deputy and the news blasted the media. That was winter one month to the month of autumn.

Indeed out of nowhere, Dr. Machar spent the whole of “Totd” autumn outside the government as an ordinary man like any other. Then what has happened in “Jiom” winter the same year? Riek voyaged Juba for safety to Jonglie. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was midst of Dec/15/2013 when the worse that shattered the whole nation came into active.

In normal sense like a primary kid surprisingly noticed her father during visiting day, the month of autumn kicked off every year from September throughout of November to second week of December. In the middle of December around 15 there, the winter begins where people start preparing for the Christmas. Ask geotropically scholars. They can edifice us on this.

So, when prophet Ngundeng cited his “Riek” being out during “Totd” autumn and when winter come “Jiom” he will say something about him. We can here testify this fact that indeed Riek if we can formulate this prophecy on him as the man prophet Ngundeng talks about then prophet Ngundeng wasn’t just a mythical, legend or historian but a historical prophet having a big hand in current crisis in south Sudan.

However, don't worships Ngundeng Bong.

Elbow Chuol a concern south Sudanese currently residing in Juba. He can be reached at elbow.chuol14@gmail.com.

Re: Twic East Community response to diminishing reputation of GBC President Deng Lueth Mayom of Twic people in the press- May12, 2014

May 25, 2014 (SSNA) -- The Twic East community of South Sudan is a legal organization founded by the sons and daughters of Twic citizens who are based in the United States. We are working collectively and tirelessly to promote good cause of unity in strength, respect for all walks of life and obviously striving to forge true partnership with those individuals and communities of South Sudan who adhere courtesy to our principles and values we represent as decent people. It is a historical fact and our deep tradition to live a life of truth telling to others who have offered different opinion. For instance, on May 9, 2014 we released a press which seemed appropriate for us at the time, and we stand firmly by its content but it could have been worded differently. The press has accurate information that was based on fact finding from its original source.

To our neighbor in Bor County, we have no problem to coexist on the near borders of Twic and Bor county lines. Let us be clear and direct: the president of Greater Bor Community and some members on his team attempted desperately in their press release on South Sudan News  Agency to demonize, belittling our character for no legitimate reason. In his capacity as president of GBC, Deng Lueth Mayom took that chance in the press to save face and, aggressively attacked Twic elected leaders to bolster his weak credibility at GBC. Mr. Mayom referred to us as “self proclaimed” of which we consider inflammatory language, that is out of touch with reality with larger Twic citizens in the diasporas. We also termed this derogatory behavior in his article as part of leadership survival. Deng, who is a son of Twic community by origin, is not a registered member to question our organizational operations nor has a role to speak for us. This particular GBC leader speaks for him, and he must leave Twic people alone to run their affairs without him meddling. Back to Mr. Mayom, we have a great respect for him, but unfortunately this individual has lost trust and confidence with most Twic people who had attended meeting in Michigan in early September 2010. We have not voted for him and that is why he is voiceless and faceless attacking Twic community in order to look good in the eyes of most Bor people. Such individual like Deng can be simply characterized as traitor because of his political expediency and championing personal interest, while recently left people of Wernyol in crisis without contributing to victims who need basic services. Frankly speaking, our press did not promote any disunity or describe Deng in direct terms; instead we highlighted facts that happen in ongoing crisis in South Sudan.

Moreover, GBC President Deng Mayom has constantly preferred social media to create division between Bor and Twic people and recent writing is evident. Nice try but we got him. As elected leaders of Twic community, we recommend to Bor community in particular to let Deng Mayom cease press attacks on us: otherwise expect robust response on our side tougher than this one. We completely rejected this mechanism of press demonization in the strongest terms possible and we believe our counterparts should follow that suite. This community of Twic we serve did reject him long time ago, and we want the rest to be careful with his policies of division and conquer. We did it in Michigan and that Mr. Mayom is now setting a stage to damage us in the press. If he wants more Twic citizens at GBC, charity begin at home and you need to recalibrate your thinking and be honest to embrace our position.

We’re disappointed with Mr. Mayom then, and we are still disappointed at him now, when we keep seeing such a repeated denial of Twic East Community of which he hails. In reference to his press release that said “ The group does not represent the Twi East community in the United States nor does it represent anything about the official entities of the said community and Greater Bor in the  United States” really!! Mr. Mayom. We are based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania since 2009 before what known as GBC came to its existence. Such a truth killers’ individual like Mr. Mayom can be simply regarded as defector and hungry of position because of his political ambition and personal interest. In his May 9, 2014 press release, he also claimed that our writing was “filled with hatred bigotry and character assassination directed to word causing cleavages within the Greater Bor Community” which was filthy unwise recruitment of his loyalists to go against independent of Twic East. We love our county and our Twic, Mr. Mayom. We also love peace and unity; and more importantly, we should not be riveted nor will we be renamed especially when we have our own historical name. Twic, Duk and Bor will meet and united voluntarily, happily and jointly without any intimidation of anyone- special interest group as “Greater Bor” run by the self proclaimed group who is trying to disable our communities.

In short, our policy disagreements with Mr. Mayom are still profound and fundamental since the inception of Greater Bor Community in Michigan. As Twic elected leaders, we wanted leadership in three counties of Bor, Duk, and Twic to be key stakeholders in the early stages of this organization. But Deng Mayom and mostly certain individual who have no mandate and legitimacy from their payams as well as counties have hijacked the right process of formation and that is the simmering cause of this debate. So if meaningful unity of purpose ought to be achieved, Mr. Mayom who is leading this organization must completely stop ignoring approaches and find an alternative solution to settle his difference with us. To our viewers worldwide, it should be clear by now that we are interested in unity of purpose of which individual leaders respect existing organizations and abide by their objectives. We write this response with the aim to put GBC leader Mr. Mayom on notice and making sure that it is not business as usual to say inappropriate thing in the press.

Authorized by: Twic East community Executive Committee

May 23, 2014 (SSNA) -- Our major disease in South Sudan is tribalism which has bred nepotism, favoritism, hatred and lack of effective governance. This disease called tribalism is the one that made Kiir and Malong recruited 15,000 armed youth members entirely from Aweil and Kuajok.

This disease called tribalism is the one that made Dr. Riek Machar ran to the direction of Jonglei State when war broke out in Juba, knowing very well that he was going to be rescued by his Nuer tribesmen from Jonglei. He did not choose to run to the direction of Lakes State. He would be killed like his fellow tribesmen and women brutally killed in Juba.

This disease called tribalism is the one that made the 15,000 armed youth members of Aweil and Kuajok killed one ethnic community in Juba because they bore the name 'Nuer' with Riek Machar. Not to forget; Honourable Gier Chuang's 7 bodyguards were also murdered based on the fact that "these are people of Greater Upper Nile". This very disease called tribalism has tempted South Sudan clerics (bishops, pastors and Sheikhs) allied with their tribes all along our differences even when war broke out in Juba. Nuer pastors and bishops were never spared.

This very disease called tribalism has made Nuer and Dinka Bor, Dinka and Parieng Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in UNMISS various camps countrywide and in Lakes State.

This very disease called tribalism is the one that has destroyed the SPLA and SPLM.

This disease called tribalism has made Juba to a tribal hub; where residential areas are surveyed and allocated on tribal lines. Good example is 107, Manga Teen etc. In these residential areas, you can hardly find a Nuer neighbouring a Dinka or a Shilluk neighbouring a Dinka or Nuer. This is pathetic! Even Kiir Mayardit knew that something absurd was going to happen but he never bothered as a leader. He instead went to his people and secretly recruited 15,000 youth to come and guard him should anything happen. And in fact it happened and people were killed as planned.

This very disease called tribalism has eaten up our dignity, our sense of shame and our allegiance for South Sudan. In the eyes of the world, we are viewed as insane, insensitive and people who do not love anything good. So, we are not worth associated with and valued.

So, if this disease is not eradicated, we will continue killing ourselves, destroying our hard-won dignity, will be creating anarchism and South Sudan will be a ghost state and those of us who will survive will end up filling other countries. And our precious natural resources will be exploited and enjoyed by Sudan and other neighbouring countries.

We, as youth, need to decide that Riek and Salva are never South Sudan or South Sudan’s betterment should never be determined by their existence. I appreciate that they helped us come out of bondage and they should leave us to march forward. I wish them see us grow in building South Sudan but if they are a problem to us, they should be told to retire homes. 

So, the ongoing youth discussion in Nairobi should entirely focus on the root-causes of the existing conflict. Let the discussions also focus on the ongoing peace negotiations (let the discussions internalize the roadmap signed by president Salva and Dr. Machar). Let the discussions also look at the impediments of peace.

Let the discussions also have binding resolutions that can be shared with Juba and Machar’s team. I am afraid these discussions will be like other archaic discussions that have never borne fruits. I wish it a success and let the public know how they have gone!

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” Jimi Hendrix

The author can be reached at gthudan@yahoo.com.

Quote: “If a sect or republic is to survive for any length of time, it must return frequently to its beginning.” – Machiavelli.

May 23, 2014 (SSNA) -- It is the question of leadership within the SPLM that brought South Sudan to the current shame of devastating rebellion. It is also the question of the same leadership that is now being negotiated in Addis Ababa in order to end the unbearable crisis of the rebellion. I am saying these because South Sudan has not been lacking the substance for its building but achievements-oriented leadership. What is meant here is the good leadership that is achieved, not by formality of structures, but the integrity of the participants and their willingness to work together with larger vision inspiration.

Fair enough, a political roadmap for peace negotiations has been drawn and agreed upon on 9^th May 2014 by the highest authorities of the government and the rebellion in the country. The first significance of that roadmap is recommitment to the implementation of the previously violated agreement on cessation of hostilities. The second significance was a new commitment to the inclusive negotiations of the substance of the peace talks where all the stakeholders are supposed come up at the end of the process with a satisfactory and comprehensive peace document to be signed finally by the highest bosses in the city and jungle of South Sudan.

With the peace roadmap at hands, it is now the time to get down into serious business of ending the war practically by addressing the root causes of the crisis. The hot stage is to commence. Different proposals have been floated already, both from national and international perspectives. Most of the proposals carry commendable consensus on the substance of the expected peace agreement document, though they differ on issues of leadership in the coming post-crises era.

There seems to be a consensus from the spectra of stakeholders that the next era should avoid fatal political errors. Nonetheless, this will not occur unless utmost attention is paid to what Political Philosopher Antonio Rosmini said in his book, the Summary Cause for the Stability or Downfall of Human Societies, that “Anyone who errs in politics, must first err in logic.”

What is then the expected sound logic and truth that needs to be known in the question of leadership after the end of current South Sudan crises?

A - PROPOSAL OF DIASPORA PROFESSIONALS:

The first comprehensive proposal was released on 1^st February 2014 by ‘South Sudanese Professionals in Diaspora’ (i.e., Prof. Laura Beny, Prof. Charles Bakheit, Dr. Eluzai Hakim, Dr. Mairi J. Blackings and Dr. Martin Mikaya) under the title “Unleashing the Potential for Good Governance in the Republic of South Sudan: A Proposal Addressing the challenges to Nation Building, National Healing and National Reconciliation Following the Mid-December Crisis”.

Jotted down on 24 pages, the professionals took off the substance of the proposal from the premise that “the model of government adopted on 9^th July 2011 when the South Sudan became the world’s newest nation is faulty, does not work well and has not served the people of south Sudan well.”

Therefore, the newly proposed sound model, according to them, should be “A federal system of government based on the three traditional geographical regions of Bahr El Ghazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile” and have to be lean and efficient with the aim of releasing “money for vital developmental projects.”

In the epilogue of the paper, they concluded that President Salva Kiir Mayardit should be the one leading the nation up to the time of the next elections so as to avoid setting “a dangerous precedent.” Meanwhile, he should form an inclusive government that will conduct the national census, complete the writing of the constitution and run “the forthcoming election on time.”

MY CRITIQUE:

For me, the proposal of the aforementioned professionals is commendable as far as the substance of the peace agreement and its government is concerned. However, they failed to be decisive on who should lead the inclusive government in case the elections could not be conducted on time in the first quarter of 2015:

Will it be “a dangerous precedent” too to postpone the elections?

Will it be Gen. Salva Kiir continuing as the President of the Republic even after the elapse of his ‘legitimate term’ on 9^th July 2015?

Where will Dr. Riek Machar, Dr. Lam Akol and the rest of leaders of political parties be in the inclusive government of post-crisis South Sudan?

Where will the ten current existing States be when the government structure gets reduced to the three traditional geographical regions, and will the three regions be called Bahe El Ghazal, Equaotira and Upper Nile States or will have new name?

I think it is high time for the ‘South Sudanese Professionals in Diaspora’ to improve on their good proposal and be clear on the crucial issue of leadership of their proposed “inclusive government”. This is so important because, as Napoleon Bonaparte said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Also they need to be clear on the new or the renewed nomenclature of the federal states so that it is known that South Sudan is going to have three, and only three federalized states.

B - PROPOSAL OF EBONY CENTRE:

The second comprehensive proposal has been advanced on 10^th May 2014 by the Ebony Centre under the title:“Mandating the proposed interim government with the laying of the foundation for resilient institutions and effective governance in the post-conflict South Sudan: A Policy Paper Presented a the 2014 First Development Policy Forum.”

Accordingtothe 20-page proposal, the current government structure should be maintained (state, county and payam) as it was stipulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005), Interim Constitution of Government of Southern Sudan (2005) and Transitional Constitution of South Sudan (2011). The type of the proposed national government should be a mixture of Presidential with Parliamentary systems whose size should be lean and effective with mandate for achieving specific objectives: 1) Conducting day-to-day business of the government; 2) Implementing peace agreement; 3) conducting reviews and reforms that ensure the laying of firm foundation for South Sudan.

The proposed leadership of this government shall be the following: 1) Five-Member ceremonial and rotational collegial Presidency symbolizing national unity/consensus/trust and social cohesion; 2) Executive Prime Ministry with two deputies, 3) Eighteen Ministers; and 4) Twelve Commissions/Authorities members. The total number of the executive constitutional post holders of the interim national government shall be thirty eight only.

The composition of the proposed national government shall encompass regional and gender balance with a mandatory representation of an Army General and a Woman in the Collegial Presidency; the head of which is rotated every six months based on the three traditional regional representations.

The tenure of the proposed interim government shall be thirty six months (i.e. three years), starting from 9^th July 2015 when the term of the current elected government ends constitutionally.

The criteria for selection of candidates for the proposed interim government shall be as follows: 1) Persons with certain qualities of personality and character, supported by relevant technical knowledge and experience; 2) Persons with career trajectory largely outside the realm of party politics; 3) Persons with no further ambitions in the political realm, particularly elections in the 10-year time following the end of interim period.

The current sitting national and state parliamentary committees shall be tasked with proposing specific eligibility criteria for short-listing of the candidates. But separate parliamentary committees will undertake the vetting of the candidate so as to ensure their diversity, integrity, experience and qualifications.

To this effect, the Intellectuals of Ebony Centre went a head to propose that President Salva Kiir shall appoint One Hundred national lawmakers from the Eighty Nine Counties of South Sudan each, One from Juba Capital City and Ten from some crucial specialties. The total number of national MPs shall be one hundred only.

If this is not working, they proposed a second option of extending the tenure of the current national legislature to the interim period (i.e., another three years).

Otherwise, they finally proposed that the Collegial Presidency takes the legislative functions since what is mostly needed in the interim period, after all, is execution of specific government programmes and not legislations.

The proposal acknowledges that legitimacy of the interim government should come from the people, but since it is difficult to do this directly any of the following options could be adopted to do it indirectly: 1) Broad national consensus garnered from all inclusive national dialogue conference; 2) Extraordinary Act of the current National Legislature with clear terms of reference; 3) Extraordinary Presidential Act decreed by the current President.

The proposal of the Intellectuals of Ebony centre is hinged on the premise that South Sudan needs a new start based on acceptance of the responsibility by all its elites that they are the masters of their own country and its destiny, and that the system of governance they have adopted in 2005 is not effective and resilient institutionally.

MY CRITIQUE:

I think the proposal of the Intellectuals of the Ebony Centre is a good start as far as the substance and leadership of the post-crisis interim/transitional government is needed for rigorous discussion. The substance they presented is not complicated. However, their proposal on leadership of the interim government is controversial, especially the idea of five-member rotational Collegial Presidency:

How can somebody becomes a Head of State within the presidency institution and then later step down to become a Deputy Head of State or a normal member? Will this not create protocol irritation of humiliation?

Are the representatives of the Army and Women within the Collegial Presidency allowed to become Head or Deputy Head of State or they shall be condemned only to ordinary membership of the Presidency?

Given the criteria of selection is it not going to be an interim government without participation of Political Parties? How will interim politics make sense without involvement of political parties in the government?

Is the Judiciary of South Sudan so perfect that it does not need reviews and reforms in the interim government?

Are the States and Counties governments going to be re-structured like the national interim government and how?

What is the significance of reference to the three traditional regions (Bahr El Ghazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile) when there are already states representing the decentralized mode of the government of the Republic of South Sudan?

I think it is high time for Intellectuals of Ebony Centre to come out clearly with their answers to these questions in order to improve their commendable proposal.

C. PERSUASIVE APPEAL AS ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL:

An appeal in regards to leadership aspect of the post-crisis government was released by Peter Biar Ajak on 12^th May 2014 under the title “The Alternative Proposal: Consideration on the ongoing peace negotiations between South Sudan’s Government and the Rebels SPLM/A IO”.

The 13-page proposal presented a persuasive appeal to President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Dr. Riek Machar to consider a bold decision of not taking part in the upcoming negotiated transitional government of national unity for these reasons: 1) to create the most optimal environment for national reconciliation and institutuitional development; 2) to manifest the most noble leadership in the region and the world; 3) to restore confidence to a young nation overtaken by self-doubt; 4) to put aside selfish ambitions or grievances and consider larger interest of the people of South Sudan; and 5) to ensure glory of their names, the sake of South Sudan’s national interests and the promotion of regional security interests.

According to Mr. Biar,  President Kiir and rebel leader Dr. Machar should be doing the following as they retire willingly for the interim period:1)draw up the agenda for the interim government; its work plan, budget, security forces and public service in order to restructure the state; 2) supervise the government work plan during the interim period while sitting in a group of six guarantors (including the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Ambassador Seyoum Mesfin, Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo, and Gen. Mohamed Ahmed M. El Dabi); 3) sign a mega deal for laying a solid constitutional foundation for the country, clears its payroll, its army, police and all its institutions; 4) actively engage in national reconciliation process, and later seek public office in the elections if they want to return to power; 5)monitor the implementation of the agenda within the context of regional and international mechanism; 6) enjoy the old age of freedom fighter comforted by the memories of honorable acts while their legacies remained secured.

The foundational premise on which Mr. Biar took the courage to present his thought in the “Alternative Proposal” is that “It is not possible for a significantly reformed state to emerge in South Sudan if Kiir and Riek return to the helm; past mistakes are likely to be recommitted.”

That is, the leadership style (either combine or separate) of Kiir and Riek cannot be successful during the interim period. The evidence proves that both of them were given nine years to lead South Sudan but they continued to make bad mistakes that landed South Sudan into crisis: 2) they missed the opportunity from the abundant oil money that could have facilitated the implementation of the SPLM/A promise and obligation on the delivery of ‘New Sudan Vision’; 2) they betrayed the high expectation of the marginalized people whose cause they were advocating, especially when they allowed the centralization of spree of corruption in Juba that caused macro-economic imprudence; 3) they resigned governance to the realm of personal and factional struggle for power that depends on ethnic and tribal clientele networks; 4) they allowed war-lordism and entrepreneurship in violence to serve as the means to secure a seat at the political table without minding about simmering ethnic hostilities that risk exploding into genocide; 5) they created a South Sudan full of undesirable social indicators like widespread unemployment, acute malnutrition, dire poverty, and high infant mortality rates; 6) they created a political system characterized by highly volatile and individualistic forms and personnel structure; 7) they resisted separating political powers that would have imposed limitation on authority so as to underscore the importance of institutions instead of individuals in sustaining the existence of the state and fulfillment of its functions; and 8) they repeatedly defied calls to act responsibly on sensitive political issues.

Also according to Mr. Biar, the leadership of Kiir and Machar is a failure because both of these principals don’t understand political philosophies that underscore that the purpose of being a leader of a country is to ensure: 1) security from all threats to human life and dignity; past, present and future aimed at improving the living standards of the citizenry within the solidarity on the common good; 2) knowledgeable, political and ethical community are guided by constitution and the rule of law in the course of performing civic duty; 3) Government authority that promote prevalence of justice and order that allow all to live a more fulfilling life through a social contract or consent of the members; 4) right of the citizens to change a government that fails to perform the substantial functions it was contracted for; and 5) building competent and credible institutions for development and democratization.

In short, both Principals seem unable to cogitate well on the concepts of state as widely accepted in political intellectualism and academia: 1) Sovereign jurisdiction over a territory and population; 2)legitimacy through sense of nationhood at home; and 3) legal and diplomatic recognition as equals abroad.

That is, not all South Sudanese at the moment believe that either Kiir or Riek is their right leader. Not all of them are convinced that they could be a one nation under the leadership of either Kiir or Riek. Not only these, but South Sudan diplomacy has become so degraded abroad due to the disastrous crisis created by Riek and Kiir, paving ways to justified dictatorial intervention of super powers.

Given all the above weaknesses, missed opportunities and lack of understanding by Kiir and Riek, Mr. Biar proposed that an alternative leader after the persuasive (not forceful) exit of the two principals should come from the SPLM/A only. For him, the SPLM/A is “to critically look among the mid-level cadres of potential for a leader with intellect, sound judgment, vision and charismatic ability who would implement the peace agreement with rigor and determination.” The alternative leader has to implement the peace agreement that will be signed by Kiir and Riek before they retire, and restore the image of the country that they tainted.

MY CRITIQUE:

I think the proposal of Mr. Biar is commendable because it is avoiding the common culture “pushing out leaders” from leadership positions in a militaristic manner. Instead, the proposal is trying to cultivate the culture of “persuasion for voluntary relinquishing of power” in a diplomatic manner. Nonetheless, I doubt whether his persuasion seeds will fall into the right hears, especially with the fear from The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), which might spoil the retirement enjoyment and legacy of the two Principals.

But Mr. Biar did not care about what kind of government system, what size, what composition, what tenure or what legislative processes are to be adopted during the interim period. He seems to believe that, at the end of the day, everything will trickle down to leadership. Bad leadership can water down good proposals of what and who need to be led. Good leadership can initiate right things that need to be done and persuade people to join hands in doing this. I think Mr. Biar is right here.

However, Mr. Biar recommendation for SPLM/A mid-level cadres as the only panacea for South Sudan leadership during the interim period could be seen as naivety and lack of recognition of other stakeholders of South Sudan. What faction of the SPLM/A he is talking about (‘SPLM/A–Government’, ‘SPLM/A–Opposition’, ‘SPLM/A–Former Detention’, SPLM–Democratic Change)?

If Mr. Biar means the current SPLM/A system that claims to be a political party while at the same time owing an army, then this will continue to be a crisis. Whoever tries to emerge from within that systemic deformity could also prove a failure in leadership even if he/she is bright or surrounded by the brightest.

It would be better to encourage formation of political alliances or mergings, and then device a new system (far from anything called SPLM/A) within which a new leader could emerge for leadership of the new government. It is time to get rid of Sudanese names in South Sudan political parties. We need a new era for South Sudan based on political maturity; not a renewed error of SPLM/A hangovers of dictatorial ‘uni-partism’ and lack of recognition of other stakeholders in the country.

THE POINT I WANT TO PUT ACROSS:

The political maturity can come if a considerable attention is paid to what Denis Cleary philosophized that “The supreme, mortal error is to lose sight of the substantial reality which sustains society, and devote total attention to what is accidental…A materially privileged people, full of whining malcontents, is not a society on the march to greater well-being, but a group in need of salvation.”

The maturity that is direly needed for ending the current crisis is to get back to the drawing board and the beginning, remembering what Gen. Salva Kiir’s said during the occasion of the Announcement of Final Referendum Results, 9^th February 2011, that “Our purpose is to give to our children what the war took away from us: peace, rule of law, food security, health care, good education, running water, clean water, electric power, and opportunity for pursuit of happiness and prosperity. Let us all work to give our children hope for a better future.”

The peace agreement that is being cooked in Addis Ababa through mediation of IGAD and facilitation of the U.S, EU, Trioka and other friends/partners, and that is waiting to be endorsed finally by all the stakeholders, should dispel the hopelessness created by the SPLM/A leadership in the middle of the journey of the new state and nation building. It should bring back the happiness that was demonstrated by all South Sudanese during the voting for the referendum for self-determination and at the declaration of independence. Notwithstanding, the desired South Sudanese salvational happiness lies outside the former deformed system of the SPLM/A that has tried to run the new country wrongly on a bush liberation mentality.

The expected comprehensive peace agreement should put it clearly that an interim period is too short for a successful federal system in South Sudan. Political science shows that centralism is the best practical option for governments of interim periods. As federalism is the most popular demand of the people of South Sudan, it should then be stipulated in the forthcoming Addis Peace Agreement that the centralized interim government have to prepare the ground for implementation of Federal system of government immediately at the end of the interim period, in order to start the beginning of the normal period of the elected governments. That federal system should be a union of the current ten states rather than the traditionalized geographical regions of Bahr El Ghazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile.

Also the expected peace agreement should not allow the civil society groups, the faith-based organizations and other non-political entities to participate in the government. Instead, they should be encouraged to remain as pressure groups to both the government and political parties. The members of such non-political entities who have interest in active politics should join political parties. It is the members of political parties only that should be allowed to be in the government. The programmed activities of political parties should be funded by the government. This is in the interest of promoting multiparty pluralistic democracy in the Republic of South Sudan. Participation in peace negotiations should not be equated to participation in the government top positions. However, members of the civil society, faith-based and other non-political entities could be hired on contract basis to do some specific duties for the government or for political parties.

The expected peace agreement should put it clearly that no independent candidates shall run for elections in to government seats in South Sudan. This is to discourage individualism in politics because politics is supposed to be a socialized public affair. Any one who is unhappy with his/her political party is free to cross to any other political party but not to become himself independently.

A political party that is popular in a particular state should be allowed to operate as a state political party and not a national one. It should not get into the federal union directly but indirectly through alliance with national political parties that enjoy popularity across a sufficient number of states.

Lastly, the past should become history. The future should usher new hope. The present should appreciate the good history and maintain the right steps in the journey towards a prosperous and bright future for the Republic of South Sudan. The new era should not be erroneous. It should be led by leaders who are dealers in hope and not selfish perpetrators of unnecessary sorrow.

Dr. James Okuk lives in Juba. He is reachable at okukjimy@hotmail.com.

May 22, 2014 (SSNA) -- Ethnic violence has engulfed South Sudan in a vast humanitarian crisis, already affecting millions of people in the world's newest country.  Continuing violence—which began five months ago—threatens to disrupt entirely the current planting season, ending in May.  Millions are already at risk from severe to extreme food insecurity according to UN figures; and as the rainy season descends on the region, transporting food, medicine, and clean water resources becomes hugely more difficult.  A failed harvest next fall makes it likely that hundreds of thousands will starve.  Children will suffer most.

After the ravages of the long civil war (1983 – 2005), South Sudan will be at risk of food shortages for years to come, indeed until the agricultural sector becomes dominant in the economy.  To this grim fact we must now add the consequences of the brutal violence that began last December and has become increasingly ethnically defined.  This confluence of forces has made catastrophe inevitable; the question is not whether famine will strike, but where and how hard—and how many thousands of lives will be lost.

Violence emerged explosively in Juba, capital of South Sudan, on December 15, growing out of political rivalries and competing visions of South Sudan's future.  President Salva Kiir, following the initial violence, incarcerated a number of political opponents; however, a key opponent, former Vice President Riek Machar, escaped capture, made it to the bush, and began a military effort to overthrow the democratically elected Government of South Sudan.  Salva is a Dinka (the largest ethnic group in South Sudan) and Riek is a Nuer (the second largest group): what began as a political dispute over governance reform quickly took on a vicious ethnic character, with mutual ethnic slaughter.  Even seasoned field workers are shocked by the nature of the violence.

Despite an obvious escalation of military violence, there was little meaningful international diplomacy.  A January cease-fire was short-lived, and matters have deteriorated ever since, despite increasingly dire warnings from the ground; humanitarians already face intolerable risks in many places. In addition to threats to civilians and humanitarians, regional conflict has become a growing threat.  Uganda early on threw its military support behind the Juba government, and other bordering nations such as Kenya are deeply alarmed.

So matters festered for months—from collapse of the January cease-fire until late April.  Finally, serious international attention came to focus on the crisis.  There were trips to Juba by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay (May 1) and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (May 6), threatening all parties with prosecution for crimes against humanity.  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, also belatedly, became involved in the effort to secure a cease-fire and threatened U.S. sanctions against those responsible (May 3).

Subsequently, a cease-fire was torturously negotiated in Addis Ababa (May 9), an outcome unlikely without high-level attention and clear threats.  Even so, few predicted success for the cease-fire, largely because of the belated nature of diplomatic efforts and lack of effective monitoring forces prepared for deployment.

What can we learn from this tragic moment?  First, attention to a crisis of the sort we are witnessing must be timely and forceful, bringing to bear all necessary resources when the possibility of tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths first becomes apparent.

Second, without a standing or ready force of ceasefire monitors, fragile moments of opportunity are likely to be lost.  Again, the May 9 cease-fire had no real chance because the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism stipulated in the agreement was not ready for immediate or near-term deployment.

When cease-fires are possible in conflict situations, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations should have a force that can be assembled and deployed within 48 hours.  A larger peacekeeping or peacemaking force may be necessary subsequently; but the best way to halt fighting is holding parties accountable to cease-fire agreements already negotiated.

Contributions to this standby force should come from many militarily capable nations, with firm and specific commitments to deploy at the command of the Secretary-General.  Alternatively, if Russia or China objects to the formation of a standing or ready cease-fire force, then a multilateral coalition of militarily capable nations—determined to halt atrocity crimes before they gather momentum—should be assembled. This requires significant surveillance equipment and trained personnel: helicopters, small fixed-wing aircraft, and surveillance drones.  Expensive—but not nearly so costly as war or a full-blown peace-making mission.  Of one thing we may be sure: if responsibility cannot be assigned for violations of a cease-fire, chances for its survival are slim.

South Sudan is the grimmest object lesson in the costs of belatedness and the lack of cease-fire surveillance capabilities.  There will be other such conflict situations, and we should be guided by the lessons of effective, concerted international pressure as well as the consequences of failure to apply such pressure in timely fashion.

Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and author of Compromising with Evil: An archival history of Greater Sudan, 2007 – 2012.

Introduction

May 22, 2014 (SSNA) -- The ongoing peace negotiations in Addis Ababa have seen several difficulties that are caused by the confusions and misunderstandings regarding the positions of different stakeholders in the talks. In this article, I want to highlight those positions, their possible shifts, depending on the negotiation processes and the aggressors who capitalize on violence as a solid means to achieve a peaceful settlement.

The government

Right from the onset of the conflict, it is clear that the government was the aggressor. The fatal decisions that have been made and most predominantly, the cunningly use of the December 15 presidential guards’ incident as a coup incident and the subsequent decisions that took place after that started and escalated the conflict to its high peak are key evidences of the government as an aggressor or cause of the conflict in the country.

Currently, the government has taken a position that provides hope for South Sudanese. It does not seem to be the aggressor at the moment; something that, if it was observed in the beginning of the conflict, we would have ended up with a much better outcome today.

The Rebels

Dr. Riek’s decision to launch a rebellion after the facts of December 15 helped further the already escalated violence in the country. Dr. Riek’s decision might have been necessitated by a couple of reasons. One, it might have been the fact that a plan (as evidenced in the attack on his home) to capture or kill him was launched and that he had to protect himself. Secondly, he might have consciously figured it out that the only way his colleagues (the former detainees) would be released was to stage a military confrontation (a fight back as opposed to surrender) in order to pressure the release of the detainees.

What Riek Machar did to take up arms was a self defense rebellion (though he fabricated it to test overthrowing President Kiir) and that is understandable----it is a human nature. Had he kept it to that without going rampant on killing innocent people (Bor, Akobo, Malakal and Bentiu) in an attempt to revenge for his tribal people killed in Juba, the ex-detainees could have possibly come out of the prison and joined him, both on the negotiating table and in the frontline, because he would have been fighting a just war.

I still believe that Dr. Riek, in terms of political stand, is an ally to his former colleagues. Some of the housekeeping things that he needs to do in order to get himself closer to his colleagues are; one, stop being an aggressor when it comes to violence. Second, completely commit to what he was asking for on December 6 which is dialogues through peaceful means, now happening in Addis Ababa. He needs to go out everywhere his rebel soldiers and support bases are and educate them on the need for peaceful settlement to the conflict.

His supporters need to understand now that government is willing to resolve the conflict through peaceful dialogues; the opposition must response positively because that is what South Sudanese people needs and what the opposition needed, in the first place, before the December 15 crisis. They need to understand that peacefully ending the conflict does not let go President Kiir but in fact, it speeds up the process for justice for people killed in Juba and as well as those killed in Akobo, Bor, Bentiu and Malakal.

The Former Detainees

While they were exercising their political rights on December 6, they were victimized by the power holders. They were calling for reforms and what ever happened on December 15 should have been contained as an isolated incident to be investigated and addressed.

While it is important to note that Dr. Riek’s rebellion is against what the ex-detainees and Dr. Riek, himself, originally stood for on December 6, it is equally important that the ex-detainees recognize that Dr. Riek was pushed into rebellion. As long as Dr. Riek abandons his rebellion, the former detainees should remain his allies in the quest for peace in the country.

Leaving Dr. Riek alone, even when he abandons hostilities, is a clear betrayal in the eyes of many members of the rebellion and it does not bring a just peace but a fake one (one with grudges impeded among people). It does not unite the people of South Sudan. Therefore, I see it absolutely important for peace for the ex-detainees to maintain their position of being for reforms as well as recognizing that the rebellion of Riek Machar was enforced on him and that they should kindly ask him to put down his guns and join them in the quest for meaningful reforms.

The detainees are up for grab by any of the two groups; the government and rebels, depending on which group positions itself as the aggressor. Any one of these two warring parties that positions itself as an aggressor and impedes the negotiation processes will risk losing the detainees alliance because their defining stand is a democratic change in the country through nonviolent ways.

Otherwise, as long as the warring parties maintain to push for war or try to win on the ground through military victory, the former detainees should continue to remain a third block because that is truly who they are and they should work with regional and international leaders to continue to pressure the warring parties to abandon war and negotiate a settlement to the crisis. They represent two important things; reforms through nonviolent and also a just peace where all the things that went wrong are recognized and people forgive each other and chart a better foundation for the nation.

The Civil Society and the Church

These are concerned South Sudanese civil society organizations that want to see the end to the conflict, however, it started. These are South Sudanese peoples’ representatives in the talks. They are our watchdogs that make sure whatever is being agreed to and signed is in the best interest of South Sudanese people. They should also make us understand who is stubborn and is impeding progress in the talks through their campaigns for peace. They should organize rallies and meetings to educated South Sudanese people on the progress being made and the challenges in the talks.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, we need a just peace that provides for strategic directions for truth and reconciliation, assures justice and accountability for the crimes committed and above all, sends our nation back to its firm stand as one nation, undivided, under God.

Accountability for the war crimes committed is a task after peace. It does not have to hold the nation hostage. It is a matter of revisiting, after peace is achieved, different findings by the UN, AU, South Sudanese different organizational bodies and analytical commentators and asking the international community to help in the process of delivering justice. Therefore, let’s us secure our peace, first.

On a separate note:

The people of Jonglei who had become victims of David Yau Yau now have the opportunity to file a law suit to take him to court and have him to answer for the crimes he committed. He must not be allowed to get away with those crimes.

Abraham Deng Lueth is a Community Support Specialist at Truman Behavioral health Emergency Department in Kansas City, Missouri, United States; he is the President of Greater Bor Community-USA. He previously worked as a critical care laboratory technician and conducted an independent undergraduate biomedical research project which was published in the Plant Science Journal in 2007. Disclaimer: The information in this article reflects that of the author and does not represent any organization that he is leading.

REF: PLANNED GENOCIDE AND DISPLACEMENT OF NUER TRIBE BY SALVA KIIR’S GOVERNMENT, SOUTH SUDAN

Canada, May 21, 2014 (SSNA) -- We are expressing our regrettable and disappointment to the international community for its inaction of the killing of the Nuer innocent civilians in Juba and other states; we the community members known as the South Sudanese Nuer Community in Canada have been affected by genocide committed in Juba as well as the ongoing conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. In the light of the political crises prevailing in our beloved country, South Sudan, we the Nuer Community members and leaders in Canada are very sad and deeply concerned by the loss of innocent lives and continuous living in fear of our people in the Republic of South Sudan, especially in major cities and towns in Juba, Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile States because of the tribal government’s ignorance to the people. The tribal government has killed enough and continues to kill hundreds of thousands of people from the Nuer Ethnic Group in particular, as it hires many notorious, criminals, and terrorists or mercenaries from Uganda and M23, three Rebel groups of Sudan, and recently from Egypt. The international community should not sit and watch all the foreign armed groups that have been hired by the government in Juba to massacre millions people of Nuer so the tribal government implement its long term plan to displace Nuer people from their territories in South Sudan to Ethiopia and to other neighboring countries. We regret for the loss of innocent lives of foreigners who are assisting us in various capacities, including peacekeepers, humanitarian activities, capacity building, and businesses in Juba and across the country. We convey our condolences and sympathy to all the families who lost their dear/loved ones and those who have been wounded in the recent violence in various parts of South Sudan.

After careful assessment and deliberation on messages coming from different sources including our own relatives, news media, South Sudanese Government, the opposition within SPLM Party, various levels of governments, we the Nuer people in Canada’s leadership reached the following resolutions based on how the international community views the current conflict in South Sudan:

1. We condemn in the strongest terms possible any act of violence aimed at settling political differences but ended up in massacred one ethnic group by the Salva Kiir Government. We encourage our people, the international leaders at the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, the United States of America, IGAD, African Union, and Government of Canada and the people in South Sudan at large to look at the root causes of this current conflict, including who did what in the first place to embrace a true and genuine dialogue for the interest of our new nation to prevail. We have learned through our history of struggle that through a just and a true dialogue we reached in Addis Ababa Agreement and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) were achieved because the world bodies understood the root cause and the way forward. We do not want more bloodshed, self-inflicted suffering to our people, and loss of property as well as the massive displacement of our people both within South Sudan and to the neighboring countries. We do not want the implementation of displacing Nuer from their places into Ethiopia as a solution. Instead, we want our people to enjoy the fruits of their collective struggle without loss of lives and fear under self-claimed dictatorship. We urge IGAD and other international community partners to expeditiously resolve the political differences through condemning the main genocidal of the leadership in Juba and embark on really reconciliation, nation building, and development. Without pointing out those who planned to kill the people of South Sudan’s one ethnic group, the Nuer People in Juba from December 15-30, 2013 that fueled this conflict, South Sudanese’s various ethnic communities’ future are in jeopardy/danger.

2. We, the South Sudanese Nuer People have condemned the turning of what was purely a political differences in order to serve the nation well within the SPLM Party into tribal conflict. Any ethnic group whether from Bari, Moru, Shilluk, Murles, Anyuak, and Dinka to be massacred by their own leader is a crime, leave alone Nuer People being deliberately and intentionally killed in Juba.  We the South Sudanese Nuer Canadian members and leaders in Canada have condemned the tribal government and its like who incited our tribes to involve in violence for the interest of Salva Kiir and his inner circle leaders, who planned the massacre to gain leadership. We want to make it clear that our general populations in South Sudan and around the world have strongly condemned the killing of innocent people by Salva Kiir in order to remain in power; this is a crime. We the Nuer Community at home and in diaspora still wonder of why a political differences within the SPLM Party unfortunately turned by some opportunists into a tribal confrontation. The SPLM Party does not only belong to the Dinka and Nuer as the initial killings in Juba suggested; it is the South Sudanese Political Party with the membership from across all tribes in the South Sudan. For instance, those who eager to reform the SPLM Party are not from Nuer Tribes alone. If so, why there were no other tribes got kill in Juba?

3. Therefore, we urge the international communities of AU, IGAD, and UN to Not only condemning Salva Kiir but to stop him and his government from killing one ethnic group, than  bring him and those perpetrators to book in order to have a nation that belongs to all people. Abusing, harassing, and killing of the innocent citizens based on their tribal affiliation leave a lone Nuer is a crime in 2014. Killing people in order to defamed individuals is unacceptable in South Sudan. The people of South had suffered a lot and fought the war together to create this nation. All opposition leaders and media leaders have been targeted due to their being informed and promoted the spirit of working together and continue to live together as one nation for generations to come. Killing and dividing the citizens and human rights abused was not what the People of South Sudan Fought for. Is it what the international community members were looking for to be upheld in our entire country? Our leader and his inner circle groups should desist from using hate or provocative languages that could prolong the conflict and misery of our people.

4. This message is to the Leadership in the United States of America under the current leadership of President Barack Obama. For South Sudanese Citizens to have bright future as America Dream, the Obama Administration has to look back into the American Transformations, the long struggle for freedom for all Americans, including the Black Walk to Freedom in the US History that inspires the whole world.

5. It is important at this juncture that the United States’ Leadership and the UNSC Chief (Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon) understand the US Secretary of States, John Kerry’s recent sanction that involved Peter Gatdet Yak has been received as unjustified based on reality. We and many other people both in South Sudan and in diaspora did not receive this sanctioning of General Peter Gatdet as legitimate for one reason. Peter Gatdet didn’t commit any crime rather, refusing and reacting to the systemic humiliation and killing to citizens of South Sudanese who were intentionally displaced from their country by their own government in Juba. Killing one ethnic group in Juba unlike the rest of the state men, women, children, and elders in South Sudan is unjustifiable. We believe the US Government should head up to it principles of all people. We hope the people of the United States have to re-read the long walk to freedom and how it came to be as a nation. We hope Secretary of States John Kerry recalls back his speech when he endorsed President Barack Obama at the National Convention of the Democratic Party to run for the US President. The question that the American people may answer is this; is it okay for them to to see South Sudan be a country like the US in terms of its political system? Or does the US want another dictatorship country in South Sudan? The common citizens of the people in South Sudan and in diaspora not one tribe were the ones consenting nation to be led by Salva Kiir in 2010 Sudan General Election and 2011 through the ballot box at the time of the Referendum. Every single citizen is important and dear in South Sudan and indeed, in the eye of the international community. The question is this; why did the AU, IGAD and International Community Leaders recently condemned the fighting in Bentiu, Unity State while forgetting or turning away from one of the most painful killings in the nation’s Capital, Juba? Instead, the international community forgot the long planned of South Sudanese’s Massacre in Juba.

6. We, the South Sudanese Nuer Community in Canada want to alert the international community of what happened in Bentiu, the Capital of Unity State, South Sudan on May 04, 2014, immediately after the U.S. Secretary of States John Kerry left Juba, South Sudan. For instance, after he (Salva Kiir) met with the U.S. Secretary of States John Kerry in Juba; at the same time, Salva Kiir ordered his (South Sudan SPLA) troops to recapture Bentiu, the Capital of Unity Stat, Nasir, and Longchok Counties in Upper State. This can be termed as that, he the President of South Sudan Salva Kiir deceived the U.S. Secretary of States, John Kerry as he was advised not to use violence in the country again while peace process is going on. Moreover; Salva Kiir’s constant lies, he brought the North Sudanese Rebels of Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains, Darfur of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), and his SPLA troops that enabled him to storm Bentiu, the Capital City of Unity State until now. We need all the international community leaders to take a look of how Salva has been supporting Sudanese Rebels in order to use them to preserve his power. One of the best examples from Salva Kiir Government’s lies was in 2011 when he lied to the U.S. President Barack Obama that he had no longer allied with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), SPLM-N whose missions are to topple the Khartoum Government. This president is using what so called “pretext” tactic. What happens daily is that Salva Kiir is using those (Sudan Rebels) as tools in South Sudan by financing them to fulfill his plan. The killing of Dar Fur in Bentiu was not done by the rebels in Opposition. The JEM personnel in uniforms were the one being killed in action. Two days before fighting, rebels announced to the civilians in Bentiu Capital to leave the city and to report themselves to the UNMISS Camp. Instead, government troops prevented the civilians to leave and used them as human shell. At the same time, most of the mercenary fighters had no military uniforms. Moreover; since South Sudan President Salva Kiir announced the state of emergencies for both Jonglei and Unity States in January 2014, there were no civilians from external traders. Those who might have been killed were mercenaries. What we the people of South Sudan and the UNMISS Authority in Bentiu knew was that all civilians left Bentiu since December 2013. Salva Kiir announced the state of emergency and that had never lifted. How did these people come to Unity States? Who provided them with vistas to come to a state that has been in the emergency? Therefore, those people are the rebels (mercenaries) allied to Salva Kiir for all these years.  

7. We urge all South Sudanese in Diaspora to be united, work together, and avoid promoting a tribal state like what Libyan Leader Mohammed Gadhafi did in his country before the citizens woke up and deposed him recently.  One of the best examples of Salva Kiir’s Tribal Government is when he recruited his tribal men to be his presidential guards whom he ordered to kill the Nuer in Juba on the 15^th-30^th of December 2013.  Salva Kiir has done this in his three states of Bhar El-Gazale Region by recruiting his private republic guards like what Sadam Hussain did in Iraq a few years ago. Another important example the international community and world leaders have to recall was one ethnic group that was being massacred in Iraq by the dictator, the notorious leader Sadam Hussain in Iraq a few years ago.  Sadam Hussain killed the Kurtis Ethnic Groups in Iraq by using nerve gas in the present of the international community.  Indeed, Saddam and his inner circle did the crimes against humanity in the events that took place in Dujail in 1982 (see also human rights abuses in Iraq) reference to the human rights abuses in South Sudan. Burning the Nuer People in Juba is one of the worst human rights abuses in modern human history. Even the Khartoum Regime with whom the people of South Sudan fought with never burned South Sudanese people in Khartoum by the Khartoum Government during civil war.

8. The people of South Sudan cannot afford to groom a dictator who will deliberately kill them in the years to come by using his own chemical weapons. A dictator who has been murdering people for the last 8 years and still killing them today in a bright day light. We wonder how the international community leaders view the leadership that is intentionally destroying the country. Is the international community waiting for a dictator to acquire biological weapons to kill more people in the years to come? Massacre had taken place in December 2013 in the National Capital City of Juba and still taken place daily in other parts of the country.

9. Killing of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of children, women and elderly in Jonglei State, Bor Capital inside the United Nations Camp is a great example for the international community’s failure. National Minister of Information, Michael Makuei Lueth and Defense Minister, Kuol Manyang Juuk ordered the killing of the vulnerable Nuer Civilians in the UNMISS Camp. These are the nations’ national ministers. Back in the past, the same Makuei Lueth with SPLA Army Forces from his own ethnic tribe tried to enter the UNMISS Camp in Bor, Jonglei Sate, which accommodates the same thousands of IDPs Nuer Ethnic Group whom he killed.

10. The United States needs to sanction the Presidential Guard General Marial Chieinuong Mangok, who killed the Nuer Civilians in Juba that fueled the current conflict. How does the US leadership view its position as it has been the human rights and democracy advocacy?  Many people believe the United States and other international leaders would fairly direct sanctions to the following known officials. Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk, Minister of Information Michael Makuei Lueth, Former Governor and Chief of Staffs Paul Malong Awan, Foreign Affairs and International Corporation, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, and President Salva Kiir. These are the rights people who planned the genocide plus some of the SPLM National Liberation Council Members. Paul Malong Awan was the one who recruited his private tribal militia men from his own Bhar-El Gazale Region whom Kiir used in December 2013.

11. President Salva Kiir issued his God Given Presidential Decree in January 2014 and declared both Jonglei and Unity Sates as the states of emergency. That decree has never been lifted till today. We believe the African and Western leaders know the term “state of emergency” than we the ordinary people know. There were no civilians in Unity State with the exception of the host citizens and those in the UNISS Camp. We, the people of South Sudanese Nuer Community have realized that the world now is implementing the plan to eliminate the Nuer People (Tribe) in South Sudan. This plan has been there for years even during the 21 years’ war between North and South Sudan that the Nuer should be pushed to Ethiopia by some ring leaders in South Sudan and the neighbouring countries’ leaders. Could that be nation’s resources?

12. South Sudan’s elected leader VS. Egyptian Revolution against their elected leader; when comparing the current South Sudan’s conflict to Egypt’s conflict, this can be termed as naivety. The Egyptian People removed their dictator of Muslim Brotherhood Government three years ago because of his divisive leadership between communities and religions. We, the people of South Sudan are wondering what Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin and the Egyptian Leadership signed a month ago so Egypt to send its troops to fight alongside with Salva Kiir troops against opposition Forces. Even the United Nations, the United States, European Union and IGAD leaders did maintain their positions in Egypt, Syria, and Libya conflicts and support those are eager for democracy. Furthermore, now Egypt deployed its military assets and began fighting in South Sudan alongside Salva Mercenaries against opposition forces. Some are deployed in the Ethiopian border with North Sudan and South Sudan.

13. We wanted the international community to recall back the security situations in South Sudan before the current conflict. Many journalists and media personnel were abused and some even murdered by the regime in Juba. Isaiah Abraham who was murdered is a good example. When Isaiah Abraham was murdered, the United States of America sent the FBI Team to investigate the case. Did the team announce its finding in the media up to now? Not really.

Reference to citizens being murdered in South Sudan http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article44748  Isaiah Ding Abraham Chan Awuol

14. Therefore, we want the international community leaders to recall back their best experience in the leadership in Juba. We urge the international community to be relevant when reacting to the reports on the ground and the damaging the media reports and rumors that is tearing South Sudan apart. Those media outlets and some neighboring leaders have their own interests in South Sudan.  Take Uganda’s Military involvement in South Sudan for example. We wanted the world to view the situations in South Sudan as what happened in Iraq many years ago. There is no different between the current conflicts in South Sudan with what happened in Iraq under Saddam Hussain in the 1980s. Sadam used nerved gas against Kurtis Ethnic Group in Iraq using the country’s military assets (helicopter gunships and jet fighters). Salva Kiir used Uganda’s military assets in exchange for oil money to remain in power while doing nothing for the nation except divisions. The results were very clear when Salva and Museveni used cluster bombs against the civilians and rebels in Jonglei State. What were the international world leaders’ reactions? None. Instead, they all praised the Ugandan President by killing the Nuer People. Do IGAD and other international world believe in the unity of the people of South Sudan? The message of hope and peace to the people of South Sudan both in South Sudan and in diaspora need the world to carry out a thorough investigation into the current conflict not randomly in order for our various communities to promote peace and a national reconciliation among our political leaders and tribes.  We need the international community to set a thorough and a genuine investigation in regards to the root cause of this conflict and who did what. Why did the political differences within the SPLM Party resulted in one ethnic group (Nuer) being? Without publicly denouncing the Government of Salva Kiir for the crime he had planned for years, South Sudan will not be a perfect nation. We want the troika countries to recall back the experiences their officials from embassies in Juba, South Sudan had experienced from the security situations in the country.

15. Violations of freedom of expression and censorship of the press: In the months prior to the outbreak of Nuer Genocide in South Sudan, the climate for freedom of expression in South Sudan had progressively worsened. With the outbreak of violence on 15 December 2013, a sharp deterioration was evident by all the embassies: US, UK, IGADs, and other European Diplomats. That a political debate between the party members, particularly those who eager to reform SPLM Party and those who opted for dictatorial rule. Because Salva Kiir and his inner circle groups have planned to remain in power without democracy in South Sudan, he ordered to massacre the Nuer to turn/incited communities against one another. Recall his announcement for the postponement of the election supposed to be held in 2015 and extended to 2018-2020. In mid-January, the HRD was informed of dozens of incidents involving the illegal arrest, detention, intimidation, harassment, and expulsion of national and foreign journalists, as well as the surveillance and censorship of media houses. We call upon the international community to look back and analyze what the regime in Juba has done to the UNMISS personnel, including the representative of the UN Secretary General. Calling the UNMISS Representative and other officials rebels and abusing their names in the media is another important violation of international norms the Juba Government has deliberately has been doing. This government has some of the most notorious elements, who have committed war crime and crime against humanity for so long and has torn the country apart. Because of all these human rights violations and atrocities committed by President Salva Kiir against the same people who brought him into the power, we the people of South Sudan concluded that Kiir must go so that the people of South Sudan will remain united as one people, one nation and to live in peace and harmony for the generations to come.

Signed By: South Sudanese Nuer Community Members and Leaders in Edmonton and Alberta in Canada.

May 21, 2014 (SSNA) -- I hope everybody is as optimistic as I’m that peace must surely return to South Sudan. Permanent peace and everlasting Freedom for all!! No matter how long this useful and present war will last. President Salva Kiir: had this to say in Juba, that “this war which had happened in 2013 is the first and will be the last war in the Republic of South Sudan”. Only that, history had to take it dimensions. Yes, thousands of innocent South Sudanese civilians were killed in the middle. Nevertheless all of us are convinced that table is the only road to peace and everlasting freedom.  Many South Sudanese, people, from different works of life need to have peace return to the nation. Therefore, I’m personally, the author, asking ignorant South Sudanese to begin working for it. We have now seen its roof. There is no sustainable development and stability without peace or freedom. And you won’t have such modern realities without your making. Your physical and personal participation is very, very important. Let us projected and generate budget for Peace!!!

Each and every one of us would want to stay not idle but add his/her contribution for it. That is for Peace and Freedom! What are you waiting for? Aren’t you part of this country? Then what are you doing? Are you fond just of talking without rushing into action? Take the point, here, please. It isn’t my obligation alone. It isn’t Mr. X or Mr. Y duty alone to bring peace to South Sudan. It is our overall responsibility. I’m not in my home(s) now. If I were to wait there, I would have been slaughter. Do you know why? You might have seen or heard it. But now, I can cater the living and don’t feel nostalgic at all about those homes. So let me tell you one thing or the other. What I fundamentally needed and we still searching for are Peace and Freedoms. Because, some of you might had been erroneously convinced or rather, deceived. Why I orally objected the governing—reasoning approaches. South Sudan can’t afford to import cunning techniques from Zimbabwe, Libya, Arab world etc. This is the only reason. I objected the approaches, so that to have permanent peace in the country. I’m sure we can do that with or without help. Don’t say our number is just and so, we won’t manage to bring peace. No we will. It is deeply rooted in our culture, habit, norm and values to stand up against any inhuman styles. We are (born) there to be the first to say NO! And at the end bring peace and lasting Freedom for all. Doubtful and fearful group (s) would join later. The only choice they picked. A Country’s best food doesn’t eat by or benefit its genuine builders. This is a proven fact and saying.  From very my mother tongues.  Some of you may and may not understand me well in. Kuejiok a genuine redeemer of this retarded land. The past and present milieus vindicate the realities.

I have prepared a short tale for you, the readers, to read. Compare them later on. This tale is all about my unplanned journey I was forced to have had, a century ago. From a central region called Equality.  After, an annihilation attempt, that had happened to me. You may call it assassination attempt. I needed no further urging. I knew not this strange country had only a dim idea as such.  Since everything could be reasoned traditionally. But I struck out bravely across the desert toward the land of Freedoms. To ask myself a question as to why they wanted to silenced me and my likes. Or why they would want to have had our souls sent to heaven in mass for no good reason. Late those days, I reached a rough district(s) as inhabited as desert. The sharp rocks bruised the feet of my faithful, peaceful dynamic young men and soon they were picking their way slowly and painfully along. I met neither men nor beasts and could well understand why they shunned this inhospitable land. Sometimes we had our bullets not billets with them exchanged. It was such a journey from then on as few men live to tell of. Day after day I plodded along. I almost ran out of my basic needs. The heat of the sun was merciless. I had to endure all these, simply because there is no easy walk to freedom. At the end of the day I slid from the back of my mount with the feeling that I was too weak to ever remount and I would surely die, lost in that abandoned country. Presently referred to this!

As all groups were domestically and regionally being biased against me. Yet altogether, they understood the lessons I taught them while trekking. They will forget not those lessons. I stretched out up the ground and slept, not waking until the first gleam of daylight. I sat up and looked about me. There was coolness in the morning air. About me was a vast waste of destroyed country covered with rock, sand and thorny things. No sign of peace at all corners, naught to eat for man or whatever. Then a question came to me. It was. Could it be that in this peaceful quiet I faced my end?  NO! I said. My mind was clearer than it had ever been before. I looked across into the uninviting distance and once again came to me a question “Have I the soul of a slave or the soul of a free man?”  Then, after a while with clearness I realized that if I had the soul of a slave, I would have given up, lie down in the desert and die, a fitting end for a runway slave. But because I had the soul of a free man, what then? I have to continue preaching the spirit of peace. The last question I put to myself was. Who still has natural field powers to serve manly? My answer: Thiang Geka, his nation as well as the people around. Including those of central region where I survived an annihilation attempt. Ok if this is the case. Let me go, it is me talking. Thiang Geka had come to hut (Luak). I am now in a byre.

I became fresh now as ever before. Surely, I have to force my way back to Greater Equality Region (GER). I decided. In order to pay homepage to the people who trusted me and me trust, bring happiness to my friends who truly loved me and bring peace and contentment to my country human beings. Who cannot able to stand up for rights lonely.  Organize prayers on mass graves of my own family members perished there. Butchered by bearded killer’s district mobilized clannish men. I can see the things that I must do countrywide. First I have to go back to GER as stated to face every man to whom I owed untaught lessons about peace. Peace is our mission, vision and objective. Any obstacle on the path must be fought fiercely. I should tell them that after months of wondering, I had come back to pay my debts as fast as God would permits. For the first time, in months, after I survived that annihilation attempt.  This restarted time written in my forehead a slogan, read: Wide-ranging Forgiveness a best way to permanent peace and freedom. Lest. Alternatively, carrot and stick approach was another potential best way I chose. Modern spears were available. Next I must compose homes which will accommodate everybody. From there I begun and made my successful way back to GER. Without wasted much time. I reached GER and implemented all that I mentioned. And we could live in our region without hindered. In that land of ours peace and freedom can be found everywhere now. Justice rolls like water!

Coming back to South Sudan’s final stride to permanent peace and freedom‘s achievement.  Yes, we have a strong hope that despite these slippery, atrocious situations we can find ourselves in. Permanent peace and freedom will soon be prevailing in South Sudan.  I am 100% sure! This is inventible. Change had already changed the nation. Cognitive people and intelligentsia know it. Only myopic persons can deny. And it will also be after this unrest, that the country, South Sudan’s citizens equally become first class citizens and forever proud of their making. The participation you are asked today to offer as your last rejoinder in a process to have genuine justice or stabilized South Sudan.  More importantly, together we install a solid Constitution terms limits and Federal system of governance. History!! Otherwise permanent federal constitution, Justice, equality, stability, peace and Freedom will be brought to South Sudan without your participation. Utilize or waste your golden chance. END.

Thiang Geka is currently on a National Mission and will soon return to his historic home town, Old Fangak, for celebrations after the completion of this Mission. He can be reached for comment (s) at his Face book Page: Thiang Geka.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” - Abraham Lincoln, former US President.

May 20, 2014 (SSNA) -- Most everybody in the republic of South Sudan agree that the disgraced President, Salva Kiir Mayardit’s compulsive appetite for murdering innocent civilians is what he was put on earth to do. And as far as the Nuer nation is concerned, he has done that and more, and in their heart of hearts, he will never again be a trusted figure and a champion for peace and harmony in the country.

Upon arrival at Juba International Airport from Ethiopia, Kirr told anybody and everybody who would listen that: he didn’t sign the agreement with his rival, Dr. Riek Machar on his own free will, but that he had been coerced to do so by an enormous pressure from the international community, on the one hand, and from the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailomariam Desalegn, on the other hand. “Either you sign the agreement or be arrested here, “he quoted the Premier as saying. To that I ask: do heads of states behave that way with one another? I have never heard it before.

Temperamentally, though, Kirr never left the bush mentality, where he was a top military assistant to the late, Dr. John Garang de Mabior, the former SPLM/A Chairman and Commander-in-Chief. He eared the nick-name ‘the bulldozer’ for crushing some of the commanders, who dared disagreeing with his opinions. Yet to this very moment, the people of South Sudan can’t seem to figure out, what is it that Dr. Garang saw in Kiir that they are unable to see, in crowing him as his first deputy!

For the past eight years, Kiir’s only achievement was deceiving the people of South Sudan, and making a fool of them. Eight long years ago, they are still saddled with the most divisive leader, who, in essence, became the most courageous advocate for injustice, corruption, despair, divisiveness and above all, the master-minding of the genocide of the innocent, harmless, helpless and unarmed Nuer civilians, all around the country, for no apparent reason other than their ethnicity. Now, given that bloody past, can Mr. Kiir still be an effective, legitimate and a trusted leader?

The answer to that requires an insight!

But, fairly or not, the tyrant is to blame for turning the country into a morgue; in his quest to quench his thirst for a fresh blood. And as I have mentioned before on this space, today, South Sudan is no longer a nation, but an ethnically divided society, which communities only see themselves as enemies… not as fellow countrymen. That madness must be stopped in a hurry. The stakes are now quite higher more than ever before to have a fresh start with a new leadership; a leadership that will put our unity at the top of its priorities. Hence, though, achieving that dream will only be possible with Mr. Kiir out of the picture… not in it, as some of the stooges want us to believe.

As I always do prior to writing an article, I recently polled some pundits, political scientists and elders from South Sudan, who have reached an alarming conclusion: “If free elections were held today, Kiir is doomed, they asserted. They also ruled out the possibility of him voluntarily leaving power, as he often said in recent months leading to the Addis’ agreement. “He must hold on to power to keep away from capture, and being handed over to the International Criminal Court, ICC, for the Nuer genocide, “they said.

Meanwhile, Kiir’s flunkies continue to extinguish the fire by adding more fuel. Just yesterday, Ustaz/ James Wani Iga, the tyrant Vice President told Sudan Tribune: “Any government of national unity without Kiir is impossible.” “He is a unifying figure, “he went on to say.

Really!

More to the point, in Addis Abba, Mr. Michael Makuei, the regime’s spokesman said: “Any suggestions that Kiir stays out are out of question, and any form of government MUST be under him.” He vomited

Now you have it, people of South Sudan. This conflict is not between the Jieeng (Dinka) and the Naath (Nuer). It’s between right and wrong.

Luk Kuth Dak is a veteran journalist and a former anchorman at Juba Radio. He can be reached at lukedak@hotmail.com, or follow me on tweeter@kuthdak.

May 20, 2014 (SSNA) -- From Cairo in the north to Harare in the South, Abidjan in the west to Nairobi in the east, African despots have invented one survivalist secret to remain in power. The treacherous discovery comes in handy after swindling their poverty – ridden countries of colossal sums of monies. This wanton theft has led to an infliction of heaviest tolls of regrettable high death and illiteracy rates among their subdued subjects. That is besides the imposition of dictatorial governance – buffoonish style - on their unrelenting vociferous masses. Unfortunately, it is this club of rogue kleptocrats Salva Kiir Mayardit of recently independent South Sudan has joined as a new kid on the bloc. This comes after learning his lessons the hard way from the said peer group of heartless autocrats. Prominent in this bloc of authoritarian dictatorships is a stone throw away Kenya and Egypt, the far flunk Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe whose capital cities are hitherto mentioned above. Not all, but some leaders in these countries either tried previously this panacea or are now riding high on this criminal invention. Well performing Mwai Kibaki of Kenya clawed back narrowly a slipping away Presidency by hooks or crooks from rhetorically larger than life opposition leader, Raila Amolo Odinga in 2007.

Not so long after an octogenarian Robert Mugabe pinched off a considerable chunk of votes from his all time rival, Morgan Vshangrai to remain in a sale off date 30 plus years’ rulership. Laurence Gbagbo stamped his feet hard on Ivorian Presidency as he kept reneging on peace pacts with pro - Ali Hassan Ouatara northern - based New Forces rebels for ten good years that could lead to elections he rightly believed he couldn’t win. He lost the plot as he expected in 2010 and is now behind bars munching juicy Macdonald like never before in The Hague for trying to hang on as he unleashed human right atrocities against the rivals. After driving Hosni Mubarak out of palace in a mutual military coup in Egypt on a trump card of pacifying the blood thirsty mob baying for his life, now military strong man field marshal Abdel Fatah Al- sisi is having his presidential debut as the sole candidate in the elections all parties of substance, his bootlicking puppet Adly Mansour and sworn rival Mohammed Morsi are constitutionally barred from participating. He savagely robbed Peter – Mubarak to pay Paul – Morsi after a brief warm curdle with pro – Mubarak Islamic moderates in a powering sharing bed. He is currently tiptoeing his way back to power as he systematically railroads the Egyptian pharaohic political dinosaurs, the timid moderates and hardcore Islamists. Lining up closely behind all those bad examples is South Sudan’s Salva Kiir Mayardit. The man who got spectacular rise to power on silver platter following the sudden demise of a wily - charismatic john Garang crashed onto Mount Imatong on 30th July, 2005 on his return to South Sudan from Yoweri Museveni rural home in Uganda. The crashed Presidential helicopter under still unsettled suspicious circumstances was offered by Museveni, strangely Kiir current inseparable close political buddy.

Those who stirred the dusty storm about the crashed plane, like Tellar Ring Deng and Aleu Ayeny Aleu, were booted out of former Sudan federal cabinet and SPLM on Kiir’s orders and only to return to the political inner sanctum after pleading for mercy. Those who echoed the same hullabaloo across the border frontiers in Uganda like vocal journalist Andrew Mwenda were either muscled into jail or silence by Museveni. This savage act of treachery replicated in late December 2011 when rebel leader George Athor Deng from his hideout waded into Museveni trap under the guise of peace negotiations with Juba. In a few hours time his and Secretary Thomas Duoth Makuach’s remains were handed over in body bags to Kiir’s security details at Uganda – South Sudan border town of Kaya. A child of magnificent fortune, Kiir reaped where he hardly sowed by simply tucking along in the shadow of an industrious bread winner, Garang for 21 years of hiking on the most torturous hills and valleys of South Sudan as he bravely fought one colonial Arab regime after another. That is the last broken straw clearing Kiir’s path to power shrouded in dangerous mists.

Among the top five permanent members out of fifteen in the Political Military High Command, PMHC of whom he was one, Kiir is the only sole survivor. Besides Garang and Arok Thon Arok who died in Sudan government plane crash in February 1998, deputy chairman, Kerubino Kuanyin Bol and Chief of staff, William Nyuon Bany got killed in gun battles. It is death of the brave that threw adept critics’ floodgate of silence swung open. This group of cynics usually talks of Kiir in a more disapproving – hushed tones as the only top high commander of fifteen – half of whom had already dropped dead in a former guerilla movement, SPLM/A - who never ran over a single government garrison town. All he was doing as the security chief for nearly half of liberation life span is pinpointing for slaughter those he caught unawares slightly pulling faces and poking funs at the veteran guerilla leader’s leadership style. Kiir they said only voiced egocentric dissent of late around September 2004 when he sensed being sidelined by Garang in the run up to the formation of the post-war interim government in which huge monetary and political paybacks were in the hoping. He ever since 2005 presides over the Presidency for eight years.

With not so good looking performance invoice tainted by bloodiest ethnic divisions ever, high flying – mega financial corruption and stone aged rigidity to embrace democratic change and good governance. In starring defeat right in the face come 2015 elections Kiir devised a ruthless mechanism to hold onto the shaky path of power. That is by arm-twisting the drafters of a controversial transitional constitution and flushing it down the throats of MPs with carrot on the stick. The document has granted him unlimited prerogative to remove elected political post holders including State Governors except him as he weeded out from national cabinet potential rivals. When they continued hanging out in their positions of last resort in SPLM party, he followed them by changing the party road map rules in his favor that could maintain one’s position or take him/her a notch higher on the political ladder. These strong arms tactics got capped with stage managed military coup attempt that sparked off ethnic massacres of the Nuer innocent civilians in South Sudanese capital, Juba by his home - grown ethnic militia. Saw dozens locked up in squirrel jails a head of arranging them before kangaroo courts.

The rest ran helter-skelter for dear lives including his arch-rival Riek Machar into far and wide thickets. Not so long ago he breathed a whip of fresh air before his main rival for the crown, Dr. Machar crafted a fortune changing bulwark, SPLM – in - Opposition in bush hideout to challenge Kiir’s might that shortly turned into balance of power over night between South Sudan two leading political protagonists. Now under threat of losing power in the wake of five – month old devastating civil war despite bringing in every Dick, Tom and Harry in South Sudan to help him keep the ever declining presidency with countrywide famine looming large, Kiir is stretching out his long hands for a power sharing deal with Machar. A trick up the sleeve, he hopes will keep the proverbial Arab camel/him going for a few extra-miles reluctantly as the dogs bark. If succeeds, his laughable nullity called attempted coup shall pay off bountifully. For he will walk away scot free from the impunity of orchestrating deadly massacres, massive human displacement, infrastructural destruction and self-induced famine. The icing on the cake will be an illegal extension of his term in office for yet another period he would not have done through free and fair 2015 elections. Then, business as usual will always remain as fabricated coups illegally extend endless presidential terms while cycle of impunity continues to feed culture of violence; concluded I in a statement directed to an American Ambassador to South Sudan, Susan Page in a meeting with Nuer assembled leaders, Thursday 15th May on consultation on which way peace, purposed formation of Transitional National Unity Government and reconciliation process could be pursued.

Deng Vanang is a freelance Journalist and can be reached at:dvanang@yahoo.com.

May 17, 2014 (SSNA) -- While the news media in most of the world focus with relentless obsession on some three hundred girls kidnapped in Nigeria by the barbaric Boko Haram, stories of much greater human magnitude continue to unfold without so much as a glancing notice.  It is hard not to feel the pain of these girls and their families; but it is dwarfed by the plight of so many girls, in so many places around the world.  And yet, as if determined to attune U.S. foreign policy to the most telegenically compelling news stories from around the world, the Obama administration's response has been absurdly out of proportion, given the reality of places like Darfur.  There many tens of thousands of girls have been killed during what has become a grim genocide by attrition, now entering its second decade with almost complete invisibility.  It is almost certain that tens of thousands of girls, many very young, have been raped—some brutally, even fatally gang-raped.  These outrageously cruel assaults often occur in front of families in order to magnify the social stigma attached to rape.  Thousands of non-Arab or African girls and women have been abducted to become sexual slaves of Arab militia groups, sometimes for extended periods of time.

Why do these massive atrocities receive no commensurate attention from either the news media or the Obama administration?  To be sure, the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime in Khartoum grants no news-reporting access to Darfur, except for an occasional carefully controlled visit to one of the three capital cities of the region.  The fact that Radio Dabanga so regularly and fully reports on developments in Darfur must also be discouraging of international news efforts, which at best could glean, even with Arabic speaking journalists, but a few telling facts from interviews in the limited time that Khartoum might allow them.  Moreover, all signs are that the regime is cracking down yet harder on news media, both domestic and international.  Without greater resourcefulness by journalists, Darfur will move even further into eclipse.

This, however, is no excuse for the Obama administration, which must be fully aware of what is occurring—if only because so reliably and consistently reported by Radio Dabanga.  Also, humanitarian aid organizations and their staff can be confidentially de-briefed on returning from Darfur; satellite imagery can be readily produced; communication with various leaders and figures of importance in Darfuri civil society is also possible (including those in the diaspora).  But the U.S. seems determined to ignore Darfur.  Indeed, it was well over three years ago that the Obama administration explicitly "de-coupled" Darfur from the key issue of counter-terrorism cooperation between Khartoum and Washington (the word "de-coupled" was used by a "senior administration official," unnamed in the State Department transcript).  But if nominally bearing only on counter-terrorism cooperation, the "de-coupling" of Darfur has in fact become complete, and the signs of this are everywhere in the administration of a president who did not hesitate to make bold use of the Darfur issue in 2008, deploying the strongest possible rhetoric in demonstrating his "Darfur credentials" to voters.

This suggests why senior officials of the Obama administration have waxed so indignant about the Boko Haram kidnappings, and "declared to Congress that freeing the schoolgirls abducted by the radical Islamist group last month has become one of the Obama administration's top priorities" (Associated Press [Washington], May 15, 2014).  This is a shameful pandering, and badly skews real priorities.  Republicans have behaved in a manner just as appalling and self-serving, trying to politicize the issue by asking why then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not declare Boko Haram a terrorist organization in 2012.  The narrowness of vision, the parochialism, the constant testing for the most visceral issue on the minds of voters—all this grotesquely distorts public understanding of the problems that really deserve to be "top priorities."

Why isn't the terrible and much greater plight of hundreds of thousands of girls in Darfur a "top priority" for the Obama administration?  The answer all too clearly is that the Darfur crisis is challenging and would require commitment of substantial resources; international consensus is thin; and responding meaningfully would endanger the counter-terrorism cooperation that defines U.S. Sudan policy in the Obama administration.  There is, finally, no evidence that this administration is committed to ending the suffering, insecurity, and human destruction endured by millions of Darfuris.

As I've argued previously, the case of Syria has also provided occasion for hypocrisy on the part of the Obama administration.  The administration response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons against civilians, including hundreds of children, has created an expedient moral framework out ultimately in service of political goals. The implicit claim has been made repeatedly, most notably by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, that children’s deaths from chemical weapons are more "heinous" or  "morally obscene” than all others. I believe this to be a dismayingly invidious comparison. The claim that a child who dies from a chemical attack dies a more horrible death than the child in Darfur who dies in agony—over many hours, having been eviscerated by the shrapnel exploding out a bomb dropped from a high-flying, grossly inaccurate Antonov cargo plane—is perversely expedient.

In fact, the Obama administration has a dismally weak record of condemning the many hundreds of aerial attacks on civilians in Darfur, as well as in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.  Certainly nothing that is said amounts to more than boilerplate, a fact not lost on the Khartoum regime.  It's hardly surprising that U.S. and international condemnation of such war crimes has been not only tepid but utterly inconsequential.  Khartoum bombs civilians wherever and whenever it wishes, not deterred in the slightest by international statements.  Indeed, every aerial attack in Darfur—whether it be of military or civilian targets—is a direct violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1591 (March 2005).  And although the UN/African Union "hybrid" peacekeeping force (UNAMID) is scandalous in its failures to report such attacks, a number of the UN Panels of Experts on Darfur—created to monitor compliance with the arms embargo and a ban on all military flights in Darfur—have reported in detailed fashion on numerous egregious violations of all terms of Resolution 1591.  There have been no consequences, and Khartoum's violations continue apace.

In effect, the international community—led by the U.S., the UN, the EU, and the African Union—has conceded Khartoum's "victory" in Darfur.  There has been no concerted effort to control the violence that has now spiraled out of control, imperiling all remaining humanitarian capacity.  The more than 2 million internally displaced persons are more vulnerable than ever—from lack of food, water, and medicine, but also from attacks by the ever more brazen reincarnation of the Janjaweed known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).  Rape of girls and women, by the thousands, continues with complete impunity.  Displaced persons camps are attacked more frequently and more violently.  Land appropriated from African farmers by Arab pastoralists has permanently changed the demographics of Darfur, precisely the genocidal ambition announced in August 2004 by Musa Hilal, the most infamous of the Janjaweed leaders earlier in the conflict and still a cruel and potent force in the region:

The ultimate objective in Darfur is spelled out in an August 2004 directive from [Janjaweed paramount leader Musa] Hilal’s headquarters: "change the demography" of Darfur and "empty it of African tribes." Confirming the control of [Khartoum's] Military Intelligence over the Darfur file, the directive is addressed to no fewer than three intelligence services—the Intelligence and Security Department, Military Intelligence and National Security, and the ultra-secret "Constructive Security," or Amn al Ijabi.  (Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, 2005)

Accepting that this ambition continues to animate Khartoum's actions in Darfur has proved too awkward for the Obama administration, despite the success of the strategy announced a decade ago.  For of course the overwhelming number of displaced persons are African; those who have lost their lands and livelihoods are overwhelmingly African; and the some 500,000 people who have died from violence and its consequences in Darfur and eastern Chad (including violent displacement) are overwhelmingly African.  The people bombed by Khartoum are overwhelmingly African; the girls and women raped, often while being forced to hear hateful racial epithets, are overwhelmingly African.  The fact that Arab tribal groups have also begun to fight one another in much more serious fashion changes none of this.

And yet it is clear that the international community has essentially conceded victory to Khartoum's génocidaires. Stopping the regime's efforts, which now take a wide range of forms, including denial of humanitarian access to critically needy civilians, would require real effort.  Building consensus among those with the power to threaten Khartoum economically is challenging.  And the UN/AU force on the ground, while a terrible failure, at least provides the fig-leaf of protection in the region, however ineffective UNAMID is in preventing or reporting violence against civilians.  When these challenges are coupled with the lack of news reporting and the absence of any credible human rights reporting presence, even public opinion—so strong in the years leading up to Obama's election as president—is no longer a problem.  Few still care about Darfur and even fewer have any real sense of what is happening.

In response to this last challenge I can do no more than organize the recent dispatches from Radio Dabanga, by date and the nature of events.  But let us be clear that there is not a total absence of information.  And the UN, which has performed erratically in Darfur over the years, has issued a statement through UNICEF that should put the kidnapped girls of Nigeria in at least statistical perspective:

The UN children’s rights and relief organisation, UNICEF, has warned that an entire generation in Darfur may be lost as a result of more than ten years of violence in the region."Life in the camps might produce a new generation without ambition," the UNICEF Representative in Sudan, Geert Cappelaere, said in a press statement issued on Saturday. In particular as about 60 percent of the displaced in Darfur are minors."He warned that the children growing up in the Darfur camps for the displaced may not be able to return to a normal life. Many are traumatised after having witnessed attacks against their families or being themselves subjected to violence, abduction, and other assaults.In addition, the malnutrition figures are very high. Cappelaere pointed to North Darfur which is listed first of the Darfur states suffering from an acute food crisis. "More than 80,000 children in North Darfur are severely malnourished. South Darfur State comes second in the list.""The world should not turn its back to the tragedy of the children in Darfur," the UNICEF official urged.  (Radio Dabanga, May 12, 2014) ("Severe Acute Malnutrition" [SAM] is typically fatal in children under five if untreated with therapeutic feeding—ER)

Search engines suggest that only Radio Dabanga and Thomson Reuters Foundation (London) reported on this extraordinary announcement by UNICEF.  A similar search for "Nigerian girls" + "Boko Haram" yields a figure measured in the millions.

Perhaps this is a moment in which news organizations might feel compelled to reflect on their journalistic choices.  They may continue to report as they have, driven by what seem the "sexiest," most audience-drawing, most accessible stories of human tragedy.  Or some may see that the obsession with Malaysian Flight 370 and the Boko Haram kidnappings permits consumers with a prurient love of spectacle to drive news content, indeed to define "news."  Perhaps, just perhaps this may be a catalyst for re-committing to reporting news that is most consequential, in the broadest terms, for well-informed citizens of the world.  A present, however, such commitment is nowhere in sight, so for Darfur at least we must rely on Radio Dabanga.

FROM DISPATCHES OF THE PAST FEW WEEKS (with links)

Eric Reeves' new book-length study of greater Sudan (Compromising With Evil: An archival history of greater Sudan, 2007 - 2012; www.CompromisingWithEvil.org)

Nairobi, May 16, 2014 (SSNA) -- Since this crisis started in December of last year, and the months preceding this, I had decided to go underground, for reasons best known to myself. It wasn’t because there was nothing to write about – a lot of stories and events that needed another person view/bird’s eyes. Since then, a lot of water seems to have passed under the bridge. South Sudan, a country born in 2011, is now in flames. Only God knows when and how this conflict will end, but as its now, only innocent women, children and the elderly bear the brunt of this senseless war imposed on the people by Salva Kiir and his cronies.

The events which unfolded before the December 15^th meant that we were headed for a serious crisis, one worse than any other crisis (es) in history. We all knew that the actions (the unpopular, so-called presidential decrees and the vile threats at the December 14^th SPLM national liberation council meeting) of the then president Kiir were antithetical to peace and stability in South Sudan, and any right minded person would have concluded that it was a declaration of war on those deemed as his opponents or stumbling block for him to cling on power endlessly.

What happened on the night of December 15^th in Juba was not a coup attempt by any definition, as attested by many witnesses who have written before this little author. It was a premeditated plan to eliminate all the political opponents of Kiir, and a plan that went terribly wrong, as it didn’t hit the right targets. Yes, they managed to arrest some innocent political leaders of the party, who only woke up to the guns rattling at night and didn’t know what was happening. The prime target, on hearing gunfire at the presidential guards unit, had to look for escape route as his dear life was in danger – knowing fully well that it was all about him.

What started as an internal fighting within the presidential guards unit, turned out to be tribally motivated killings of innocent Nuer civilians, because the man they wanted to kill had escaped unharmed. They had to use a tank to crush/kill the children, women and whoever they found in his house on the 17^th of December when they realized that he was not in the house. The records we have at our disposal put the number of innocent Nuer civilians killed in Juba alone at 17,000. Most people were killed at their homes during the door-to-door search for Nuer by Kiir’s militias from Bhar el Ghazal with strict orders ‘shoot-to-kill’. Others were killed as they tried to go to UNMISS compounds. The author narrowly escaped on the 16^th of December and bear witness to what happened.

A shaky cessation of hostilities agreement was signed in January and on the day of its signature, the pro-government forces went on the offensive, attacking the anti-government forces in multiple fronts, in total disrespect of the agreement. They burned Leer town to ashes; and raped, killed women and children on the 6^th of February. They looted the town and took everything they could find around – heck!, they also looted UNICEF school’s bags, which attracted UNICEF condemnation from their HQs. But then, judging from what has been said by the so-called ‘international community’, the world is simply not fair!

A certain guy called Toby Lanzer has been promised renewal of the contract by Kiir’s government but on condition that he had to report falsified information regarding the alleged atrocities committed by the rebels. When more than 200 innocent (Nuer) civilians under the protection of UN in Bor were killed in broad daylight, the death toll was reduced to 60 people; so as not to disgrace the UN, while treading on a fine line not to arouse Makuei’s wrath.

When civilians were targeted and killed in January (in Bentiu) after the JEM and pro-government forces recaptured the town from the anti-government forces, Toby Lanzer never opened his mouth to condemn it. Likewise, civilians were pulled out of churches and hospitals in Malakal and killed in huge numbers after the town was recaptured by the government forces and the UN never said anything about it. It has become abundantly clear that the UNMISS is doing according to the whims and caprices of the illegitimate government of Kiir and Makuei, with regards to the ongoing conflict in South Sudan.

Its either the so-called “international community” is blind to the truth or doesn’t want to know the truth. After all, we didn’t want somebody, who decided to be blind to the truth, to tell us that so and so is the legitimate president when his hands are full of blood from innocent’s civilians killed, with his full knowledge. If there is still something called “international community”, they should start calling on this illegitimate president to step aside in order for peace to prevail over chaos and anarchy, as evidenced now. The only acceptable transition is one without Kiir as president of South Sudan. Otherwise, we are wasting resources (time, papers, inks and money) in Addis Ababa hotels, trying to negotiate peace that will not be achieved in the foreseeable future as long as the conditions are not ripe for it!

The truce cannot hold with Kiir as the president unless we are not seriously for peace. The US and the wider international cannot just impose an impractical and forced peace while turning a blind eye on the glaring and blatant violations by Kiir’s government. The truce cannot hold with Kiir who has conspicuously and categorically declared he is president for life, as he tightens his grip on power and extend his contract beyond 2018 or thereabout. The truce cannot hold with Kiir who does not believe in peaceful resolution of this conflict but believes in crushing the rebellion through the bought mercenaries – the Ugandans, JEM, SPLA-North and Egyptians with vested interests; and the world doesn’t see anything wrong with this.

Salva Kiir is bent on exterminating ALL the Nuer in South Sudan so that he can rule for life, and nobody will question his dictatorship tendencies; and the US cannot see it because they have decided to be blind to the truth. What is happening now in South Sudan has all the hallmarks of genocide in it. The world is not fair because when 17,000 innocent Nuer civilians were massacred in Juba alone, nobody bothered to condemn or talk about it.  The world isn’t fair because when more than 200 innocent Nuer civilians, mostly children and women; who were supposedly under the protection of UNMISS in Bor were killed by government soldiers, nobody condemned it much.

I just cannot understand it; and thus, don’t envisage peace in South Sudan as long as Kiir is still claiming legitimacy that has gone to waste with the 2011 referendum papers. Needless to say he burned his card/credit when he killed 17,000 civilians in Juba in December 2013, and many more elsewhere since January up to now.

The author is a civil society activist based in Nairobi and can be reached via: riekanderson@gmail.com.

May 16, 2014 (SSNA) -- When Ambassador Francis Mading Deng was appointed as the permanent representative of South Sudan to the United Nations (UN) by the end of August, 2012, I was thrilled. When he accepted the offer and took oath to represent the people of South Sudan at the world body, I was beaming with hope and was convinced that South Sudan is finally entrusted in safe and able hands of a brilliant, experienced and probably even principled diplomat. The future of South Sudan foreign relations, particularly in relation to how international relations are conceived of and articulated at the global center of power in New York seemed bright. Abyei was probably on course to rejoining South Sudan from its nativity in Sudan, so I thought.

Ambassador Deng’s glittering diplomatic career needs no introduction. Since the early 60s Dr. Deng has been in and around the United Nations corridors of power, serving on various capacities and scope. He rose to the highest level of humanitarian and peace policymaking positions at this global institution. Deng laboriously toiled and climbed the UN ladder from humble beginnings serving as a mere human rights officer between 1967 and 1972 to the under-secretary level, representing the Secretary General on issues of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by 1992. He then served as a special advisor of the current UN Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide from 2007 until his appointment as South Sudan’s special representative to the UN.

Successive Khartoum regimes have recognized Deng’s brilliance and diplomatic prowess as early back as mid-70s. He was one of the few Southerners cherry-picked on merits (he is a Scientiae Juridicae Doctor) by Jallaba ruling elites to preside over Sudan’s foreign relations. He served as Sudan State’s Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1976 until his resignation following the abrogation of the 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Accord and declaration of Islamic Sharia as the supreme law of the land by president Nimeri in 1982, which is one of the factors that triggered the second liberation struggle.

Ambassador Deng claims he tabled his resignation from Sudan’s Foreign Service then in protest to the central government’s conspicuous relapse to Islamist policies. But by 1992, Professor Deng was back working for Sudan’s Foreign Affairs Office and serving the more ruthless Bashir’s Islamist government in Khartoum. He was assigned as Sudan’s Ambassador to several Western countries, including the United States, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Canada.

Dr. Francis Deng is also an international public figure by virtue of his articulate scholarship and seminal academic contributions in international law, global politics and international relations and conflict management and resolution. He is one of the architects of the moral humanitarian intervention principle now commonly referred to as responsibility to protect (R2P) or responsibility to act (R2A). In this moral humanitarian intervention principle Deng and his colleagues shifted the burden of normative conception of state sovereignty from above to below and from territorial integrity to the dignity of the people.

The state sovereignty Deng and cohort pioneered dispensed with more than 340 years of established state sovereignty tradition in legal and political theory. Sovereignty up until Deng’s intervention as articulated in their book, Sovereignty As Responsibility: Conflict Management in Africa, published in 1996, was a geographic and regime friendly concept, where territorial integrity of states are sacrosanct and states may not interfere in internal matters of other states, even when totalitarian regimes brutalize their subjects.

The R2P moral principle came to refine the traditional sovereignty norm and articulates three factors that guide modern international relations and the moral obligations of a state. These moral principles delineate that: a state has a responsibility to protect its citizens from human rights violations and mass atrocities; that the international community has a responsibility to aid the state that is unable or unwilling to protect its citizens to overcome this failure; and finally that in seeking to halt human rights violations and mass atrocities and enforce peace and security, the international community has a responsibility to use force as a last resort when all other avenues have failed.

R2P has now evolved into a soft law in international law and serves as a fundamental principle in humanitarian interventions around the world. The ouster and lynching of the draconian Mouamar Khadafi of Libya following his iron-fist and violent repression of the Libyan revolution was pretext on the R2P moral and legal principle discourse coined and championed by Professor Deng and company.

On the national level, few have written so expressively and voluminously on the South Sudanese societies, particularly about the Dinka ethnic group as does Professor Deng. He has written much on Dinka cosmology and worldview, from which Dinka cultural values on peace, social justice and the importance of dignity are derived and around which Dinka social organization, folktales and folksongs revolve.

The gist of Deng’s exposé on his ethnic group, the Dinka, is to lay bare Dinka egalitarianism, and the centrality of peace, justice and dignity values in the Dinka culture so as to dispel any lingering negative perceptions and stereotypes that reduce the community to some unprovoked proneness to violence. This message is a persistent pattern of Deng’s Dinka writings traceable in his discussions of Dinka worldview, cosmology and religion all the way down to social organization and the role of elders and women in inculcating these integral cultural values in children through the use of folktales and folksongs for example. “Cieng,” which is a Dinka term that captures the importance of peace, permeates the society’s linguistic expression, including in folktales and folksongs, as Deng argues.

In a book chapter entitled “The World of the Dinka: A Portrait of the Threatened Culture,” Deng writes: “Despite the warlike profile of the Dinka, their moral values emphasize the ideals of peace, unity, harmony, persuasiveness, and mutual cooperation. These values are highly institutionalized and expressed in a concept known as cieng (pronounced “cheng”)…. The contradiction between the requirements of cieng and the violent reputation of the Dinka can be explained in terms of the gap between the ideal and the real, institutionally manifest in the difference between generational roles. While elders strive to live by the ideals, the young warriors find self-fulfillment, social recognition, and dignity in their valor, fighting ability, and defensive solidarity…. Nevertheless, frequent and pervasive as it is, warfare reflects a negation of the ideals, an alternative that should only be resorted to when peaceful methods have failed.”

Elsewhere in a book entitled, Tradition and Modernization: A Challenge for Law among the Dinka of the Sudan, Deng argues: “Cieng does not merely advocate unity and harmony through attuning individual interests to the interests of others; it requires assisting one’s fellowmen. Despite the violent nature of Dinka society, good cieng is opposed to coercion and violence: for solidarity, harmony, and mutual cooperation are more fittingly achieved voluntarily and by persuasion. Cieng has the sanctity of a moral order not only inherited from the ancestors who had in turn received it from God, but also fortified and policed by them. Failure to adhere to its principles is not only disapproved of as an antisocial act warranting temporal punishment; but more important, it is a violation of the moral order which may invite a spiritual curse—illness or death according to the gravity of the violation. Conversely, a distinguished adherence to the ideals of cieng receives temporal and spiritual rewards.”

In short, Professor Deng is an accomplished public figure and a diplomat, a scholar and a peace advocate whose reputation transcends our local South Sudanese borders and the African continent into the world at large. Deng’s presentations of the Dinka society are not only breathtaking but also leave the impression that he (Deng) is what he is today because he was probably nurtured and driven by these same Dinka cultural peace and justice values and egalitarianism.

However, following the litmus test of the violent outbreak in South Sudan mid-December last year, it is conspicuously noticeable that many a Dinka intellectual who hitherto could be identified as peace activists, have recoiled and thrown their weight behind president Kiir and his violent and destructive policies. This holds particularly true for those Dinka members who hail from the Greater or to use a more politically correct expression, the larger Bahr El-Ghazal geographic region, which includes Abyei, and which was part of this region before it was annexed.

Could this be the “defensive solidarity” that Professor Deng describes above? If so, how far can a defensive solidarity of a president who has declared a war on his people go? Should it go as far as undoing all the peace principles and values that one stood for, dedicated one’s entire life advocating and built a global let alone local reputation as a man of principles and the defender of rights, dignity and values? During his last Security Council address diplomat, Francis Deng did not fail to invoke the viability of raising such questions. By ardently defending a regime that the whole world is aware has instigated a war on its people and massacred thousands of a segment of its citizens on the basis of sheer identity difference, Dr. Deng like several other doctors from the region have needlessly undressed themselves.

There is no justification for the reaction in kind and the atrocities committed by the other side against those sympathetic with Kiir’s regime or identified with the president’s tribal belonging. But Deng of all others should not explain away the targeting of IDPs in a UN protection of civilian (PoC) site as happened in Bor and as defended by Deng to have been provoked by the IDPs celebrations of the fall of Bentiu and the gunshots fired by their UN peacekeeping custodians. There is nowhere in the world where those engaged in a peaceful protest arm themselves. No such thing as armed peaceful protest.

Professor Deng’s last Security Council address was shameful and is antithetical to all that he stood for, including representing IDPs before the world body and the international community and advising the UN’s Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide. Importantly, that speech negates your groundbreaking contribution and redefinition of sovereignty as state moral and legal responsibility to protect its citizens. Diplomat Deng, you should condemn the violent madness in South Sudan and resign from representing Kiir’s regime at the UN, before you further risk tainting your hands with innocent blood, tarnishing your national and global image and reputation and undoing your impressive and rich resume and contributions to make the world more peaceful and just. Peacebuilding begins at home.

Tongun Lo Loyuong is a freelance policy analyst from South Sudan. He holds two Master’s Degrees with honors and academic excellence from the United States. The last of his two MAs is in International Peace Studies and Policy Analysis for Political Change, from the University of Notre Dame – Indiana. His research interest is in South Sudan’s governance and peace and conflict issues. He is reachable at: tloloyuong@gmail.com. For South Sudan news feed, follow him on tweeter @TongunLoLoyuong; and for more commentaries visit his blog at: http://tloloyuong.wordpress.com/.

By Margaret Akulia, Canada

May 15, 2014 (SSNA) -- Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon, espouse Nuer egalitarianism as your official manifesto for the new South Sudan and watch your popularity skyrocket locally and globally! Continue to be a champion for actual Democracy and you will automatically become the People’s hero. That means allying with the people of South Sudan who must largely comprise of political parties, civil society and faith-based leaders in “the negotiation of a transitional government of national unity, in order to ensure broad ownership of the agreed outcomes” and gaining their consensus on the way forward for South Sudan in relation to “the permanent constitution, and any other items that concern the political future of the country and reconciliation of South Sudanese communities”, as outlined in the agreement you signed in Addis Ababa on May 9, 2014.

Your appeal for calm after Salvatore Kiir Mayardit dishonoured your 2010 “gentlemen agreement” and your refusal to dignify his self-aggrandizing, reckless and uncalled for cock-a-doodle-doo “I am the president of South Sudan, and I must always remain in that position as the president. The leader of that country” with a response during the somber occasion of signing the agreement to halt the carnage in South Sudan in Addis Ababa on May 9, 2014 distinguished you as the superior statesman!

Even though you would have offered a lucid response to Salvatore Kiir Mayardit’s attempt to “ruffle your feathers” in spite of the fact that you have effectively “clipped his wings” by forcing him as an incumbent president to negotiate with you, your self-discipline to stay silent speaks volumes about your ability to resist the temptation to be jerked into a foolish power struggle at the expense of the people of South Sudan! You did extremely well by refusing to dignify Salvatore Kiir Mayardit’s deflated and sacrilegious “cock crowing” about being the president of the country he has desecrated with a response because as a higher-class statesman, you understood and discerned that it was a glum occasion resulting from death and destruction. Consequently, the haughtiness Salvatore Kiir Mayardit exhibited would be out of place. That was why you earned a warm welcome in Ethiopia instead.

You remain tight-lipped about what transpired in Ethiopia behind “closed doors” in relation to allegedly being “blackmailed” byEthiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn into signing the agreement to halt the bloodbath in South Sudan as a wise statesman ought to because you understood that any “persuasion” by the Prime Minister was intended for the good of the people of South Sudan. However, Salvatore Kiir Mayardit flippantly “broadcast” it on “hilltops” and continued to lay bare the lack of discipline that caused South Sudan to plummet into a lawless country in the first place! You did well not to “blubber” and allege duress as Salvatore Kiir Mayardit has done because Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s “persuasion” was not duress but a duty to ensure that the suffering masses of South Sudan can stop being executed in cold blood!

The Proverb “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall(Proverbs 16:18)” is playing itself out right before the eyes of the world and Salvatore Kiir Mayardit only has himself to blame for the looming humiliating tumble that will result from his ill advised “cock crowing” in Ethiopia and “loose talk” before an entire world that is watching the two of you very closely. Take your caliber to an unparalleled level by trumpeting an interim government of the people, by the people, for the people which bears close resemblance to your Nuer egalitarianism after all and your popularity will skyrocket locally and globally!

Salvatore Kiir Mayardit started off the agreement to halt the massacre in South Sudan in bad faith but you don’t have to follow in his footsteps. His are the murmurings of an undiscerning wannabe “king” who wants to impose a warped “kingdom” called South Sudan onto “subjects” who actually despise him now because of the way he morphed into a tyrant instead of remaining a “freedom fighter”! It is obvious that Salvatore Kiir Mayardit and his cronies are completely ignorant about the fact that his so-called “democratic election” was actually a plebiscite and not a Presidential Election! A simple explanation by an incorruptible and intelligent lawyer with the aptitude to understand that the people of South Sudan can actually “dethrone” Salvatore Kiir Mayardit from his self-styled “kingship” legally would have wiped off the smirk preceding the cock-a-doodle-doo “I am the president of South Sudan, and I must always remain in that position as the president. The leader of that country” from his face!

However, why bother continuing to sound like a “broken record” to try and explain this high-level legal detail to “deaf” ears anyway when the People now have an immediate opportunity to turn a new leaf and forge forward with an actual Democracy? Why bother prolonging the suffering of South Sudanese by “dragging” Salvatore Kiir Mayardit through the dysfunctional judiciary and “kangaroo courts” he has instituted in South Sudan to try to “unseat him” legally when the people can now move forward without the brutality he and his cronies have meted on them for almost a decade?

Suffice it to say that despite assuming power without the correct process and mandate from the people of South Sudan, Salvatore Kiir Mayardit has grossly let down the People and abrogated his implicit duty to foster the country and prevent every South Sudanese from being harmed. Consequently he and his supporters need to stop the absurdity of enunciating that he should serve his full presidential term because there was no such term!

The people of South Sudan have had enough mortification to last a life time. It is time for them to heal from their unfathomable wounds and recover from being a laughing-stock after enduring the humiliating high jinks of a so-called President who is clueless about the importance and workings of the United Nations system.

The only reason Salvatore Kiir Mayardit continued as President of South Sudan is the tyranny that has precipitated the mass murder of South Sudanese from your Nuer tribe and his Dinka tribe but there is now an opportunity for new beginnings which you as a superior statesman should safeguard by allying with the political parties, civil society and faith-based leaders and obtaining their consensus about what the transitional government of national unity ought to be. Salvatore Kiir Mayardit has proved that he is incapable of redeeming himself, which puts the onus on you,Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon as a more sophisticated statesman in the harmful game of “Russian Roulette” that has severely injured the people of South Sudan and ravaged the country beyond recognition to work with the people of South Sudan in championing their aspirations for an interim government. Such a government needs to be sanctioned by the People without intimidation. 

The interim government is temporary, interventional and preparatory in nature but critical for the survival of the South Sudan you yourself risked your life for. It will be a critical bridge between the bloodbath in which you and your cronies participated and a Democratic South Sudan that is the envy of all African countries. It will usher in much needed healing and pave the way for resolving the six key challenges that you highlighted during the meeting you had with members of the South Sudan politburo on March 5, 2013, which included but were not limited to the rampant corruption, tribalism, economic problems, insecurity, poor international relations and the loss of vision and direction by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement that led to Salvatore Kiir Mayardit’s decision to eject you from the vice presidency of South Sudan after you attempted to offer him “constructive criticism”. 

The bloodletting that has brought South Sudan to this point of utter despair has devastated individuals, communities and the country at large but the extreme injury cannot be reversed. However, the people can try to heal only if peace is reinstated. You can bring about that peace by continuing your call to action and the “fundamental change” that is also supported by your brother from Equatoria, Lieutenant General Ladu Gore while supporting the People’s aspirations to constitute an interim government.

Make your fight for Democracy about restitution for the devastated people of South Sudan, not you or Salvatore Kiir Mayardit and watch how high the global community exalts you. You have already ushered in South Sudan’s much needed “truth and reconciliation” by taking full responsibility for your role in the Bor massacre of 1991 and I am confident that you will make another unprecedented “U Turn” by taking full responsibility for your role in the current bloodbath while morphing into the People’s fervent protector and defender! Find a way to reach out to members of the White Army and the other Nuer people who are still out to avenge the senseless murder of Nuer people. Impress upon them that two wrongs don’t make a right and revenge will never bring back their loved ones but the restitution the interim government could also be tasked with might aid in the healing.  

Ally with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. Protect the people of South Sudan from Salvatore Kiir Mayardit and his cronies because unlike Salvatore Kiir Mayardit, you are capable of being remorseful for your actions and making a total “U Turn”. Above all, listen to the wise counsel of the people of South Sudan in their aspirations for an interim government. Be open to instruction, “constructive criticism” and correction starting with the instruction and appeal by your sisters at the South Sudan Women Cry for Peace.

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Margaret Akulia is co-author of the sequel Idi Amin: Hero or Villain? His son Jaffar Amin and other people speak. She brings to the South Sudan dialogue a multidisciplinary professional background including but not limited to “grassroots activism”. Additional information at https://travellinglearningcircles.com/Save_South_Sudan.html

By Juma Mabor Marial

May 15, 2014 (SSNA) -- Since south Sudan gained self-ruled from the successive regimes in Khartoum, the ordinary citizens of south Sudan never enjoyed the dividends of peace for having their own government. From the interim period to the elected government in 2010, the expectations of south Sudanese of having an independent country have been mismanaged.crisis after crisis have characterized the living standard of the people of south Sudan.

From George Athor defection in Jonglei state to Olieny rebellion in upper Nile state, Yau Yau slaughtering of innocent civilians in Pibor to corruption scandals and endless rebellion in unity state. The people of south Sudan have no doubt been subjected to enormous hardships and challenges since the CPA was signed in Nairobi in 2005.

In 2013 leading toward 2014, hopes were beginning to show as amnesties given by the president to several rebel groups somehow bore fruits. Economic dreams were in the pipeline of realization with the investment conference having just ended and several international investors pledged to invest their money in south Sudan. It was indeed a promising future for the people of south Sudan but even as these goodies were apparent, people of south Sudan were also oblivious of the fact that, there was a dangerous fight in the SPLM party over the control of the party leadership, the only convincing reason why many people took this lightly was because they had thought, whatever was happening in SPLM was a party politics and therefore, didn’t call for everyone’s attention especially when one is not a member of the SPLM party. However,even with this believe, it was also imperative that, SPLM was not just any political party but a ruling party that is in charge of the larger affairs of the country and this means, its successes and failures have equal impacts on the country’s future.

It is this wrangle within the party that exploded into political crisis and culminates in armed struggle in December 2013, a conflict that has killed over ten thousand people and displaced a million and more civilians. The war has also led to destruction of properties and razed to ashes the little infrastructure that the nascent country had put in place in the last eight years. Three states in south Sudan out of ten have been completely destroyed as they changed hands several times between the rebels and government forces.

Out of these skirmishes, the tribes of south Sudan have been used against each other in pursuit of personal ambitions, although not all the 64 tribes fall into the trap laid by politicians, the Dinka and Nuers who considered themselves as customary enemies got the opportunity to expand their hatred of one another. A lot of women, children, elderly and the youth have been massacred on both sides and the two tribes are caught in unending tribal feuds.

Before the political crisis widen, the country was already undergoing economic crisis where the government employees go for three or four months without their wages. The delays in payment do not have a suitable explanation from either ministry of finance, public service or the central bank. All other public institutions have been starving financially and because there is no tear gas or water canon in south Sudan to break the demonstration once attempted, the government employees and civil servants have become so frighten to stage any protest and demand for their salaries or risk being shot at with life bullets.

It is because of these circumstances that the citizens of south Sudan and particularly the civil servants in the government of south Sudan could go for several months and remain patient because even if they make noise, no one would listen to them and it may even be dangerous for them to engage in such unwanted and most probably unlawful endeavors as per my country’s model. My brother who works in the United States of America once told me that, in the US, some employees earn their salaries in two weeks and some after a month and he says, “when one fails to get their dues in their accounts at the mid-night of the fourteenth day”, they will sue their employer and such employers are ordered to pay the employee plus the cost. I am not saying south Sudan should be like US but I want to say, if one can sue because of delay in some hours after their salaries fall due, why can’t our government sympathized with the citizens who persevered for three to four months without their wages.

I am not bringing this point out of conflict of interest but I am trying to drive home a point on what caused the economic crisis and why the citizens of south Sudan have not been getting the services. The reason why the country finds itself in the economic crisis before the real conflict and armed conflict broke out is attributed to several factors but for meticulousness, the economic crisis in south Sudan were caused first by drastic shut down of oil in 2012, by the widespread corruption in the government and chief among all, the ineptitude by those in charge of the economy of the country like the Ministry of Finance, Central Bank, Public service and labour.

It is because of corruption that, the much expected services by the people of south Sudan after independence didn’t come until the war broke out. Throughout the eight years since the peace came to the country, the leaders tend to be too busy enriching themselves while the need to construct roads infrastructure, provide healthcare facilities, build schools among other things became a secondary agenda that they thought would be implemented after they have established themselves. The country became engulfed with a lot of corruption scandals, including the infamous ones like the Dura scandal, fire safe saga, the looming crisis management committee saga among others all  masterminded by senior government ministers and their accomplishes.

Universal reports on corruption have always put south Sudan on top of the list as one of the countries that is experiencing the worse forms of corruption and comprises very corrupt government officials in the world. Attempts by the government to form an anti-corruption watchdog with the intention to curtail this vice remained just in paper as the commission became toothless with no prosecution powers as well as failing to register cases against senior government officials who are hard to be executed. It then turned out that, the senior government officials are the judges and juries in their own cases and this is the reason why all the necessary attempts to fight corruption in south Sudan have not gotten anywhere far.

South Sudanese and several other analysts in the world have tried to write, talk and condemn the corruption in south Sudan but quiet easily, all these people have been branded as anti-government faultfinders and the concerns they raised are translated to criticisms. From here until the crisis broke out in December, south Sudanese had accepted the destiny of living without good roads, having no healthcare facilities, no good school among other social amenities. The southerners had accepted too to accommodate corruption as part of their life and one of the strong schemes that the government was determined to strengthen.

South Sudanese did all this not because they were not missing something but it is because they still had one last precious thing that protected their identity and this thing was “PEACE”. It is because of peace that south Sudanese had forgotten about what the government is supposed to do for them and sacrificed through their hard work to establish their own families, feed them, take them to private schools and treat them when they gets sick. South Sudanese were until December 2013; very comfortable following up their own lives without being too concern about what the government does or does not do for them.

When on December 15, 2013 the shooting took place in the military barracks in juba, all the south Sudanese thoughts were that, it was a situation that was going to be controlled by the government and the misunderstanding could be brought to normal when and if the people involved were peace lovers. This didn’t happen and what remained was widespread of violence and mass killing of innocent civilians from Juba to Jonglei and Bentiu. Innocent civilians died and those who survived ran to the UN camps where they are living under very disturbing and inhumane conditions. The genesis and cost of this conflict is so stigmatizing and one cannot afford to tell it in long and traumatizing phrases.

I am not interested to talk about what has happened and what is still happening because, I, the citizens of south Sudan and the world has seen enough for anyone to even continue to repeat informing people on the price that has been paid by the innocent people of south Sudan. Thousands of Lives have been lost, an uncounted number of properties have been destroyed, a lot of people have been left homeless, millions have fled and worse of all, the seeds of unity that were beginning to germinate among the south Sudanese have been uprooted and completely scattered. These signs of progress and prosperity have been replaced with tears in the eyes of a woman who have lost her husband and children in Bentiu massacred, a homeless Nuer who has been chased away from his home in Miaya Saba in Juba, an anguish old woman who has been raped in Bor teaching hospital, hungry children who are camping in UN compounds across the country unknowing where their parents are and most of all, compensated with the amount of hatred and mistrust between Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups that no person, government or even miracles will manage to fence.

But what happened at the end of all this, our politicians fly to Ethiopia, talk on televisions and radios and thumb their chests “ our people, our people”, our people that they are all doing nothing to save from further destruction, our people that they don’t know where they sleep in the rainy UN Camps, our people that they don’t know what they feed on, our people that they tend to reaffirm their positions on leadership than looking first at what should end their suffering, our people that they divided into tribes first before they consider them south Sudanese, our people our people. What our people do our leaders and politicians talk about here?

It brings tears to someone eyes as some falls in mine to hear our president confidently and humorously saying that he has been forced to sign peace.  “peace” of all the things, how can he be forced to sign peace, something that comes with a lot of things including the lives of our people, including the return of our people to their homes away from the dehumanizing life at the UN camps, peace is something that can give birth to love and unity, how can someone be forced to sign peace. Peace is something that should come from your heart, peace is more than power, materials and even more expensive than animosity. Why should the president sign peace under duress instead of willingly and voluntarily signing it to save the plight of the suffering citizens of south Sudan?

How about Dr- Riek, and his interview on BBC Hard- talk program, was he a leader, did he give answers as to why he took up arms and killed innocent civilians including the untrained white army, did he give reasons why his forces captured Bentiu and massacred over three hundred innocent civilians from other ethnicities or is it justifiable as he said that, because, some innocent citizens were massacred in Juba and Jonglei, so the innocent ones in Bentiu had to pay the price too, does this mean two wrongs can now make right, did he represent a national leader who took up arms to correct injustices committed against the citizens of south Sudan or was he a bitter man who speaks on behalf of a tribe and would revenge at the slightest given opportunity, was he like Kiir,  forced to sign the peace or he did it because of the suffering that the people of south Sudan are going through. Which was it, how did he answer those questions, how would you answer those questions if you had listened to him, how would you rate them (Kiir and Riek) and their intentions with regard to peace and suffering of the people of South Sudan?

I don’t have straight forward answers to all the above questions but what I certainly do have and in fact in abundant is disappointment on these two leaders, they do not in my opinion care about the suffering that we are going through today as citizens of south Sudan. They are both very comfortable in their respective hideouts, places that are out of reach of danger and threat of death, places that are heavily guarded, places that they don’t hear, smell or touch rain water, places that they are eating their best dishes, places that they get reports about which town has been captured and what happened and how many people have been killed after being successfully adored by their loyalists.

It is palpable that, from their negotiators to themselves, Kiir and Riek have never felt any pinch of what has been happening in south Sudan for the last five months, their relatives are far away in foreign and safest countries in the world, none of their relatives has paid a price for the political instability that is on-going in the country. The two men and their negotiators although in charge of their forces have never gone to the fields and see for themselves the atrocities these unprofessional armies of theirs are committing. It is so painful that the leaders who are entrusted with keeping peace and order think that they can solve things through a barrel of a gun. Each one of them thinks that they can’t be defeated by the other as if they were wrestling which if this was the case, the citizens of south Sudan including myself would have been the happiest spectators to see who would be grappled down first.

As they say, peace comes with a price, I will subscribe to the theory and I will ask all the citizens of south Sudan to do so because it is my conviction that the people who will pay this price are the citizens of south Sudan why, because, the war started as some politicians including Riek Machar were removed from the government because the public was complaining about a bloated cabinet and a large government. In no time, the sacked cabinet members generated and established some sugar coated democratic principles which let to rebellion. Now, the signed framework and road-map for peace negotiation that the two men claimed they were forced to sign include a provision on formation of a transitional government which will include the rebel and government, former political detainees which are all former ministers and governors among others.

It is here that you would find that, since the transitional government will be shared, Riek, Kiir, former detainees will all be back in the government and it will be the same as the government from 2005 up to 2012. So, the citizens who had thought their concerns were heeded to in reducing the size of the government are now back to square one, instead, the citizens have paid by losing their lives, properties, peace and other things just because they had advocated for the trimming of the government in 2012. Yes, we have accepted to pay this price and the thousands who died and the million displaced have already paid for this peace and this is the reason why we plead with our leaders to come to their senses and move the country forward after they share their transitional government.

The citizen of south Sudan may not afford to go through another painful eight or so years with you but for the sake of peace, we will persevere, we will not of course stage a revolution to get rid of all of you because, you have all the government apparatus in your disposal and we know too well that you will not hesitate to use life bullets on us when we try to protest if things are not going well, so, we beg that, let the peace returns to south Sudan whether you are forced to sign it or not. It is here that I feel the people who have paid the ultimate price in the on-going conflict are the ordinary citizens of South Sudan.

Finally, I just want to plead with the commentators on the internet and other social networks to slow down on their hate speeches and ethnically oriented ideologies, some of these people thinks they are doing enough in supporting their respective tribes but instead they are heightening ethnic hatred and creating more damage. There can be no south Sudan without Nuer or a south Sudan without Dinka, the same goes for all the other 62 tribes. We must accept that, a lot of mistrust has been created but the fact that we are all south Sudanese must continue to bind us together no matter what. I don’t care what others may read into this advice but Dinka or Nuer, my first identity is             south Sudanese. I am not happy at all with the way people are trying to inflame the already fragile relationship between the two tribes.

The politicians can go ahead and share their political positions for all I care.

Juma Mabor Marial is a disappointed citizen of South Sudan Reachable at: jummabor@gmail.com.

By Bona Machar Nyak

May 15, 2014 (SSNA) -- Federal system is system where political authority is divided between two autonomous sets of governments, one national and the other subnational, both of which operate directly upon the people. Usually a constitutional division of power is established between the national government, which exercises authority over the whole national territory, and provincial governments that exercise independent authority within their own territories.

The principal agencies of federal government are a bicameral legislature, composed of Members of Parliament at national level representing the people directly and a County members parliament at the states representing the constituent members as entities; an executive branch elected by both houses of the legislature in joint session; and a supreme court that renders decisions on matters affecting national and sub-national federal relations. The national government consists of the executive branch, led by the nationally elected president; the parliament; and a judicial branch that resolves constitutional matters.

In other systems, federal arrangements are found in conjunction with a large measure of cultural homogeneity. The Constitution of the United States delegates to the federal government certain activities that concern the whole people, such as the conduct of foreign relations and war and the regulation of interstate commerce and foreign trade; certain other functions are shared between the federal government and the states; and the remainder are reserved for the states. Although these arrangements require two separate bodies of political officers, two judicial systems, and two systems of taxation, they also allow extensive interaction between the federal government and the states. Thus, the election of Congress and the president, the process of amending the Constitution, the levying of taxes, and innumerable other functions necessitate cooperation between the two levels of government and bring them into a tightly interlocking relationship.

The South Sudan nation has been under Authoritarian leadership since independence by imposing unitary system of government on citizens of this great nation while many of its informed citizens were dreaming of the Federalism form of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units such as states or provinces. Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments. This is by far the most advanced and comprehensive example of the new phenomenon of federal linkages as it paves the way for the citizenry dignity that results in the mobilization toward meaningful development.

South Sudan should adapt this system of government since its decentralized powers and devolved resources down to our counties, it democratize all public and private institutions and promote the rule of law. With federal state citizens are able to enjoy their democratic right under constitutionalize policies enshrined in our legal documents which should be in the custody of qualified and independent personnel in our judiciary. We will have all our public and private institutions empowered by our constitution to carry their duties as stipulated but not guided by any individuals in the government.

Due to lack of political goodwill inspired by dictatorship tendencies in the republic of South Sudan corruption became part of the systems in both public and private sector the common types of corruption in South Sudan are extortion, nepotism, embezzlement, bribery, cronyism, patronage, and graft. This is because there is lack of clear rules governing private and public sector, weak enforcement of law and order due to manipulation of law by politicians or public servants, poor governance both in private and public sector. Corruption undermines economic development, it undermines political stability, and it jeopardizes the allocation of resources to sectors crucial for development.

Due to the unaccountable corruption by the government of South Sudan under the leadership of President Kiir and his allies South Sudan was levelled on the top list of the Failed States Index and ranked 18^th of the top 20^th poorest country in the world. All these are attributed to the types of government systems in place, South Sudanese believes that the country has a lot of natural resources which can make it necessary to be the fastest ever growing economy country in the world, it has potentials technocrats which if utilized properly can set good policies for strong governance in our public and private institutions and all these can be achieved only if Federalism is capitalised and instituted in our country. This system of government is well utilized in Nigeria, Ethiopia, India, Switzerland, Brazil, Australia just to mention a few. South Sudan should opt for the INDIA federal system of government which has three tier I.E National government, State government and County government each of these tiers has its own function as stipulated in the constitution. South Sudanese hope the proposed federal system of government proposed in Addis negotiating table is not just a mere system of government but a meaningful system of government that will resolved all problems South Sudanese are going through.

Bona Machar Nyak is a concern citizen currently residing in Kenya and he can be reached at kueth96@gmail.com.

May 14, 2014 (SSNA) -- South Sudan have been losing human beings and fighting had been going on since December 2013 up to now, and the genesis of the crisis was the fight that broke out within the Republican Guards in Juba, where the number of those who got killed innocently goes beyond the description after the escalation of the fighting to States.

Nevertheless, no one is aware of the accurate number at the movement but some statistics had shown that thousands have been massacred in Juba, Malakal, Bor ,Mapel and Bentiu as well and both sides are not coming to their common senses to think about the important lives of the small population of South Sudan at this particular period of time.

However everyone is informed about strategy use by the number one criminal globally by the name of President AL-Bashir who is ruling North Sudanese for almost a decade and eventually in 2011, South Sudanese gained their Independence and moreover for the last 21 years they suffered and got killed in good numbers in the name of him  President (AL-bashir) when Southern Sudanese by then were advocating for self-determination that have been accomplished through a peaceful, transparent and credible referendum. The question is, how can South Sudanese die at this stage against and they have a government they voted in to office? What a Nation is the Republic of South Sudan?

Hence, there has been lots of crimes and atrocities committed by both sides in the fighting, a lots of girls, women have been raped, tortured and other who denied rape were killed instantly. The atrocities committed in Juba by Kiir commanders need absolute penalty as well in a very special and analytical or competence court that exactly adjudicate good persecution and trail charges.

The number of people that have been lost in this senseless war is enough and therefore, there is need for rule of law, human rights issues and democratization processes to be upholding right now in the Republic of South Sudan. This is the right time now for the world and International Communities that are peace lovers to bring out a good mechanism to restore peace and harmony in South Sudan through peaceful resolutions.

Moreover, Sanctioning of individuals will not work but getting the genesis of the crisis is what will solve the current mess going on in the Republic of South Sudan.

Well; for those who do not think of the existence of the peaceful co-existence in South Sudan will complicates and continue doing atrocities and peace have been signed between the two rivals groups in the Ethiopian Capital Addis-Ababa on Friday 9^th of May 2014, where regional and International observers were there witnessing.

Recommendations

The world should over sees, what is going on in the Republic of South Sudan by introducing monitoring and evaluation mechanism to the crisis, through identifying which side is attracting which side between the government forces and the rebels’ forces in South Sudan as well.

World and International Criminal Court (ICC) should right now begin to investigate and document who was behind the crisis or the people concern with the incident that erupted and killed almost half of the population in South Sudan.

The author is Independent Journalist and Columnist who had written extensively on the issues of Democratization and Human Rights in South Sudan, you can contact him through;petergai2006@gmail.com.

Re: A Response to the May 09, 2014 Press Release by the group that called itself, “Greater Twi Community of South Sudan, USA”

United States, May 13, 2014 (SSNA) -- This is in response to the unfortunate press piece that was released by a group that called itself, Twi East Community of the United States of America.

Dear South Sudanese people and the people of Greater Bor, in particular, we regret seeing such a destructive article by the said group.

The group does not represent Twi East community in the United States nor does it represent anything about the official entities of the said community and Greater Bor in the United States.

The group is made up of individuals who have long been working hard to cause disunity among the people of Greater and it is a well known entity by many people in the United States.

The content of the press release is filled with hatred, bigotry and character assassination directed toward an overall goal of causing cleavages within the Greater Bor community. The quoted statement that the group attributed to the Minister of Defense in a meeting the group claimed to have taken place between the minister and the office of Greater Bor community-USA in which the chairman, Deng Lueth mayom, is referenced ("Deng Lueth you don’t have to worry, if Nuer comes, they will start in Jalle Payam of Bor County..." By Minister of Defence, Mr. Kuol Manyang Juuk) is baseless, non-existed and a cunning work of character assassination. We call on all readers of that press release to disregard that as a baseless claim. The Greater Bor community leadership condemns that statement and the overall, unwise press release, in the strongest terms possible.

To the people of Greater Bor, be aware that groups like this self-proclaimed Twi group and many others who are doing latent damages to the unity of our people have no place. We accept nothing short of unity of our people during these critical times. The people of South Sudan, and this community included, must be united more than ever before because South Sudan needs us in that solidarity.

Signed by Greater Bor community executive office:

Washington, DC, May 13, 2014 (SSNA) --

In a press statement extended to the South Sudan News Agency, the group welcomes the signing of the accord and urges the warring factions to take the accord’s implementation seriously.

“The Alliance for South Sudanese in Diaspora (ASSD) welcomes the Addis Ababa Peace Agreement between the Government of South Sudan and the SPLM/A-in Opposition. ASSD calls for inclusiveness, sincerity and seriousness in its implementation and negotiating long-term settlement to South Sudan’s conflict”, the agency said in the statement.

The block also calls on the International Community and Friends of south Sudan to take an active role in the peace talks.

“ASSD also call upon the International Community and friends of South Sudan to support the ongoing peace process between the South Sudanese warring parties in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by making sure the underlying issues and fundamental problems are addressed for peace and trust to be restored among South Sudanese Communities”, the Alliance added.

The pact which was signed by President Kiir and his main rival Dr. Machar last Friday in Ethiopia has drawn mix reactions from South Sudanese Communities after reports suggest that the two rivals, Kiir and Machar, signed the deal under an immense pressure.

Below is the full text of the ASSD’s statement

_____________________________________________________________________

ASSD welcomes Addis Ababa Peace Agreement between the Government of South Sudan and the Opposition and call for Sincerity and Seriousness in its Implementation in order to realize a durable Political stability in the world’s youngest nation

The Alliance for South Sudanese in Diaspora (ASSD) welcomes the Addis Ababa Peace Agreement between the Government of South Sudan and the SPLM/A (In Opposition) and the rededication to the Cessation of Hostilities signed on Friday, May 9, 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ASSD call for inclusiveness, sincerity and seriousness in its implementation and negotiating long-term settlement to South Sudan’s conflict.

ASSD urges the signatories to the Addis Ababa Peace Agreement to adhere to the Cessation of Hostilities as articulated in the peace agreement. ASSD also call for inclusiveness of civil societies, faith-based groups, South Sudanese Diaspora and friends of South Sudan around the world to help negotiate comprehensive long-term political and durable solutions to issues faced by the people of South Sudan before and after independence.

ASSD also call upon the International Community and friends of South Sudan to support the ongoing peace process between the South Sudanese warring parties in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by making sure the underlying issues and fundamental problems are addressed for peace and trust to be restored among South Sudanese Communities.

We firmly believe that for long-term settlement of South Sudanese current crisis and prevention of future conflicts, those whose actions led to mass murders be held accountable and prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

For information, contact us at +1(202) 709-7322 or viaemail at southsudaneseindiasporaallianc@gmail.com

About the ASSD: ASSD is an umbrella organization for South Sudanese organizations and individuals advocating for peace, freedom, democracy, human rights, good governance and development in South Sudan.

By Beny Gideon Mabor

Quote… “A leader is a person with certain qualities of personality and character, which are appropriate to the general situation and supported by a degree of relevant technical knowledge and experience… to guide a group towards further realization of the purpose, while maintaining and building its unity as a team”. John Adair (2006: 16 – 17)

History of Treason Trial

May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- The recent call by the national government represented by the Minister of Justice to stay legal proceedings on treason charges against 4 accused persons out of 7 SPLM leaders who were first set free on bail out agreement was a milestone in real search for peace, harmony, national healing and reconciliation. Section 25 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, 2008 (CCP Act) grant powers to the Minister of Justice to stay any criminal proceedings against an accused on reasonable grounds. Indeed, the quest for peace and reconciliation is a reasonable ground to warrant such a decision by the State.

On the same note for the benefit of the accused, such prosecution stayed cannot be retrialon the same facts at the same trial court. Section 46 (1) (d) of the CCP Act, 2008 says a criminal case shall lapse, and shall therefore not be subject to prosecution if the Minister of Justice so decided to stay the criminal proceedings. In other words, the 11 SPLM leaders are now free people with dignity and integrity like any person and enjoy constitutional rights and duties required of a very citizen. There is no longer any living case against them. The question of which party that won or lost the case on the street is an invalid argument and this debate should not be encouraged anymore. There is no winning or losing of the case in this matter but the state which is a beneficiary of the case has stopped the prosecution and choose peace and reconciliation.

In summary of this brief legal interpretation, those who benefited stay of criminal proceeding are all 11 SPLM leaders including four previously accused of masterminding the alleged military coup namely Pag’an Amuom, Gen. Oyai Deng Ajak, Dr. Majak Agot and Amb. Ezekiel Lol Gatkouth and the previous 7 SPLM leaders that were released on bail and currently outside the country for peace expeditions. The special court announced that Dr. Riek Machar, Gen Taban Deng Gai and Gen. Alfred Lado Gore are still pending treason charges in absentia. This is due to the fact the latter group are now waging armed conflict with the government.

Despite gesture of goodwill in search for peace and reconciliation, President Salva Kiir in his news conference dated 26 April, 2014 said “the court can still call the coup suspects at any time for trial if he so desires”. In fact, this is quite unfortunate and contradicting statement from the President, but with due respect, I know he was told by his legal circle that stay of prosecution can be revived at any time deemed necessary. If this simple provision of the law with respect to stay of legal proceeding is misunderstood or deliberately denied by presidential legal circle, then I intent to agree with observations of Mr. Daniel van Oudenarenwho said that “South Sudan is witnessing a period of intellectual exhaustion, in which many key actors – politicians, commanders, mediators, diplomats and bureaucrats – don not know. I pray the presidential circle of all specializations be very honest and correctly advise the president on critical matters in particular the presidential legal advisor and the Minister of Justice who are the chief legal advisors of the government.

Call for Peace and Reconciliation

The release of the 11 alleged coup suspects truly manifests spirit of forgiveness, love and confidence to return back the country to normality. Speaking to journalists outside court room upon released two weeks ago in Juba, former Secretary General of SPLM Paga’an Amum, said he welcomed the government’s decision, expressing hope peace could be restored in the fractured country”. He went further and committed that “we will now work with all parties and stakeholders to bring peace to this country, including making necessary contacts with the government and those in the opposition to end this senseless war that is killing our people”.

Similarly, this statement is now corresponding with the agreement to resolve the crisis in South Sudan signed between President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Dr. Riek Machar on 9 May, 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that ensure inclusion of all South Sudanese people stakeholders in the peace process…including SPLM leaders (former detainees), political parties, civil society and faith based leaders.

In contrast of the inclusive peace process as agreed, the released of the 11 alleged coup suspects received mix reactions of both jubilation and critics so far. The latter voices decry the unfortunate death of more than 10,000 people and displaced million more that is apparently seen to be going without justice and accountability. The general public is seriously demanding to know who is responsible for these mass killings following grand signing of the agreement to resolve the crisis in South Sudan that is said to allow formation of the transnational government with SPLM/A in Opposition amongst other commitment.

Another biggest concern is how are the 11 politicians going to participate in either forum to contribute to peace and stability? Will they accept if the Government appoints them into these forums on behalf of the Government? Are they free to choose either camp? Will they create their own camp and what is the implication of a third block in negotiations? What are real burning issues that must be figure out in both negotiations to bring about peace? The government and opposition must engage this groups very closely as the armed conflict is connected to disagreement within governing SPLM party for political ambitions amongst other cause of the conflict.

Strategic Recommendations

The civic and political engagement of all relevant stakeholders to bring about peace and restored the destroyed social fabric must now begin with their immediate involvement in the current two negotiations namely the peace process and the SPLM intra party dialogue. The international community is also gaining hope for would be return of peace and stability to nascent State. In practice, the following need to be taken into serious considerations.

The Government and the SPLM/A in opposition must stick to implement the agreement on the resolution of crisis in South Sudan signed on 9 May, 2014 particularly stoppage of military operations against one another; opening of humanitarian corridors for delivery of basic services to the affected communities and full participation of all stakeholders in the peace process. However, the international community is worried of how much weight will President Kiir and rebel leader Dr. Riek Machar have over their fighting forces to respect this agreement? Example of this lack of full control over the fighting forces by both parties is the ongoing fighting in Unity State just before the end of one day after signing of the ceasefire agreement in the highest personality of the President and the rebel leader. They two leaders must come out and proved the contrary to call upon the fighting forces and the general public to implement the ceasefire agreement. In fact, the meeting of the two leaders in Addis Ababa will shape the rest of the peace process and will be determining factor whether to continue wasting time without peace or real peace will come.

The government and SPLM/A in opposition must allow the 11 SPLM leaders to freely decide how do they want to contribute to the peace process including SPLM intra party dialogue. Peace process is a soul searching work and should not be given strict guidelines. Peace is broken because of hating each other. Let all the people of South Sudan listen to what South African former President and Nobel peace prize winner late Nelson Mandela said that “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." We must take this message by forgiving those who offended us and vice versa and teach ourselves love and unity

The third recommendation is what to do with the biggest challenge of peace and stability. Peace is not just ending the violence, but it must strategically spell out problem to solve and how it will be sustained. Chief amongst this strategic proposal is an overhaul of the institutions of the state particularly the security architecture toward demilitarization of the society by restructuring the army to reflect the national defense force with central command and order.  These reforms should include a new name to the army, setting the basic requirements for joining the armed forces and other related matters. The same reforms must be extended to civil service to ensure right persons employed in right places with commitment to deliver services with transparency, accountability and sufficient check and balance. If these are not done, the mediators will only create interim stability and violence will erupt not too long.

The last but not least recommendation is for the international community to exert more efforts to ensure full enforcement mechanism of the cessation of hostilities by urgently deploying IGAD monitoring and verification mechanism as well as African Union protection forces agreed so far but not materialized. Undeniably, the US government helps create South Sudan and therefore has moral obligation to intervene at any cost. The Obama administration must not watch the people of South Sudan butchered by power thirsty individuals. The US government must urgently send special troop to join hand with African Union protection for implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

Beny Gideon Mabor is Executive Director, African Centre for Peace and Humanitarian Dialogue and a member of Civil Society Delegation to the South Sudan peace process in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His research interests include governance, human rights and social accountability. He can be reached at benygmabor@gmail.com

Press Release

Juba, May 12, 2014 (SSNA) -- We welcome the peace agreement signed between the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army and the government of the Republic of South Sudan said the undersigned representatives from the organized sector of the South Sudanese civil society.

We applaud the parties for reaching an agreement that brings to an end the bloodshed and suffering of the people in Pibor County as a result of the over two years of dreadful violence. This is a big step towards restoring hope to the people in the County. With certainty, Peace in this region is a great celebration not only for the people of Jonglei State but the entire republic of South Sudan.

We commend both parties for the compromises they have made for the sake of peace in Pibor County. We particularly congratulate the parties for reaching an amicable and quick solution to the conflict. We extend special thanks to the negotiators of both parties for their leadership in the process. We believe that if this agreement is implemented, it can lay essential foundations for sustainable peace and security in the Greater Pibor region and Jonglei.

We are calling upon the parties to live up to their commitments as stipulated in the peace agreement. We urge the Council of States to quickly approve the agreement in order to swiftly enter into force. We further express our interest and commitment to contribute to the full implementation of the peace agreement. We encourage all relevant stakeholders including the regional and international friends of South Sudan to join hands to provide the necessary support to translate this peace agreement into a reality on the ground.

We are concerned that the issue of accountability has been vaguely captured in the agreement. We look forward to this being revised at the implementation stages to ensure those responsible for atrocities committed during the hostilities are held accountable.

With great honor, we commend the religious leaders under the auspices of the Church Leaders’ Mediation Initiative for their efforts in facilitating the process that led to this peace agreement. We particularly commend the vital leadership of Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban, Bishop Paul Yugusuk and Bishop Arkanjelo Wani Lemi and urge them to continue steering the peace process during subsequent phases.

We urge members of the communities in Pibor country to embrace this peace agreement and work together to make it a reality on ground. We call upon the leadership of SSDM/A to initiate an inclusive local dialogue with the people of Greater Pibor Area to deliberate on the implementation of the peace agreement. The dialogue should bring together members of the communities from all walks of life including youth, women, elders and other community leaders who did not participate in struggle of the SSDM/A.

This will foster broad ownership and inclusive implementation process. This can avoid exclusion and the perception of the agreement as only a reward of “those who fought”.

We urge the government of the Republic of South Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in opposition to follow the example set by this peace process by genuinely committing to the agreement on cessation of hostilities and quick resolution to their crisis through dialogue. We remind the parties that solutions to the problems of South Sudan does not emanate from the barrel of the gun. Besides, violence breeds violence, consequently creating protracted cycle of violence. The people of South Sudan want peace – and peace now. We urge the warring parties to heed to this call and work to make peace happen.

Additional Information

The SSDM/Army – Cobra faction picked up arms against the government of South Sudan for the latest offensives in the cycle of violence in the third quarter of 2012. Peace efforts steered by the Church Leaders begun soon after the beginning of the uprising. First round of peace talks begun in December 2013 at the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa and achieved a cessation of Hostilities agreement on January 30, 2014. No hostilities by the two parties has been reported since the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. The peace agreement was secured during the second round of talks that took place in Addis Ababa that begun on April 30, 2014 at the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Signed

Organizations:

By Philips Al-Ghai

“For heaven’s sake, we should start realizing that the parasites sucking the life out of S. Sudan are not those tribes we frequently keep pointing fingers at... They stroll right in the corridors of the parliament buildings in Juba, discussing when to put the next iron yoke on the necks of the poor to ensure they remain subdued! Yes, they want us to blame ourselves for our problems when they are exactly the problem. If we need to change the painful history of S. Sudan and rescue the interests of the common S. Sudanese then we must choose to stand together against these bloody flukes, lest we all perish in the aftermath of tribal politics and the rest becomes history.”

May 12, 2014 (SSNA) -- Those were the dying lines of my first opinion ‘Tribes are our Diversity; Greedy Politicians are our Common Adversity” published by South Sudan News Agency website on May 9, 2013. Barely eight months elapsed before they [politicians] set the nation aflame. Soldiers turned against their comrades. Neighbors were out for each other’s blood. And tribal identity instantaneously became a curse amongst common S. Sudanese. How sad their dirty actions never lie!

Looking back on five months of raging bloodbath, rape, and displacement of innocent S. Sudanese, one can’t help but shake his head in dismay.

The most abhorrent part though, perhaps the most worrying and a potential threat to any lingering thought of a better future, is the reaction of S. Sudanese youths. Most of them, instead of standing against the idiocy that was long unfolding before our eyes, took a rather sycophantic stance; identifying themselves as pro-Riek or pro-Kiir. In every corner of social media you see them too upbeat about the war; cheering the capture and re-capture of towns, spreading tribal propagandas, and [shamelessly] trying to justify, by hooks or crooks, the atrocities of their tribal murderers. How pathetic! Without a shadow of doubt, most of these youths have either lost a parent, a sibling or a relative in the historic Sudan wars and ought to know a thing or two about the effects of any war. Moreover, most of them have been to peaceful countries and ought to know payoffs of tolerance. One would, therefore, expect everyone to denounce this war unequivocally. If these experiences are not enough then the nature of the conflict per se should suffice our perceptual consciousness. Except on tribal grounds, neither president Kiir nor Dr. Riek is a victim of the ongoing skirmishes. One might firmly argue Dr. Riek’s innocence considering the ghost ‘coup’ narrative, but his subsequent actions make him no different from Kiir. Of course either is just as iniquitous as Lucifer and as murderous as Hitler. So, rallying behind them does not only betray the near a hundred percent votes we casted during the referendum, but also sacrifice the lives of innocent people we ought to stand for.

Sadly, it appears we’ve nurtured a culture of undiscerning allegiance to tribal political figures, and former Lakes State governor Hon. Chol Tong Mayay was at hand with these wise words, for S. Sudanese youths, on that historic SPLM conference on December 6, 2013: 

“Let not a leader lose his position and go back to mobilize his tribesmen. I’m sure you out there you don’t share his fat salaries; the salaries we get. The situation you are in.... we [in reference to his comrades] who are sitting here all, you know that all our families, all our children are eating ice cream, are playing with toys. And you down there.... he/she who has no person in the government, you don’t know what is called ice cream, your child doesn’t know what is called ice cream, your child doesn’t know toys, and I do say always that we’re foreigners ruling you. Because we don’t know the state of hospitals; because our women do deliver in very good hospitals... When we get headache, we go to Nairobi and Uganda... and this is the state of affairs we are in.”

Hon. Mayay, a member of the group often smeared as ‘disgruntled’ simply for speaking out the putrescence within the SPLM, was not oblivious to issues of relevance that conjure up critical thinking. Even for flatly dead brains. Although he still identifies himself with the failed SPLM, he rightfully observed that their performance since the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement deserves nothing, but qualifies them as bunches of foreigners ruling us. That’s exactly what we have witnessed in the last eight years or so. It is no brainer. This is further substantiated by the negligence shown by both Kiir and Riek in the face of the ongoing ethnic butchering under their noses. As the nation bleed, Kiir unwittingly found it fitting to lament about his image: “If you just kill people in my name, then my image will be gone,” he moaned as reported by Gurtong website, January 2014, 2014. Dr. Riek, on the other hand, went silent altogether and had no official order discouraging ethnic cleansing by his troops rebel controlled areas. Neither had a word of solace to the distraught nation whatsoever, let alone visiting those affected. Had we heeded Hon. Mayay’s advice no S. Sudanese soldier would have pointed his gun barrel at a civilian or a comrade, no Nuer or Dinka would have spilled the blood of his countryman, and no youth would have accepted to carry out atrocities on behalf of Riek and Kiir. Still, if we take Hon. Mayay’s words with a grain of salt, Riek and Kiir would be asked to account for the innocent blood in their hands.

As things stand, it is apparent that there is no military solution to the conflict. The rebels will never shoot their way to Juba, and the government will never flush the rebels out of S. Sudan. Either is possible only in imaginations and you need not burden yourself hoping unless you are that guy...

President Kiir and Dr. Riek will predictably shake hands and dine on the same table some day. Maybe soon. Yet they are wasting, in senseless battles, the very men [SPLA] –rebels or government soldiers –we need to keep the claim of our borders with Sudan, Uganda and Kenya relevant in future. Painfully, the orphans of their cooked conflict are bound to flock the garbage bins and waste dumping sites for food and shelter. Widows struggling to make ends meet will be forced to sell themselves to afford treatment for their ailing kids. Young men robbed of livelihood and recruited into tribal militias [without pay] will morph into a new generation of indiscriminate killer gangs. Summarily, before our own eyes, they have nipped S. Sudan in the bud. They have ripped the heart off our great nation. Is this what we proudly support Riek and Kiir for?

Lest we start seeing S. Sudan beyond tribal warlords, we are all bound to sink to the nether regardless of whether one is a staunch tribal pro-rebel or a tribal pro-government.

Philips Al-Ghai is a proud S. Sudanese and can be reached at alghai211@gmail.com or on Twitter @ Al_Ghai211.

New York, May 12, 2014 (SSNA) -- The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) released its report on cluster bombs use in South Sudan.

The report declared that Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) used the the banned weapons. The United Nations (UN) cites evidences it collected from UPDF and SPLA held areas at the time of fighting in Jongle State.

Uganda move quickly, condemning the report and accused unnamed countries of being ‘enemies of Uganda’.

The report, titled “Conflict in South Sudan: A Human Rights Report”, blasted Uganda for using dangerious weapons.

Uganda has on many occasions denied that it used the forbidden bombs in South Sudan.

“They pushed south and heavy fighting occurred between them and government forces [SPLA Soldiers] supported by UPDF [Uganda People’s Defence Force]. In that period UNMISS is aware of several instances of aerial bombardments by Ugandan forces”, the report reads in part.

The government of Uganda is a staunch supporter of the South Sudanese president kiir. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni asserts that Juba invited kampla and that Ugandan soldiers will stay in South Sudan regardless of what other nations or the Internation Community say.

May 12, 2014

We urge the Western Bhar El Ghazal State Authorities and locals to provide safe path for innocent Nuer ethnic university students, women and children throughout the state. ASSD strongly condemns and urge Kiir led government to stop all ethnically related targeted killing of the Nuer ethnic group. The consequences of targeted killing of innocent civilians or any ethnically related killings will only deepening this crisis and will not serve anyone’s interest.

ASSD call on the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), United Nations, United States of America, African Union, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, friends of South Sudan, and religious leaders to intervene and ensure that the signed cessation of hostilities agreement is immediately implemented by the warring parties .

ASSD call on all foreign forces in South Sudan to withdraw and stop aiding and carrying out further genocidal acts in South Sudan.

For more information, contact us at +1(202) 709- 7322 or via email at southsudaneseindiasporaallianc@gmail.com

Nairobi, May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- We the Nuer Students’ Union in Kenya welcome the agreement signed by Gen Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar yesterday in Addis Ababa. The agreement came at a time when South Sudanese citizens are in need of humanitarian assistance from the UN agencies; these international rights have been violated due to the crisis currently taking place in South Sudan. We believe that this agreement will be the road map for South Sudanese to achieved everlasting peace compounded with love and the spirit of Nationalisms.

We urged the IGAD, EAC, UN, EU, USA, and other international bodies to monitor the cessation of hostilities as the 24hr periods have elapsed. It is unfortunate that the government troops attacked Rubkona yesterday while their leader was in Addis Ababa to sign the peace deal, we are concerned with the way Gen Salva Kiir spoke and intimidating the general public that he is the president and must remain the president of the republic of South Sudan. That was an indication that he was not committed to the agreement.

We also welcome the released of the 4 political detainees who had joined their colleagues in Addis Ababa and their subsequent inclusion in the peace talks process. It is now clear that Kiir Mayardit fabricated his own coup and he should be responsible for all the lives lost in South Sudan. IGAD must remember that Adwok Nyaba is still under house arrest in Juba and his rights as enshrined in the interim constitution of South Sudan are violated. We demand for his immediate release as he is an important person in the peace talk process.

It is our believes that South Sudan needs a federal government that not only devolved resources from the national government to county government but also reduce the level of corruption and helps infrastructural development in our country. Federalism is defined as a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units such as states or provinces. Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a. Federalism is a system that favours a common federal government, with distributed power at regional, national and supranational levels. This is a system that was adopted by Canada, Brazil, Australia and India just to mentioned a few, South Sudan needs to adopt a federal system of government like the one in INDIA The Government of India (referred to as the Union Government) was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a federal union of 29 states and 7 union territories.

The government of India is based on a tiered system, in which the Constitution of India delineates the subjects on which each tier of government has executive powers. The Constitution originally provided for a two-tier system of government, the Union Government (also known as the Central Government), representing the Union of India, and the State governments. Later, a third tier was added in the form of Municipalities. In the current arrangement, The Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution delimits the subjects of each level of governmental jurisdiction, dividing them into three lists:

• National government includes subjects of national importance such as defence of the country, foreign affairs, banking, communications and currency. The Union Government alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the Union List.
• State government contains subjects of State and local importance such as police, trade, commerce, agriculture and irrigation. The State Governments alone can make laws relating to the subjects mentioned in the State List.
• County government includes subjects of common interest to both the Union Government as well as the State Governments, such as education, forest, trade unions, marriage, adoption and succession. Both the National as well as the State Governments can make laws on the subjects mentioned in this list. If their laws conflict with each other, the law made by the National Government will prevail.

India has a multi-party system, with political allegiances frequently based on linguistic, regional and caste identities,necessitating coalition politics, especially at the National level.

We believe with the above tier of government South Sudan will not only fairly distributed resources to the citizens but also bring towns to citizens as quoted by our late Hero Dr John Garang deMabior. South Sudanese are tired of a centralized system that creates a vacuum for corruption and lack of good governance.

The interim government and transitional arrangements should consider the following;

• Inclusive government
• Fair representation from all walks of life in the government
• Youth and women empowerment
• Constitutional dispensation
• Formation of an independent committee of inquiry to investigate atrocities committed during the crisis
• Formation of peace and reconciliation committee which will have youth and women representation to advocate for peaceful co-existence

We also urged the parties in the negotiation to include all stakeholders to the conflict in the negotiation process as suggested by the document signed on Friday the 9^th May, 2014. These stakeholders include youth, women, civil society groups, elders and church leaders. We condemned the sanction imposed up on General Gatdet Yaka by the US government, this sanction does not only imply lack of seriousness in South Sudan crisis but it also indicate that justice will never prevail to the massacred, such inactiveness promote impunity and contradict the task of US government as a superpower. We need the architects of this crisis to be sanctioned and their looted assets frozen.

Every South Sudanese need peaceful country because peace is good in itself, but it is never the highest unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness. Peace becomes very evil philosophy if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of nepotism and anarchy.

We are all for a better nation, a nation that our diversity is seen as a blessing, where freedom of speech is not a privilege but a right to every citizen, where jobs are given base on capabilities but not on nepotism.

May God bless Federal Republic South Sudan,

May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- Not too long ago when the sisterly State of Uganda experienced one of worse dictator of all times on its driving seat as President. If not because Amin got the shoe from an educated wise Ugandan whose ambition was to establish vibrant Uganda, the today existence of Uganda would have been threatened by his ill-planted motives of nepotism, corruption and curse of static development. South Sudan has been under the same human character for 9 good years with all evils transplanted and corruption in public institutions the order of the day, nepotism the only activity in public institutions, tribalism the identity for satisfactory jobs and finally gender status the determinant of progress at work.

It may sound cynical and strong, but truth pays and heals than rosy pictures full of lies and procrastination. When Salva Kiir started to enter the web of lies in the circle of SPLM leadership and at the Presidential seat of the nation of South Sudan, he (Salva Kiir) in the beginning started to learn characters of former dictators in the spectrum of African leadership. He was rocked and dominated by stigma of a traditional leader, a trend of 18-19^th centuries of African medieval kings and chiefs who use to have separate specialties’ from their peers. An African leader would decide ill-fated ideas and no one can correct them. Their position does not tolerate critics in some parts, if someone with in the kingdom/chiefdom opposes, it is taken as an insult and disrespect for the leader of which results to heavy punishment on that particular peer in question. In some cruel Kingdoms, such person would face unquestionable death penalty for inappropriate behaviors toward the King/Chief. However, some communities in South Sudan still holds strong African way of governance such as Dinka and Shiluk. A chief in Dinka remains untouchable and uneasy person to toy with when it comes to local matters while Nuer and Zande have it in different ways; they prefer democratic and participatory traditional means to handle matters of the community. When a Zande king turns despotic, he is therefore left alone without subjects to rule. A typical example of Zande is understood in 2010 Sudan General Elections when the sitting SPLM Governor (Nunu Kumba) was unseated by crde Bakasaro despite her being the SPLM State Chairperson. Similar trend was experienced in Unity State-Bentiu when SPLM Political Bureau dropped Joseph Manytuil the State Chairperson of SPLM for Crde Taban Deng who was then voted out in the SPLM State Chairmanship. Despite the effort by SPLM Political Bureau Crde Taban Deng had tough time to win the 2010 Unity State governorial contest with Jany Teny, an event which sparked-off political instability in the State.

This proves beyond reasonable doubt that Salva Kiir has long been reflecting his own static culture in handling national matters. Salva Kiir appears more of a Dinka tribesman than a President! Amin had a similar tendency actually he wanted to build a long serving-government, rule by decrees and most important of all was ex-military officers to run the entire administration up to district levels. One good thing from Amin was that he never appeared more of a Kakwa than the much stressed Ugandan identity. When Amin was overthrow, another military junta came in with the same characters like the one of Amin. Obote reinstated and life goes on in pursue of people-centered government until NRM came in with its popular 10 Points Program. Though NRM has not lived up to expectations of people of Uganda, there have never been clear ethnic lines at public and private offices all these years like it is in South Sudan. The identity of Uganda has not changed up to date. Even though its leader Yoweri K. Museveni tried to meddle on South Sudanese issues by advising its leader in a provocative manner, he still maintains Ugandan identity at home.

Salva Kiir’s and his ill-conceived ideology to discipline a whole tribe and get rid of his political opponents has opened a door of exit for him. It is real that Salva cannot rule South Sudan anymore even if he tries very much to off-load the blame from himself to Dr. Riek Machar Teny for needing to succeed him as President. Good enough, the TCSS (Transitional Constitution of South Sudan) allows any individual citizens to vote and be voted in any political office if meets the pre-conditions of a candidate.

The author can be reached at acharturoal@yahoo.com.

Recommendations

May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- It is clear from part I and II that the intra-clans conflict and revenge attacks in lakes state are not just any insecurity threats in South Sudan but a major one that threatened the lives, national security, development and progress of the people of south Sudan. The orchestration of these conflicts by some of the perpetrators as mentioned above has made it more complicated to find long- term solutions to this pandemic.

It is in this regard that the author wishes to re-emphasize some of the likely solutions that if heeded to and implemented by the concerned authorities may help in bringing peace and stability back to Lakes state and indeed the whole of south Sudan. These recommendations are not new, they are not magical and they may not too, be acceptable to everyone as some of them maybe too foreign to the realities on the ground but it is my believe that, unlike those who have been saying them without acting on them, those who would put them in practice and implement them will definitely realize and achieve some meaningful results.

Therefore it is my utmost belief that, to bring the craziness of intra-clans conflict in lakes state to end, the following solutions should be provided swiftly:

1. If Kiir still appoints governors or if the electorates may elect any one soon as a governor, he/they should this time appoint and/or elect a competence individual who understands the intrigues of governance, the next governor should be someone who sensitize people rather than intimidating and threatening them, he/she should be someone who is civilized and halfway educated. This is importance because governance is a science not an art and anyone entrusted with the life of the people must be a bit knowledgeable and administratively competence. This mean, Kiir has to start acting by removing Dhuol or organize elections for the people of lakes state to elect a new governor that may sign a new social contract on a range of issues with them.

2. The rule of law must be restored and punitive measures laid out, this mean, the negligence by the state government of allowing the civilians to take law into their own hands and kill with impunity must be put to end. It is unfortunate that the current governor has resorted to the customary ideologies of telling people that, those defeated will never attack and that the only strong can survive in the state. The government has to reaffirm it authority by declaring that, no one including the cattle rustlers that have rampaged lakes state is above the law.

3. The concentration of governorship on individuals from few counties of the state is not helping the situation at all, if the issue of electing governors on individual merit is so much replaced with appointment by the president, then, it is even good enough and easy for the president to appoint  a governor from other counties of lakes state like Yirol and Wulu, maybe he should send Telar Ring back such that he can find another solution for insecurity like he had some for economic and social development in the little period that he had ruled in Lakes state. This is because; the governors from Cueibet and Rumbek have failed the state in a very big way and there would be no point of appointing anyone from these counties to lead the people of lakes state again.

4. The army, police and other organized forces must be reminded that, their first, second and last duty is to keep law and order and this is why they are in the government pay roll. There is no legitimacy of them letting civilians butcher themselves as they feared being killed in the process of maintaining law and order. It is disturbing to hear from the law enforcers in lakes state that ‘the civilians have become too dangerous for them to apprehend’. This is a declaration by the government that it has lost control of the state and so, someone must do something to train the law enforcement agencies on their sole duties of keeping law and order all the risks that comes with it notwithstanding.

5. The politicians both at the national and state levels must look into themselves and apart from supporting their respective clans in perpetrating intra-clans violence, they must too ask whether they are delivering on the pledges that they had given their electorates, they should once in a while forget about their personal interests and spare time to talk to their constituencies about the importance of peace and stability. They should discourage those who come to them with books full of tales about what the other clan has been doing to their clans and now that he/she is in power, they must revenge by him/her providing logistics and the civilians implementing their plans. The professionals, academicians and students too must refrain from being part of the intra-clans conflict, they must distinguished themselves as peace-makers and people who have a certain civilization traits that denounce sectarian ideologies. They should take over the duty to voluntarily sensitize their communities and clans on the negative impacts of intra-clans conflict.

6. A law should be introduced to regulate hate speeches and this will deter chiefs and anyone who recklessly release statements that are likely to incite violence. questions like, which clans has been defeated and how many people have been killed are the same as taking pride in the intra-clans and sectarian conflicts, the chiefs and everyone who possess this kind of behavior should be brought to book because it is these kind of statements that inspired the youth to take revenge and possibly defeat or kill more people from the other side and the cycle continues.

7. The cattle keepers, rustlers, thieves are all in one name criminals, and they should be without any hesitation subjected to the full force of law, there is no two way about it, if one has killed, they have to be charged with murder and if found guilty convicted accordingly. Bargaining or begging criminals to submit themselves to the authorities is not a legal principle and the government using all it available resources should ensure that all criminals are apprehended as no criminal should be left at large or they will continue to carry out these heinous crimes of killing people with impunity.

8. Most importantly, since cattle and getting to cattle camps has been the reason why so many youth (Galweng) get together and start slaughtering themselves, I have a too drastic suggestion about what should be done and in my opinion, the citizens of lakes state as part of the Dinka tribe still have the right to continue keeping their cattle but this time in a different way, if one want to continue having so many cattle, they must also be ready to take charge of their expenses and this is to say, all cattle keepers must be turned into cattle farmers and what this mean is that, your 200 or 300 cows will not be taken from you but you must make sure that, you organize your large farm for them, look for them food to eat and water to drink, treat them when they are sick and you cannot have any other person apart from your children or your close relative looking after them, this would mean that, there would be nothing like a cattle camp where everyone goes and gang up and start butchering themselves. If someone comes to raid your cattle in your farm or homestead, you shall not go and take them back but rather report to the authorities and the culprits will be apprehended, charged and pay for your cattle, there would be no need of you killing or stealing because someone has stolen from you. Secondly, I want to revive the suggestion once made by the former governor Daniel Awet Akot that, the cattle owners must be made to pay taxes, this was condemned by so many people including myself but now I am finding sense in that and changing tone, Akot was right because if one look at it critically, these cattle keepers are not contributing to the state government in anyway, instead, they are busy causing havoc and masterminding unprecedented loss of life and therefore, the only way their cattle and they can be made productive is to levy taxes which in this case should be a property tax on their cattle, the reason being that, these cattle feeds in cattle camps which are government owned, drink water which is a government resource and sometime even got treated by the government, so there is every need for owners to raise revenue and pay taxes for these services. This if done, would not only help the state in raising revenue but will also ensure that the owners of the cattle may also know that their cattle are not pure assets but also a liability that need them to cater for. This will diminish the number of cattle that one keeps because more cattle will always mean more taxes.

9. A serious and more disarmament campaign should be carried out to take away all the sophisticate weapons that are now in the hands of the civilians. The sources of supply and those who sell these weapons to the civilians should be investigated and stringent measures taken to punish this practice. It is because of weapons in the civilian’s hands that has made it easy for them to overtake the constitutionally established authorities and kill with impunity.

10. The educated members of the society should take it upon themselves and embark on a door to door campaign sensitizing their brothers and cousins on the negative impacts of sectarian violence. This if carried out honestly will help solve the madness of intra-clans conflict from the grass roots.

Conclusion:

As I have earlier stated, the recommendations given here are not in themselves new or magical, they are not unique discoveries that can be used as miracles to end the rampant intra-clans conflict in lakes state, these are recommendations that some people have previously tried to put forward to the authorities but unfortunately, no one acted on them absolutely. Some of these recommendations have been tried by some governors but in a pedestrian way that made them backfired. My only hope this time is that, these recommendations will get to the right people and authorities that will act to bring the intra-clans conflict in lakes state to their ultimate end.

It is disturbing to accept that these intra-clans conflict regarded by some people as ordinary transitional activities have denied lakes state so many things including but not limited to, loss of human resource through regular death, lack of development in all sectors, migration of intellectuals from the state, disappearance of investors and development partners, tarnishing the image and loss of respect for the people of lakes by other citizens of south Sudan and a lot more that have made the state a no-go zone for those who favored their lives.

Some of us had lost hope and decided never to comment on anything to do with lakes state as commenting on lakes state issues has always been taken as opposing the people in power but when I visited lakes state recently, I was convinced to write this one article in order to speak out my chest and see if what I say will count in bringing an end to the craziness in my state. I didn’t go to lakes for pleasure or family visit but I went there to bury my cousin who had passed on in Juba and as we arrived in Rumbek and buried the body, we could hear some gunshots around the town but that wasn’t the real threat, three days later as we were in the funeral prayers, we heard the news that sectarian violence were on-going in my village, a village that I had planned to visit soon after the prayers.

After the fighting stopped on its own not by the government, I learn that eight of my cousins were killed and this meant, after the cousin who passed on in Juba, I lost eight (8) more cousins that I had hoped to meet but did not have the chance to give my last farewell and do you know why I didn’t have that chance? It is because people advised me not to go to my village or else I would be killed on revenge by members of the clan that was fighting with my clan. So I ended up returning to Juba without visiting my village. This is the price we all are expected to pay because of the intra-clans conflict in lakes state and that is why I feel, every one of us may continue to be affected in one way or another unless we all put our efforts to end this madness.

I rest my case here!!!

Juma Mabor Marial is a Lawyer and concern citizen of Lakes state Reachable at: jummabor@gmail.com.

May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- It was in 2010 that Akot’s tenure as governor of Lakes state came to end as the country now embarked on general elections for the first time since the civil war ended. Akot did not step aside for good; he resubmitted his application to contest as a new governor in lakes state. He ignored the shortcomings and challenges that he had faced during his tenure in office and still feels he has some magic to overcome these challenges if his mandate is renewed. Unfortunately, Akot failed to secure the SPLM ticket and that was where his political oxygen expired in lakes state.

Between Akot retirement and incoming of a new governor, Telar Ring Deng Takpiny (now legal advisor to the president) care-took for three (3) months and during his period, Telar was lucky enough to have only three months and within this time, he played his cards well by connecting with the citizens of the state, subsidized the prices of food items, regulated alcoholic consumption, ignored the issues of insecurity but kept harmony with the local population. It is because of this scheming and limited time that he acted as care-taker governor that made him the preferred best performing governor in the opinion of the lakes state citizens. However, due to the limitation of time as he only acted for three months, nothing much can be said to have been done or not done by Deng to change whatever might have been going on wrong or right in terms of insecurity and intra-clans conflict in lakes state.

After the general elections in April 2010, Chol Tong Mayay became the governor of lakes state taking over the baggage left behind not by Deng but Lat and Akot and these coupled with his manifesto to the people of lakes state filled his plat and immediately required him to act swiftly and positively, Mayay Manifesto was based on curbing insecurity, creating job opportunities, ensuring economic growth and development, enhancing agricultural entrepreneurship, promoting youth and women empowerment, providing educational opportunities  among other things. This list of promises were what the people of lakes state eagerly wanted and if anyone was capable of implementing them, then, this was the right person to pocket their votes and this plus the prominence of SPLM enabled Mayay won the 2010 polls.

Mayay kicked off successfully and through half of his tenure, he was able to fulfil some of his promises, he took a number of young people to schools although the criteria was continuously criticized and challenged, he also provided job opportunities for the youth, he too managed to establish half-way a technocratic government where some of his ministers were able to give their presentations in official language, his relationship with women, i.e. political relationship wasn’t doing bad either, the rest of the promises were in one way or another implemented but not in a comprehensive manner. Unfortunately, Mayay like his predecessors not only failed to diagnose the virus of insecurity in lakes state but also never developed effective mechanisms to curb it. It is during Mayay’s tenure that criticisms grew as freedom of assembly; association and press were like in the previous governments in the state, given little opportunity to prosper.

Despite these shortcomings, Mayay administration was in the opinion of lakes state citizens, an average government and a step toward a right direction. However, before he could continue to deliver on all his elections pledges, Mayay became too ambitious politically and in the pursuit of his dreams, he relegated the issues of lakes state to the back seat and embarked on a new strategy to remain in power comes 2015 as a projected year for another general elections. Mayay political calculations were to take over the chairmanship of SPLM from his former boss Daniel Awet Akot in the state, he wanted to be re-elected governor in the state in 2015 and very dangerous of all, he wanted to be a president or vice president in another government not certainly that of Kiir, these aspirations coupled with his clans pride in him being a governor and the thoughts that they could  do and get away with anything including killing people complicated things for Mayay and after the clashes between Ruop and Kuei in the middle of Rumbek town, Mayay was given a red card and these woes continue to pursue him until he was arrested and charged with being part and parcel of the foiled coup that attempted to oust president Mayardit’s government in December 2013.

It is during this time that the glimpse of hope for peace and tranquility in lakes state were almost being realized but unfortunately, the actions by governor Mayay and his clansmen of putting private interest before public interest spoiled and dashed these hopes and this is the fundamental reason why, instead of apportioning this blame of insecurity in lakes state to the national government at this time, it is rather accurate to channel it toward Mayay and his clansmen.

The sectarian clashes in Rumbek town that culminated in the removal of Mayay from the governorship seemed to have sent a clear and strong message to Salva in Juba that, it is the time the sectarian fighting in lakes state have to be taken seriously and Kiir in a gesture to heed to this message appointed Matur Chut Dhuol as care taker governor, a man that he believes will help restore sanity in lakes state. Matur on his own profile is a strong and professional military officers but an academically incapable individual whom Kiir thought was fit and appropriate to tame the insecurity and people of lakes state. Dhuol was very enthusiastic about his appointment as a governor of lakes state and because he was once posted in Rumbek as a zonal commander, he thought, his iron fist character would auger well with what was happening in the state, he thought too that, by virtue of his military background and his PhD in Dinka language as he jokingly tells people, the warring factions in lakes state would fear him and it would not take him much energy and time to bring the situation to normalcy.

Dhuol arrived in the state from Juba few days after his appointment and he toured all the eight counties of lakes state threatening instead of sensitizing people on what he would do to restore peace and tranquility in the state. After the tour, civilians from his own county- Rumbek east county fought and feeling provoked, Dhuol conducted a mass arrest against members of the sub- clans that he felt the culprits came from. He then established a military prison at langcok, a place few kilometers away from Rumbek center where he sent every perceived criminal. It wasn’t long before activists and human rights advocates got up in arms and challenged Dhuol over langcok military prison, the governor was accused of ruling with an iron fist and grossly violating human rights as manifested in issues like holding people incommunicado, promoting arbitrary arrests and allowing other inhumane treatments and torture to be carried out against the inmates. Dhuol too, maybe because of his military orientation and lack of academic qualifications his PhD in Dinka language notwithstanding, tend to insult every boy, men, women and politicians that he perceived as his critics. He is easily characterized as a sectarian leader as he is perceived to be favouring people from (Pan-ajuong) and also logging horns with local people over some administrative units and bomas like Pacong where he is already alleged to be constructing his many storey building.

It is unbelievable that, in comparison to the performance of the previous governors with regard to insecurity in lakes state, the number of people who died in the sectarian clashes during Dhuol’s tenure is extremely high and this is because, after issuing empty threats and failing to put some effective mechanisms to punish the culprits, the civilians in lakes state find it easy to kill with impunity. Dhuol decided to close down langcok prison as criticisms and pressure by human rights advocates intensify and in addition, he decided to stop arresting culprits and bringing them to book in the pretext that this civilians kills the police and other law enforcement officers in their attempt to apprehend them. He got refuge in the traditional rhetoric of lamenting that those who are defeated in the fight will never try to plan sectarian fighting again. This indirectly and without Dhuol knowledge became the genesis of lawlessness in lakes state.

It is because of this Dhuol strategy that has turned lakes state into a state where only the strong clans and those with numbers survives as no government would attempt to apprehend those who attack others.

In a nutshell therefore, Dhuol incompetence, traditional ideologies, military heavy handedness and zero intellectual background in governance complicated things and intensify the intra-clans fighting in lakes state. The same characteristics of Dhuol have returned the state to stages of survival of fetuses where only the strong remains alive. It is because of this unbecoming behavior and lack of leadership from the top that the principles of the rule of law, peaceful co-existence, stability and development have completely disappeared in lakes state. The government has become too intimidated by civilians to the extent that the army and other law enforcement agencies like the police are afraid to go to the sense where the civilians are fighting and apprehend the culprits.

Dhuol appointment as governor of lakes has not only left lakes state backward in terms of development and civilization, good governance and democracy but it has in a great way, widened the intra-clans conflict among the sub-tribes and citizens of lakes state. Both the president and Dhuol have to be given equal share of blame for putting the state in this quagmire situation.

Another categories  that have negatively contributed to the  worsening intra-clans conflict in lakes state include; the politicians both at the national and state governments, professionals, academicians and students, chiefs and Cattle keepers (Galweng). The first three groups are the perpetrators while the last group (Galweng) is of the culprits as well as the victims of intra-clans conflicts.

As politicians both at the national and state levels comes from different clans of lakes state, they have all specialized in arming and funding their respective clans to fight the other clans, they have instead of talking to their constituencies to stop violence encourages them to act for them in the name of protecting the name and image of the clans, some of these people have turned into businessmen who gets weapons and sold them to the civilians to make extra pounds. These politicians are also caught in supremacy wars where creating confusion among the civilians gives them an opportunity to create peace projects and disguised as peace makers. The politicians especially members of parliament have declined to perform their constitutional duties of visiting their constituencies and talk to their citizens about the significance of peace and stability, they are always busy running their own businesses in the cities and marrying one wife after another while their people are busy butchering themselves.

The professionals, academicians and students instead of being ambassadors of peace by virtue of their education have also joint the other groups in perpetrating violence and failing to sensitize the citizens on the negative impacts of sectarian conflicts. A good number of people within this category incite their brothers to revenge and kill people from other clans with impunity. Most of these people are good in discussing sectarianism without shame. They have misled their brothers and relatives to senseless conflict and ultimate death yet they are still too proud to talk about how this clan defeated that clan. This is a group that should have restored sanity in lakes state if they had followed the ethics and principles of their education and training but no, they have selected to pursue clans’ interest than the state interest and this is why, educated or otherwise, no one is spared of death in lakes state because it has become a common rhetoric in lakes state that, killing an educated person is as killing two people and it makes the relative of the deceased bereaved for a long time.

The last group among these categories is the chiefs and Galweng, while the chiefs are directly in charge of leading the civilians at the local government levels, the Galweng who are the young men are the raw materials that are butchering themselves in the senseless intra-clans fighting in lakes state. The chiefs previously use to play critical role in keeping law and order at the smallest administrative units, they were too, the ones in charge of resolving disputes that occurred among the community members. These roles were very much respected and upheld during the movement but after the CPA, the role of chiefs and traditional authority diminished as the ordinary courts set in, it is at the background of this factor that some chiefs felt idle and begins to form part of the intra-clans conflicts instead of resolving them, the behavior of Galweng also became worse as they sometimes targeted on revenge some chiefs and also failed to heed to their advices. The chiefs in this confused scenario then tend to support their clans and this is why soon after the clashes between one sub-clans against the other, you would find chiefs asking questions like, who have been defeated and how many people have been killed from the opponent’s side, this is a true indication that such questions chiefs asked makes them part of the problem instead of being a solution to the on-going conflict. This also explains why some chiefs got killed in the revenge attacks as they are alleged to have said one or another nasty thing against the other side.

The Galweng (cattle keepers) who are the young people and the victims of the intra-clans conflict in lakes state are some of the people who have no discipline at all, they don’t respect their community, chiefs, fathers, mothers, brothers, government and everybody. They are the spoiled brats who have specialized in drinking alcohol, witched haunted people and anti-development type of people.

The availability of arms in their hands has made them too stubborn to listen to anyone and the failure by the government to arrest them has made them even more reckless. This group of people kills with impunity on claims of revenge for a relative killed, cattle raiding, girls’ elopements among others, in reality, they have no any justifiable reason to kill themselves but their believe is that, they are more proactive than the government and taking law into their own hand is the best short-cut to justice, a traditional one I believe. What this group need to back down on their rigidity is a serious and well established government that cannot be blackmailed, intimidated or clans oriented. This government was not in one of the above mentioned governments and this is the reason why the culture of intra-clans conflicts in lakes state continues to prosper.

Please don’t miss to read the final part III on the recommendations to:  the Genesis and Phenomenon of Intra-Clans’ Conflict and Revenge Attacks in Lakes State.

Kindly circulate this article among your sisterly dailies.

Juma Mabor Marial is a Lawyer and concern citizen of Lakes state Reachable at: jummabor@gmail.com

Introduction

May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- Lakes state comprised of eight (8) counties of which all but one, are inhabited by the Dinka sub-ethnic tribes and out of these counties, none except one of them have so often had sectarian fighting among the smallest sub-clans. The possible and probable causes of these conflicts are aligned but not limited to perceived historical rhetoric of community defense, cattle raiding/rustling/stealing, girls’ elopement and impregnation, adultery and revenge for the death of a relative etc..

Administration after administration have gotten their fair share of blame for failing to contain the situation and indeed, out of the four governors that the state have had since CPA, one of them was sacked/removed on the ground of having been in one way or another implicated in the local and sectarian fighting. Others too, have been reprimanded for negligent and omission to carry out what was thought they ought to have prudently done to foil the sectarian clashes as the authorities at the time.

Even with the ousting of governors by electorates and some by the president under the transitional constitution with the hope and desire to improve insecurity in the state, the situation unprecedentedly escalated and most people lost their lives with the state turning into lawlessness and almost getting to the level of a No-Go zone for both the indigenous citizens of the state and even worse, the foreigners and other citizens of south Sudan feel that it would be a grave mistake of a life-time to go to Lakes state which they thinks going there is the same as signing a death certificate.

On this account, the question that people asked themselves and most of us as citizens of Lakes state have been and are still being asked every day is?, why are the people of Lakes state killing themselves? The easiest answers are being framed around the above-mentioned causes while others are quick to point fingers at the state government, local authorities and the so-called cattle mentality. However, even with the answers being easily written down, it is still puzzling to note that no long term solutions could be found to resolve once and for all the intra-clans fighting in Lakes state.

It is vital to also note that, on the very outset and prior to the Signing of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, Lakes state and particularly it state capital Rumbek was the administrative headquarters of the SPLM/A where major decisions on both the political and military coordination were being undertaken by the Movement. It was here that several NGOs and United Nations offices were located. In Rumbek, several ethnicities co-existed and the state was then seen as undoubtedly an epitome of peace and reflecting the diversity of the South Sudanese people even at such a time when the lives of the south Sudanese were frustrated by the successive regimes in Khartoum.

It was in Rumbek that the internal divisions within the movement were being resolved and this has served to keep the movement alive until the independent of South Sudan was ultimately achieved in 2011.  Outstanding among this peace initiative mid-wife in and by the people of lakes state in Rumbek was the 2004 disagreement between Late Dr. John Garang and his Deputy Salva Kiir Mayardit, a disagreement which if it were not for the peaceful spirit that then existed and extended by the people of Lakes state (Rumbek) could have escalated into a fully flown semi- internal civil war which would have eventually restrained the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and subsequently affected the realization and secession of South Sudan.

Such a beautiful and historical peaceful profile is what Lakes state (Rumbek) use to be before the curse and craziness of butchering one another set in. A lot of people including ourselves the citizens of the state continue to wonder what has become of our people that they have decided to turn against one another instead of working together and enjoy the dividends of peace like the rest of South Sudanese.

It is here that, all of us who are wondering should try to go beyond our reach to get insight of what exactly should be done to find long term solutions to the on-going and devastating intra clans fighting in lakes state. To do this, one must be bold, honest, neutral and even professional in trying to bring out issues that have led to this an unending catastrophe in our beloved state. This too, cannot be done without identifying the root causes and the possible perpetrators of these perennial conflicts, the government, politicians, professionals, students, traditional leaders and every single inhabitant of Lakes state have to be scrutinized for every little role they might have played to escalate the fighting. This is where one can easily find solutions to the on-going conflict because individual interests seemed to be very much intertwined with what is going on in lakes state today.

Although of course, the primary causes of intra-clans fighting are clearly spelled out above, it is imperatively significant to critically look at the back-door roles played by the above group of individuals because the lakes state conflict is very complex and cannot be attributed to one, two or just three factors. It is in this regard that, these analyses will apportioned blame to different segments of the society of lakes state from the government to politicians, professionals, academicians to students, parents, cattle keepers (Galweng) to chiefs and every single citizen.

Now, let’s start with what both the national and state governments have done or failed to do to restore peace and quell insecurity in lakes state. During the freedom struggle, although political and administrative units were imaginatively established, it was exceptionally known that, each area was well kept in peace and order by the military commanders on zonal arrangements. This is where military commanders like Matur Chut (now caretaker governor of Lakes state), Dut Manyok, Deng Monydit just but to name a few were posted in lakes state around 1990s where their actions were taken as God’s given instructions and everyone was then fearful of soldiers colloquially known as ‘Anya Nya’.

Unfortunately, this epoch of deterrent and administration by ‘Anya Nya’ phase out with the signing of the CPA as the conventional and semi democratic governments had to be established.  However, this arrangement didn’t completely phase out the military rule within the civilian government but instead gave the former military commanders an added advantage as most of them were scrutinized based on the military profile one had and this paved the way for most of them to be appointed as governors in the states. This is where people like John Lat and Daniel Awet Akot became the first post CPA governors in lakes state.

Out of these gentlemen, John Lat was the first governor and his tasks were to establish an interim administration and government of Lakes state under the interim arrangement. John faced difficulties as the realities of having a government were very strange to the marginalized people of south Sudan and in particular the lakes state citizens. Lat’s government was marred with cases of nepotism, corruption, insecurity and incompetence among other challenges. It is during his time that the genesis of intra-clans fighting began not by design but coincidental as people turn to take law into their own hands motivated by cases of cattle rustling, raiding, stealing, girls’ elopement, revenge killings among others.

Although these shortcomings were condemnable, it was equally understandable that Lat had to be sympathized with and forgiven for starting from the scratch. It was also conceivable that Lat was from a military background and therefore, the circumstances under which he was establishing the foundation of the government of lakes state were too demanding and challenging for an ordinary soldier like himself. Lat left lakes state not a stable state but a state that was through an exodus to doom.

After John Lat, came Daniel Awet Akot, a renowned military commander who was once a zonal commander in lakes state, Akot by coincidence hails from the same county (Cueibet) as John Lat. His terms of reference weren’t to establish the state government but to correct the mistakes that his predecessor created and introduce reforms and development in the state. These tasks were too heavy for the military oriented governor as well as an arrogant Akot. the vices of nepotisms, corruption, incompetence and even sectarian feuds escalates instead of deescalating during his time, numerous critics emerged and the governor was pushed to a defensive position of always shifting his failures to blames of other sub-tribes whom he perceived as being his traditional opponents.

Akot’s term came to end with the legacy of more corruption scandals, more animosity among politicians, more intra-clans fighting, more nepotism being strengthened instead of being eliminated and what he left behind was a more confused, divided and insecure lakes state than he had found it. The only positive and memorable thing that can be archived about Akot’s tenure is his dramatic instead of charismatic character that minimized instead of eliminating the culture of gossip with governors in lakes state as he was well known for directly informing people on what other people tells him about them. This could have been his point of strength but it was less a leadership skill, instead, it earned him several enemies.

It is clear from here that, with the inefficacy of these two gentlemen to curb insecurity and promote development in lakes state, the central/national government as the appointing authority has to shoulder the blame for taking the back seat and failed to supervise its appointees. The national government and particularly the president did not deem it fit and appropriate to appoint persons with competence and skill to establish a stable platform and permanent foundation for the people of lakes state. Instead, the national government and the president favored friendship and comradeship at the expenses of the future and destiny of lakes state and this is why he appointed not just his military colleagues but the incompetence ones to be the first governors of lakes state. It is squarely on this ground and up to this point that, the on-going cycle of violence and instability in lakes state should be blamed on the weak foundation stone laid by the president and his two former governors.

Don’t miss to read part II and III about: the remaining negative roles played by the two governors of lakes state, politicians both at the national and state governments, professionals, academicians and students, chiefs, Cattle keepers (Galweng), and the recommendations to resolving the lakes state intra-clans conflict.

Kindly circulate this article among your sisterly dailies.

Juma Mabor Marial is a Lawyer and concern citizen of Lakes state Reachable at: jummabor@gmail.com.

May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- I am sadden and disturbed after seeing baseless congratulatory messages to Pres. Salva Kiir Mayardit on social media and even on video clips as if the man has done the unthinkable and forgave hard core criminals awaiting death row.

Among those wrongly pardoned, no one has committed any unforgivable crime that warranted thankfulness messages to Mr. President. In contrast, Mr. President instead deserved strong condemnation because he is clearly guilty of distortion and manufacturing lies on the issue of baseless coup de tat which subsequently brought shames and abyss to our new nation. 

Pres. Kiir has destroyed our communities’ social fabrics and this is unforgivable crime. He deserved nothing short of life in prison without possibility of parole if truth be told. Shaming Pres. Salva Kiir by exposing his guilt verdict is not enough. Calling him a liar and for his resignation from power is not enough either. It seems nothing is comparative and equal to the crimes he has committed even hanging him by the neck is not enough.

Then, what is enough one may ask? Well, I think what is relatively enough in kind is shaming him in the court of law given the shames he has brought upon us, the senseless death he ensued and the destruction of properties he has caused to our nation. Mr. President should be taken to ICC in The Hague to be trial and sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I think this is relative and South Sudanese would be relieved if President Kiir rotten in prison. It’s that simple.

However, this piece is not about Pres. Kiir’s criminal status but I just wanted my readers to understand what people of South Sudan would want out of Salva Kiir Mayardit’s mess. This piece is about why Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba still under house arrest, which is part of Pres. Kiir’s mess and unnecessary pains he has inflicted on our people.

Dr. Nyaba is still under house arrest in Juba, yet, facts have proven that the 12 detained politicians were abused, shamed, imprisoned and robbed of their freedom on false and baseless grounds because there was no coup on December 15^th, 2013.

As I write, Dr. Nyaba cannot leave Juba or his house, why? What has he done than what has been proven inconsistent and baseless accusations in the court of law, where the government had to rush to unrealistically pardon to save itself from being shamed and embarrassed?

In my view, Dr. Nyaba is being held hostage unfairly because he was the first South Sudanese academia, politician and level headed individual who call spade a spade by tells the world that what had happened in Juba on December 15^th, 2013 was not a coup but a fabricated laxative by President Kiir to do away with his political opponents.

It’s that simple and I don’t understand why we are silence in this fiasco? Yet Dr. Nyaba was right, there was not coup attempt in Juba on December 15^th, 2013. Why is Dr. Nyaba being held illegally? This man is BIGGER than his captors. For instance, Dr. Nyaba is a savior and a brave soul who came out undeterred when his own death was eminent. This is a kind of personality our youth in South Sudan wanted and can benefit from.

On December 20^th, 2013, Dr. Nyaba wrote, “the absurdity of the coup story comes out clearly, with the deployment of the presidential militia hailing mainly from Warrap and Northern Bahr el Ghazal, who indeed are killing unarmed Nuers soldiers, civilians including women and children in Juba, on the presumption that they were Riek Machar’s supporters, that Salva Kiir inadvertently is pushing the country to the brink.”

Being truthful as he is, his current house arrest is unacceptable and must be condemned. Because being truthful is what our people wanted if this country ought to move forward stable and become prosperous with its rich diversity. For us to disentangle ourselves from such ill-informed behaviors, we must condemn Dr. Nyaba’s detention in the strong term possible and demand for his release.

It’s true that President Kiir cannot swallow Dr. Nyaba’s bitter pills because he (Dr. Nyaba) writes on sensitive matters. Things that President Kiir and his supporters like not to hear.

Dr. Nyaba wrote on December 20^th, 2013, “in Akon, his (president) hometown, speaking in Dinka, which SSTV aired, Salva had this to say, “…look, this power which I have belongs to you. You fought and died for it… now some people want to snatch it from me… we you accept it?” “Aci ba gam” meaning we will not accept, shouted the people back.”

President Kiir is a man of retribution and his actions have proven this. For example, Kiir Mayardit removed Lt. Gen. Mac Paul from the South Sudan military intelligence for being truthful to the core. General Mac Paul knows lying is good for our new nation and unethical for a learned man.

Also, Dr. Nyaba and Mac Paul say what they have said out patriotism and honesty. In particular, Dr. Nyaba wanted to hold his leader accountable and this is his legal duty as citizen of the land. In my view, this is healthy and it’s very wrong for President Kiir to keep Dr. Nyaba under detention on this basis.

I must stress that there is no other reason for Dr. Adwok Nyaba to remain under house arrest beside his writing which shed lights on the false and fabricated coup attempt.

The articles Dr. Nyaba wrote on December 17^th and 20^th, 2013 were the sole foundation and false proof of the concocted coup attempt. Therefore, our people cannot afford letting this man, a man who corrected wrong in the face absurdity and rampage killing to remains under house arrest without calling for his immediate release.

Dr. Nyaba’s writings helped our nation point to the right direction and healthy path. Besides, Dr. Nyaba is our comrade in armed, a fellow citizen and a wounded hero who lost part of his body during the war of liberation for you and me to have a nation that we today collectively call ours. 

Therefore, I call on the government of South Sudan under President Kiir Mayardit to release Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba immediately. Mr. President, please give Dr. Nyaba back his freedom. He is a good citizen and he has shown our youngsters how one can be a good citizen. Dr. Nyaba was/is a lighting rode to our nation at a time where tribal mentality triumphs over nationhood.

Not only that, I appeal to you Mr. President to accept the reality that what happened in Juba on December 15^th, 2013 was not a coup. Dr. Nyaba was right in pointing out that the mischief occurred when “the officer i/c of the stores opened the stores and rearmed the Dinka soldiers. A Nuer soldier, who happened to be nearby, questioned this. A fist fight ensured between the two attracting the attention both the commander and his deputy to the scene.”

Finally, if the other abled detained politicians were let go free on the basis of peace, why can the same boldness steps apply to Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba as our new nation struggles to find ways how to reconcile herself and her citizens. Please let Dr. Nyaba free!

J. Nguen is a concerned South Sudanese living in Canada. He can be reached at nyolgaar@yahoo.com.

May 11, 2014 (SSNA) -- There are many threats to the cease-fire signed on Friday, May 9, 2014 by Salva Kiir, President of the Republic of South Sudan, and Riek Machar, former Vice President and nominal "leader" of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/In Opposition (SPLA/IO).  Not least among them is the woeful inadequacy of command-and-control by the SPLA/IO.  Much of this stems from a continuous misreporting about Riek Machar and his "leadership" within the rebel movement.  He is not the leader of the political opposition, and indeed is the only major figure pushing for military rebellion; the title of "opposition leader" probably belongs to Rebecca Garang or Pagan Amum, and both have publicly declared the urgent need for substantial reform, but also that this cannot be achieved by military means. 

But nor is Riek a true leader of the forces in the field, increasingly divided along ethnic lines and divided by a vast geography with almost no communications or transport infrastructure (and the seasonal rains have already begun). For example, his control of the White Army (Nuer youth militia) is highly doubtful, and he simply doesn't have the ability to communicate with the widespread military forces that are much more heterogeneous than the title "SPLA/In Opposition" would suggest.

There are authoritative reports of fighting in and around Bentiu (Unity State) this morning (May 11, 2014 EST).  One reason may be suggested by this extraordinary quote obtained by Radio Tamazuj (May 11, 2014):

Lul Ruai, spokesman of the SPLA-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO), said their forces on the ground still did not receive any directives from the opposition leadership on Saturday [May 10].

If this is true—that a day after the "landmark" cease-fire agreement, SPLA/IO forces in the field had still not received any directives from the military "leadership"—we catch a glimpse of the immense obstacles to an effective cease-fire.  Individual fighting units will likely be making critical decisions on the basis of woefully inadequate information.  An accidental shot might turn into a full-scale battle.  Rumors will spread like wildfire if there is no authoritative communication-and-command system in place to control actions by opposition forces.  Only widespread, credible monitoring can forestall dangerous rumors, deliberate misinformation, and propaganda. 

Remarkably, this same SPLA/IO spokesman (Lul Ruai) declared today in the midst of the fighting:

"The violations of the Agreement to Resolve the Crisis in South Sudan shows that (President Salva) Kiir is either insincere or not in control of his forces," rebel military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said in a statement. (Middle East On-Line, May 11, 2014)

There are certainly real command and control issues for the SPLA; but this is the same spokesman who declared that SPLA/IO forces hadn't even received any "directives" proceeding from the cease-fire agreement—the day after it was signed.

We must also wonder where UNMISS and the IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM) are: to this point they have not been able to confirm publicly the nature of the fighting that has occurred today (Reuters reports today an anonymous "UN official" as confirming the heavy fighting around Bentiu).  It was clear to all who would only look that the first day or two would be the most dangerous for the cease-fire: why were urgent deployment preparations not made even before the signing of the cease-fire?  Why was the MVM not fully ready to begin actual deployment the moment the agreement was signed, or first thing Saturday (May 10) morning?

And where is Secretary of John Kerry now?  Apparently South Sudan received its one and a half days of attention, and now—after a week in Africa—Kerry is home.  Perhaps he is sailing today.  He does appear to be following, and indulging in unctuous condemnations of, the agonizing tragedy of Boko Haram's kidnapping of some 300 Nigerian girls; but this must be put in the balance with hundreds of thousands of lives at acute risk in South Sudan.  Clearly kidnappings have touched an emotional nerve, and American diplomacy seems to be prepared to respond to this atrocity as an extraordinary priority.  But here we might ask why Kerry has expressed so little explicit concern for the thousands of girls—some as young as eight and even younger—who have been brutally raped, often gang-raped, in Darfur?  Hundreds have died or suffered grave physical injury from the consequences of these horrific crimes, and all will be traumatized for life.  And the rapes continue on a daily basis.

Do you have an eye for anything that is not in the "diplomatic limelight," Mr. Kerry?

And where are the militarily capable nations of Europe, which might have provided critical transport, communications, and logistical assistance?  We have heard much from these nations about the urgent need for fighting to be stopped in South Sudan, and for accountability, even sanctions.  But at the moment of true need, when there was a cease-fire in the making that required careful observation and monitoring, especially in its critical opening hours, the Europeans have been caught flat-footed.  They have done nothing to speed the IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanism into the areas most prone to violence and cease-fire violations.  The world is flying blind, with the exception of what UNMISS can report—which to date, is nothing about the cease-fire violations they are well aware are occurring.

It may already be too late for any vestige of the cease-fire to be saved: news of the fighting in and around Bentiu is being reported in ways that are dangerously vague; it is already being used for propaganda purposes.  All that can give this acutely vulnerable cease-fire a chance is urgent international commitment to rapid and effective monitoring.  IGAD's MVM is not up to the task; only nations with an urgent response capability can assist MVM and UNMISS in ways that provide true monitoring.  For one thing should have been clear to all: that without effective, timely monitoring, this cease-fire never had a chance.

Eric Reeves' new book-length study of greater Sudan (Compromising With Evil: An archival history of greater Sudan, 2007 - 2012; www.CompromisingWithEvil.org).

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May 9, 2014 (SSNA) -- The South Sudan Women Cry for Peace Group have been following the unfortunate events that unfolded on the 15th of December 2013 with sadness. To that effect the group was established in January 2014 and thereafter released two statements dated the 7th of January and the 21st of February 2014 respectively. The first statement contributed significantly to the cessation of hostilities draft and the second called for a renewed commitment to the cessation of hostilities agreement, including the release of the remaining four in detention and Hon. Dr. Adwok Nyaba. We are grateful for the release of the four detainees and will continue to call for the government to lift the travel ban on Hon. Dr. Adwok Nyaba to allow him participate in the ongoing negotiations in Addis and/or undertake his personal needs as desired.

Addressing the key leaders in this crisis ahead of the Friday 9th May crucial meeting, we take the opportunity to brief H.E. the President, the leader of the SPLM-OP and the international community on the South Sudan Women Cry for Peace position on the way forward. The aim/ objective of this position is to achieve the following goals:

1. Stop the killings and revenge killings of innocent civilians caught up in the ethnic conflict.

2. Create space for the urgently needed humanitarian response for the victims of this crisis.

3. Create a conducive environment for an effective reconciliation process among the people of

South Sudan.

4. Take the country back on the right path, the path to unity, equal distribution of wealth and livelihoods opportunities; accessible and trusted justice system; inclusive and representative political system; and an independent (of politics and tribalism), professional, efficient and structured military and paramilitary structures, among others.

5. Ensure the factors that led to this crisis are addressed in a conclusive and sustainable manner to avoid a repeat of a similar experience in the future.

With this in mind, we believe a return to basics is necessary, to undo the factors that led to the crisis, and recommend the following as immediate steps to be agreed by the two leaders with the support of the international community:

A. Dissolve the current government, including the parliament, independent commissions and set up a transitional government that does not include H.E. the President, the leader of the SPLMOP, the current cabinet Ministers in government, members of the mediating delegations on both sides, as well as former senior government officials since the independence of South Sudan, so as to create a neutral space for reconciliation, an important pre-requisite for peace.

B. Establish a transitional government with lean structures mainly led by experienced local/national technocrats (representative of the Country) in partnership with the United Nations.

C. Task the transitional government with a consultation process throughout South Sudan, to ensure all citizens voice their frustrations and contribute to the solutions to issues that led to thecrisis. Their contributions should be factored into the wider mandate of the transitionalgovernment and inform the reconciliation process.

D. Agree on an initial mandate for the transitional government to include: disarmament and military restructuring/trauma counselling and reconciliation/reconstruction of basic infrastructure/re-establishing basic services and strengthening livelihood opportunities/reestablishing a transparent electoral system and reviewing political party registration rules and conditions, (each of these areas can be fleshed out with the help of the respective technocrats) and a final draft can be finalised once contribution of citizens are synthesised.

E. Agree on a duration for the transitional period, and here we recommend a minimum period of two years, with the first year fully concentrating on programmes that strengthen reconciliation, healing and restoration of livelihoods among all people of South Sudan.

F. During the two years of transitional government, agree on a process for political party regulations review, taking into consideration factors within the SPLM that led to the currentcrisis and the factors that have strangled the emergence of a strong opposition party, a necessityfor democracy. The two year period will also be essential for new and existing political partiesto re-establish their identity as necessary and prepare for re-registration based on newregulations agreed, and election campaign.

G. Certain pre-agreed essential agreements with other Countries, such as the oil agreement with Sudan should continue as it stands, to ensure revenues derived from the oil continue to be the main source of revenues required for the transitional programme.

H. In addition to the mandate recommended above, the transitional government should be mandated to re-activate a joint human rights investigation team that includes the Human Rights Watch INGO, the UN Human Rights group, the AU Human Rights Committee and a local Human rights team, to work together in the investigation of atrocities committed as of the 15th of December 2013, for increased trust in the reconciliation process. The findings should be shared widely and inform both the reconciliation process as well as recommendations to ensure the experience never repeats itself in future.

I. A comprehensive reconciliations process should be determined in consultation with the victims in South Sudan and informed by the HR investigation findings that include among others access to the findings of the HR investigation, a compensation package, comprehensive support for return and resettlement of refugees and the internally displaced citizens; Country wide disarmament; trauma counselling for both the victims and the combats, a forum for dialogue between the most affected ethnic groups as well as among all citizens in the Country.

The SSWCFP group believes reconciliation is a pre-condition for sustainable stability in the Country and therefore should be mainstreamed sufficiently into the ‘road map’ to sustainable peace and stability in South Sudan. As such the recommendations above are all geared towards creating the right environment for an effective and efficient reconciliation process among the people of South Sudan. The SSWCFP also believe that short-cuts to ending this crisis will only create a temporary solution and we strongly advice that this is avoided at all costs. Efforts of all stakeholders should be geared towards a permanent solution for all disgruntled groups in South Sudan.

Signed: South Sudan Women Cry for Peace

May 9, 2014 (SSNA) -- Not all Jieeng people like what is happening in Juba and not all of them are benefiting from the corrupt political system in Juba. Informed unity across tribal lines is the key.

Non-Jieeng and conscientious Jieeng people would want to end that political system too. However, the method through which an inclusive, fair and development-friendly method can be brought about in South Sudan needs the unity of clean consciences: both Jieeng and non-Jieeng alike.

If you're a smart person fighting an oppressive political system informed by a given parochial ethno-political exclusionary framework, the best way to do it is to create formidable allies who belong but don't ascribe to that exclusionary framework. Without unity of the like-minded, the intellectual, political fight against oppressive systems gets bigger and harder.

Destructive socio-political systems are not destroyed violently from outside but peacefully from within. And this requires unity of purpose by good citizens; not ones interested in more hate, division and violence. #nogunsplease!

The best way to fight conceptual Jieeng's destructive dominance (by the mindless, elitist few Jieeng people) isn't by isolating moderate Jiieeng through mindless generalization such as 'Dinka dominance."

Create allies to remove the rotten system; to enlighten the uninformed through conscientious unity of purposeful, solution-focused campaigns.

The corrupt system in Juba was built by people who happen to be Jieeng but don't have the interest of Jieeng at heart. And this corrupt system is being assisted by non-Jieeng who suck up to the president for the power-less ministerial positions. These non-Jieeng politicians have a phony understanding of unity.

How on earth can a grown man, who's also a senior leader call another man subserviently as 'Baba?'

Until all conscientious South Sudanese (Jieeng and non-Jieeng) cooperate, merely antagonizing Jieeng as a tribe, rather than isolating the problem-generators, wouldn’t work. We'd not have a peaceful South Sudan through over generalization.

Crying about ‘Dink dominance’ without careful clarity of the message makes the advocates feel good about themselves but does it help solve the problem? You can’t solve the problem by creating more hatred!

Slavery, Colonialism, Racial Segregation and other forms of social ills were not gotten rid of by the oppressed by themselves. They were got rid of by both the oppressed and people of good conscience within the majority power-holders. Not a fitting analogy but you get the point!

Guns are not the solution. Peaceful cooperation and enlightenment of our people will go a long way. The more enemies you make the bigger your job becomes. The more you reduce the antagonizing minds the less your job becomes. This sounds ideal but that’s the only way!

Calling for more uprising is a call for generation of more hatred! Would the defeated group cease to hate when defeated? Would a militarily defeated Naath fold her arms and ceases to hate? Would a defeated Jieeng sit back after a defeat and ceases to hate?

Make peace possible, Stupid!

Kuir ë Garang is the author of ‘South Sudan Ideologically’ and ‘Is ‘Black’ Really Beautiful?’ For contact visit his blog: www.kuirthiy.info or follow him on twitter @kuirthiy.

Addis Ababa, May 9, 2014 (SSNA) --

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardiit and his main rival, Former Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurghon, agreed the pact in the Ethiopian Capital, Addis Ababa.

Under the accord, a transitional government will be formed. The agreement also calls for a fresh constitution follow by new elections.

The deal requires both sides to halt fighting within 24 hours.