IS SOUTH SUDAN FIGHTING WAR OR MAKING PEACE THROUGH WAR?

COUNTER – INSURGENCY THROUGH ARMY MILITIAS / LOCAL DEFENCE FORCES: IS SOUTH SUDAN FIGHTING WAR OR MAKING PEACE THROUGH WAR?

By Amer Mayen Dhieu, Brisbane

Since the last election, South Sudan government, local state, legal and illegal authorities such as David Yau-Yau have all armed local defense forces and militias to fight insurgency, political corruption, insecurities and minorities’ freedom in the country. However, from December 15, there has been a renewed interested in counter-insurgency practice with many defense forces emerging from government and South Sudan’s local communities. The recently formed Tiger/Gelweng, Bor and Shilluk community Defence Forces, established by ‘coalition of the willing’ in the names of protecting their communities, appears to be waging small wars among South Sudanese ethnic communities. It is not clear to me how fighting such wars can help unravel the danger of the failed state scenario in the country.

Like the insurgency itself, counter-insurgency as security strategy has a long history of theoretical approaches built on best practices. Such practices has already been applied by other world superpowers like the United State in the case of Afghanistan as part of their security strategy which rarely meet its intended goal. However, are these recently formed militias in South Sudan going to apply this strategy in a professional way as administer by the School of thought in international relations? Personally, I doubt it and think that it may actually do more than the good we all desperately need.

First, these militias are basically being formed to defend their villages, strategic or administrative towns such as “Tonga”, the town claim to be in the process of forming the Shilluk Defense Force. They are also being formed to protect lives of helpless people in the villages. But besides all these positive reasons, the imperative question is whether or not this is what South Sudan want to achieve the already dying peace? In my opinion, the answer is no. Formation of local defense forces is a fomentation of ethnic tension that can develop into inter-ethnic civil wars and later genocide.

For instance, the Shilluk Defence Forces are waging war against their fellow Nuer Militias, the so-called White army. The concept of these community-based wars is that whoever is ethnically Nuer (Dinka/Shilluk) is defined by Shilluk (Nuer/Dinka) militias as the Nuer (Dinka/Shilluk) Militia and vice versa. This is why these tribal militias often end up massacring children, women, unarmed civilians etc. indiscriminately, because at the back of their minds, they are simply killing the “militias” from the other community. The Nuer white army that devastated Bor, probably, was thinking along that line. Otherwise, it is just hard to understand why they would kill helpless patients in hospital or youth mama and pastors in the churches.

This concept is also applied in the case of “Gelweng” and Yau-Yau militias. These two militias are difference from Bor and Shilluk Defence Forces. Their perceive goal is to tackle power struggle and political corruption whether at the state or federal level. Nonetheless, for them to achieve these goals, both militias do end up killing civilians either to make their point or just to terrorize them in the believe that it would induce the government to attend to their political agenda. Civilians are therefore targeted based on their perceived political leanings and allegiance, not for any particular crimes they might have committed. It is mostly based on who is supporting who and whose political figure is supporting which political figure. Such dividing and old school strategies in my view are pushing country backward to the point that one can expect civil war or ethnic genocide in the near future.

Not to bore you with interpretation of the already obvious practice, the burning question is that what are these militias bringing to the table of nation integration and peace building process? To me the growth of tribal insurgency, failure to tackle it by national army and the influence of counter-insurgency security strategy use by both side explain nothing but proliferation of tribal armed militias, a serious development that may send our country the Somali way. The exponential growth of these ethnic based militias is contributing to the reluctance by the rebels and the government to embrace serious negotiations for peace and reconciliation in Addis Ababa. The two warring sides are the direct beneficiaries and instigators of these armed groups, each of which is hoping to win an outright military victory over the other using tribal militias.

Another point is that these local militias form in the name of protecting villages, the strategic town and people do often time engage in destructive violence against the citizens of South Sudan regardless of where they belong. Most small wars they fought have already resulted in Juba, Malakal, Bentiu and Bor Massacre. This shows that if counter-insurgency or Insurgency is the security strategies chosen by both the rebels and the government or their illegal supporters, then it is time for government and rebel top figures to immediately cease violence. They should never misconceive it as the best way forward to achieve military victory nor peace and reconciliation in the country.

In conclusion, government and rebels officials are seen celebrating the horrendous handiwork of these local militias. Reported by Sudan Tribune, information minister Philip Jiben Ogal proudly congratulated his Shilluk Defence Forces for playing a role of recapturing Tonga Town, the administrative headquarter of Panyikang country. One puzzle that I have failed to understand is: are these government and rebel figures supporting peace through war or an immediate cessation of hostilities. There is no military victory without loss in lives and property, and these government and rebel leaders must know that if indeed they are fighting for a position to serve the best interest of the general public of South Sudan. They must take charge of protecting civilians, instead of using civilians’ lives a shield to fight their heinous wars.

With these misplaced strategies, it is fundamentally clear to me that both the rebel and government are attempting to build fake peace while fighting war through local defense forces. The increase of local defense forces “exemplifies the deleterious effect of exogenous, militarized state that undermined international legal process of peacebuilding and state-building in all levels”. This is not the quick way to bring peace to the country.

AMER@2014.

Mama Rebecca Nyandeng Should Quit Politics Immediately

By Heskey Dzeng

Well, I will address you as Mama Rebecca Nyandeng, not as Mama Rebecca Garang for some motive. First, you are a beautiful woman, natural by look, but in heart, I do not know. Your natural beauty means no man can even say No to you. But you are ugly in politic. Secondly, you are the wife of our hero and icon,Dr. John Garang, whom the world respect highly. Though he is not bodily present with us today, his soul is roaming amongst us. No sane person can say shit things on him, but you did and said the damn things against him.

Mama Nyandeng, I dropped Christian name here, simply you are unclean, you have broke norms and commit adultery, you are not longer faithfully to South Sudan as the mother of the nation. You are a sinner, you have divorced your late husband and married a demon and cruel man in politic, a man who traitored your husband, a man who backstabbed and weakened your husband movement for a decade against Khartoum regime, who plotted against your sweetheart, killed thousands of innocent civilians for fake democracy.

Mama Nyandeng, when your late husband died in the helicopter crashed of 2005, just six months into the peace deal signed in Kenya, without tasting the fruits of five decades of his struggling, it was a great tragedy to us, the South Sudanese. We had mourned more than you or your children or the new husband. Simply put, Garang was the man of the people. He was your husband at night only. He was not leader of Awulian or Twic East County, Dinka Bor and Dinka or even Upper Nile region, but the leader of South Sudanese and Africa as traditional artist Tor Awuou Adeer’s song immortalized it.

Just one time when Garang passed away did you come out showing strong leadership. I appreciated your fortitude at that time, you make yourself strong, you have stood firm with citizens rather than Garang’s commanders. You comforted and consoled the entire nation and even the world. That was why we reached yesterday, and this where I crowned you the as mother of the nation, before you claimed yourself as the mother of nation in media because you have showed the quality of good woman left behind with children. If you were weak, I think the country would have resorted to war again.

In Africa belief or South Sudanese traditional norms, when a man dies and leaves a wife behind, people don’t cry too much, they said the wife will take care of the children. But when the wife dies, it is a big blow because man is not good in parental care, and if he marries again maybe that woman will not be at home with another woman’s children.

But now Mama Nyandeng, you are not like the real woman left behind with children; you have misused Garang’s legacy; you use it for showing up and for your own political and personal benefit than that for the sake of  South Sudanese. You are dividing the country’s politicians and the societies.

Not to bore you, Mama Nyandeng, yesterday success was yours but today failure is yours too, you are not far from the genesis of the problems. I thought you would relinquish politics in the aftermath of your husband death. I thought you would be the watchdog in our Country, and to protect the legacy of your husband because some demonic politicians are working to delete it in the mind of people. But because you want to carve your own political self out of your late man, you went in without cleaning your hand, brain and feet. That is why you have been messing up, becoming a prostitute in politics, moving up and down, make yourself to be cheating. Simply you don’t have the quality of a good politician but you want to inherit John Garang’s legacy. That was why you chose to become a politician in the ruling party, SPLM.

Mama Nyandeng….. Salva Kiir, Riak Machar, Taban Deng, Pagan Amum and you and more others, all of you are actors of violence, none of you is good pliz.

Mama Nyandeng, the problems that started as a bitter power struggling in the SPLM, then turned to violence on mid-December last year, for sure, you have a hand or a lip in it.

In the aftermath of fighting in Juba, you didn’t come out as the mother of the nation or the country’s watchdog to condemn it and calls for calm, you just tears heaped blames on Kiir and joined Riek’s faction instead to remained neutral as mother of nation, but just fuelled the violence, saying something worse that can route to genocide, but thank God it wasn’t turn out, which I believed no woman has said it before and no woman will say it again, quoted ‘Nuer were being targeting in Juba’, though it happened you cannot said it on speck at time tension at high gear, if you are real mother of nation and wise politicians, who don’t want bloodshed.

I knew, Riak Machar has disabled you, when he threw swindle apologized on citizens of Dinka Bor at your home compound in Juba a years back, due to what he did in 1991 but it repeated itself, that was politic game, does not mean he says a true, but you are not politician, you just stick on it…..watch out and that has turned to chaos today.

Mama Nyandeng, you are snake in this violence, as mother of nation or watchdog, you cannot take side, but you did it and that why you see violence rooted and obstructed toward the peace talks. You would have advised them [reformists] to wait for general election if you are really mother of nation, so you are a driver of radical change while Riak Machar is manager and Taban Deng as conductor, so do not be surprise again, and you know well that most of radical change retort to violence.

Well, President Salva Kiir has not done enough to the citizens and nation itself, but Riak Machar is not alternative person to surrogate Kiir if you are really mother of nation as you usually fool the worldwide.

Mama Nyandeng, this is not time to blame President Kiir…………but time to look for solution to end suffering and death because blaming will not bring peace back but it will add in. please I urges you to advocate for peace and stability than activist for President Kiir’s mistakes on media houses [local and global] as you always did it.

Last and not a least, Mama Nyandeng, you have lost credibility and dignity in your class and entire citizens of South Sudan, you are not long a mother of nation, but mother of bloodshed, but because you are woman, you just turn deaf ear. Therefore I advice you, I cannot tell you to quit politics rather than continues, because you are already soiled, so play a game that you will win and if you want to be politician in future, first consult the high-flying women politicians in the Africa, as you stayed in Kenya now, I suggest you to see Kenyan prominent woman politician Mrs. Martha Karius, she will coach you and advice you on how to become great woman politician in South Sudan, but I doubt whether you will manage.

In conclusion, Mama Nyandeng, if you can listen, it is not too late, possibly you can quit politics and doing other business to serves South Sudanese.

Heskey Dzeng @2014

SPLM MUST CEASE DELIBERATION

By Ajak Lorya

You told us the common enemy was an Arab. Today you are telling us our tribes are our enemies and we must kill each other. Those dying and in mass graves are the orphans and widows whom you drove their fathers and husbands to perish in the front line. You have the millions of dollars in foreign banks,assets and I have no bicycle, but footing thinking of what, to eat(Janyjaro or beans) on a daily basis. My stomach is full of worms while you bath with mineral water yet the Nile is less than a kilometer .

Tin lamp has reddened my eyes trying to read ABC to eradicate illiteracy and your children are sick of air conditioners abroad. Roads, medical services and good education are gone dreams and you claim to be leaders and liberators of enslaved citizen in Sudan.

You promised to take the town to people and the reverse is true as witnessed by angels and devils. Our votes have become sources of our insecurity and you want us to give you another chances to feed your foreign accounts.

Did our relatives sacrificed their lives so that you can have a separate highway in the capital Juba? Who has created classes that we fought to do away with? Where is Abyei and borders of RSS? Were we not united during referendum? The trust that we had in you is gone SPLM party.

Finally; your U turn against our needs is enough and you should stop feeding us with bullets. We are going to forgive you not because you deserve forgiveness on earth or in heaven but to safe the remaining orphans and widows so that they can form a prosperous One Nation, One People(RSS).

Is the International Community Preparing the Ground to Depose President Kiir?

The UN, US and the EU are planning to attack Pres. Kiir using ‘protecting civilians’ as pretext should fighting starts in Juba again

David Aoloch Bion

Storm is gathering for President Salva Kiir, but he will not see the cloud until the thunder struck J1 in the way he did not see the signs of the coup until the bullet missed him in December 15^th. He will not discover the plan of UN chief Hilde Johnson until he is arrested by UN soldiers like Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast .He will not know covert operations of United State foreign policy of regime change until he is killed like Mamuar Gaddafi of Libya or he is in dock at ICC like Charles Taylor of Liberia

This is how the storm is gathering .The USA has sent six Osprey Warplanes to Uganda to hunt for Joseph Kony of LRA  .Is Joseph Kony active and threat? The USA and UN want use Kony hunt as smokescreen and in the midsentence they will attack Salva Kiir.

When coup happened in December 15, both UN and US dismissed it saying there was no evident for coup. What does this mean? They were reechoing the statement of Riek that says ‘’there was no coup’’.

The following is the brief history of US foreign covert operation against the regime it considers as hostile

The United States had planned to overthrow 23 government around the world and indeed it successfully overthrown seven governments, the countries where coups were attempt by US intelligence , the CIA are Syria, Guatemala, Indonesia , Cuba, DRC, Dominican Republic, South Vietnam,, Brazil, Argentina, Angola, Turkey, Philippines, Iran, Libya , Somalia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Chile , Poland. …etc

The United Nation had overthrew one of her too, the government of Ivory Coast but it denied and this is what the UN chief in Ivory Coast ridiculous said after it overthrew the government

‘’Gbagbo made mistake after mistake and in the end lost everything. We intervened to prevent a disaster. We did not believe it was outside forces that were responsible for ousting Gbagbo. The UN will clear the stronghold of Gbagbo like Yopougon tomorrow “

To call spade a spade, the two big things on earth UN and US are not happy with president Kiir. Because Mr. Kiir has been killed politically by mouth of three people, Riak Machar, Rebecca Nyandeng and Hilde Johnson. Kiir now smelling in US, UN and EU

In seven overthrown government by USA, Syria is the good example to explain the crisis in South Sudan. Syria got independence in 1946. Husein Zaim, the chief of staff met with CIA on to seize power, he asked American fund and help with the promise that once in power he would make the decision that benefit their national interest. The CIA helped him plotted and succeeded in a coup after he took powers; he approved  Trans Arabian Pipeline, a project to transport Saud Arabia oil to Mediterranean port.

It is Zaim story Riak Machar is telling Americans. Riak says USA struggled to make South Sudan get independent, but they never benefited from it. He said once he is power (riak) he would cancel the Chinese contracts and give them to America. America blessed the Riek coup, but not involved like Syria of 1949 because there is no pretext.

THE NEW, SECOND PLAN TO OVER THROW KIIR RUNS LIKE

The rebels have been directed by UN, US and EU to sneak into Juba and start fighting like in December 15^th. From there UN will pass a resolution authorizing military intervention call Operation Protecting Civilians in their words meant ‘’to prevent the massacre’’… The US will now take the lead, its warplane which are stationed in Uganda will attack government forces loyal to Salva Kiir from the air and the rebels will advance on the ground like what NATO did in Libya from there Salva Kiir will then be either be killed or arrested.

How president Kiir will survive the might of US army? He must do the following four things

1. Securing Juba from rebel attacks, he must make sure that fighting does not erupt in Juba again like December 15^th. So the West will not get pretext to attack him.
2. Speedily deployment of the IGAD forces to counterbalance the pro rebels UN soldiers
3. Speedily resolution of the conflicts by making painful concession apart from him stepping down
4. Kiir must come out publicly about his rule timetable. He must tell his people how long he will be in power when he will peacefully transfer power to another president. This will give moral to those people who want change peacefully.

Your people Mr. President don’t want to hear Hilde Johnson paraphrasing the words of Ivory Coast UN chief like this ‘’ Kiir made decree after decree and he lost the legitimacy’’

One thousand years ago, the wise man wrote to Roman General Julius Caesar, with note on letter , open it urgently, Julius ignored it saying he was in rush to parliament , he was assassinated as he entered the parliament building , when the letter was opened latter it was found the wise man was arguing him not to go to parliament because assassins were hiding there .

SBS Dinka: Report on the trial of G4 in South Sudan

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Report on the trial of G4 in South Sudan

Makuei Kuir Biar is a member of the public who attended Court proceeding in Juba South Sudan where the four politicians are on trial on charges of treasons. This court came as a result of the December Juba crisis which was termed as a coup by the Government but disputed by the opposition as deliberate attempts by the Government in order to suppress the rest of political organisations.

http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/dinka/highlight/page/id/327834/t/Report-on-the-trial-of-G4-in-South-Sudan/in/english#undefined.gbpl

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Akutë kɔc ke dhetem jam në kake Panë Junup Thudän

Participants: Deng Duot Bior, Amer Mayen Dhieu, Deng Mayom Lueth, Mangok, and Adut Anthony dharuai

http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/dinka/highlight/page/id/327830/t/The-forum-of-6

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Interview with Dr Luka Biong Deng

BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America has signed an executive order that will allow the congress and his Government to impose sanctions to individual South Sudanese who are believed to have perpetuated the violence or wanted to promote violence across the country, These conditions will apply to all parties involves in the fighting.

http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/dinka/highlight/page/id/327846/t/Interview-with-Dr-Luka-Biong-Deng/in/english

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Interview with Atem Yaak Atem

Atem Yak Atem is a former Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Republic of South Sudan, a professional journalist who has served in various high profile positions Sudan Government, Sudanese People Liberation Movement and freelance writer for various newspapers.

http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/dinka/highlight/page/id/327842/t/Interview-with-Atem-Yaak-Atem/in/english

Gordon Buay: Juba’s Position on President Obama’s Decree

Dear all,

I want to clarify to the people of South Sudan that the decree issued by President Obama was aimed to freeze the assets of selected individuals within the government and among rebel officials. President Kiir is NOT among the individuals the US government wants to target.

I would like to inform the public that nobody among the government officials has any property in USA. Members of SPLM-Opposition are the ones with properties. Pagan mum has a house in Colorado; Deng Alor has a house in Seatle and three houses in California; Majak Agot has a house in Texas and Ezekiel Lol has a house in North Carolina bought with stolen referendum money.

Our government will start engaging the US in higher level next week to workout bilateral understanding between the two friends and to smooth the relationship between the two sovereign states.

Our relationship with US government depends on whether President Obama has accepted the following principles to guide the peace talks between us the rebels.

1. Riek Machar and his rebels must accept that the government of President Kiir was democratically elected government that cannot be toppled via the use of force.

2. President Obama’s administration has accepted in principle that the government in Juba is a legitimate government that cannot be overthrown by anybody. President Obama personally made his position clear last year after the conflict and expressed, in no uncertain terms, that the U.S. will NOT accept the overthrow of the democratically elected government.

3. Peace between us the rebels must be guided by the spirit of brotherhood, inclusiveness and respect for democratic principles. Thus, recognition of the South Sudan government as a democratically elected government is a prerequisite for any meaningful dialogue with the rebels.

4. It is the position of the government that Riek Machar must renounce violence as a means to achieve his political position and must, without equivocation,  accept that the government in Juba was democratically elected and it is a legitimate government which has the mandate of the people of South Sudan.

5. The U.S. government, in order to play a positive role in the peace talks, must strongly tell the rebels that the idea of overthrowing the legitimate government of South Sudan by force will NOT be entertained by the U.S and its allies.

After the aforementioned principles are accepted by the Obama’s administration, our government is willing to negotiate with the rebels to reach a political settlement. However, we cannot reach any settlement with the SPLM-Opposition unless they renounce violence and the desire to unseat a democratically elected government.

Gen. Gordon Buay

Shilluk ‘White Army’ in the Making?

Press Statement, April 3rd, 2014

Chollo Youth Take Up Arms to Liberate Chollo (Shilluk) Land

Since the armed conflict started in December 2013, Chollo land has never been in peace. The marauding unruly and ruthless Nuer militias continued their unceasing brutal killings of innocent and unarmed Chollo civilians in Malakal and the villages. At the same time, the SPLA and the government have displayed total failure to provide protection to them and Chollo land. Chollo were mercilessly killed, their properties looted and their villages occupied. All Chollo land south of Kodok is now under the occupation of these savages. Even Kodok itself where the bulk of our people who did not seek refuge in Sudan are gathered is under threat of an imminent attack by the Nuer militia. Those who escaped death are under severe conditions with no humanitarian assistance of any sort from any quarter. The children, the elderly and the other most vulnerable groups are bearing the brunt of this brutality. These are conditions of destruction and annihilation of a nation.

To face this disaster, the Chollo youth have decided to defend their helpless people and liberate Chollo villages from the Nuer militia invaders. This decision had to be taken because our people were being chased like animals from place to place. It is either our land is taken while we are alive and agonizing or we die fighting to defend our land. Our youth opted for the latter.

Chollo youth together with Chollo sons in the organized forces (police, prisons, wildlife, retired soldiers, etc.) in the area have organized themselves under the command of the Member of the Upper Nile State Assembly representing Panyikang County, Honorable Mustafa Gai Lwal. They are now organized into fighting units. Under their courageous and patriotic commander, this Chollo force on the 1st of April liberated the area from Athidhiang up to Nyilwaak after fierce battles with the invading force. At the moment. They are poised to attack and capture Tonga, the last stronghold of these destructive militias. After that the Chollo gallant fighters will turn to liberate the remaining areas.

Let it be known to all that the Chollo do not have expansionist intention but will face any aggression with an equal force. The land of Nyikang Agojang will not be profaned in our lifetime.
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By:Chollo Youth In Upper Nile State

Towards the Death of the Nascent Nation

By Stephen Par Kuol.

“America will never be destroyed from outside. If we falter and lose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourselves alone”_ Abraham Lincoln.

Just like it happens in the institution of marriage, death can also do nations apart.  The so known as citizenry (not the geophysical unit) is the human entity we call “Nation”. Being mortal as they are, nations are born and die .South Sudan was born on July 9, 2011 and can die any time sooner or later if the founding ideals that gave it life in the first place are not meticulously nurtured and safeguarded. In another word, life span of a nation is solely dependent on competence or sobriety of the political leadership entrusted with its endowments and security.  Comrade Edward Lino in his recent article entitled: “A Look at Ourselves the Way We Know Not” made the following delicate observation to depict the ongoing crisis in the country: “So sad did we learn even nations could be lost when we encountered the wise closing their eyes not to witness endowments swishing to a direction through which they fear things might disappear”.

True, even the independent and sovereign nation can be lost. Of late, Kiir and the company have been vocally citing the sovereignty as the sole power of state to shield tyranny but that is old school of diplomacy. Sovereignty is a possession of the people. Hence, you can not use it to kill the people and still claim that the nation is still a live. Like the humanity itself, sovereignty is vulnerable and mortal. The anal of world history is littered with several nations and empires that once lived but died and are still dead. The former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Tibet, Catalonia and Kurdistan are in that inexhaustible list of dead nations. It is called demise of sovereignty in the language of the international law. Our African continent is full of nations in their deathbeds at the time of this writing. Somalia, South Sudan, Libya and Central African Republic are currently in critical care units, if you will. According to the recent failed state index, South Sudan is one of the four most dangerously unstable countries in the world today and the December 15, 2013 tragedy proved that valid.

Having reached the point of no return in the decay of political militarism within the liberation movement turned- ruling party,( SPLM/A), South Sudan was plunged into a comatose by its own political leadership on December 15, 2013. The rest is history. All we have come to know is that dreams and hopes of so many millions who have invested so much in the leadership of the said liberation movement were dashed to ashes when the hell broke loose leading to a genocidal death qualitatively akin to that of Rwanda. It was an organized savagery in which the so called democratically elected President resurrected the ghosts of ancient inter- tribal feuds buried for years with a vengeance that turned the nation into a society of murderers. Neighbors killed their neighbors and soldiers in the army lynched their comrades in arms. Under the jungle state of emergency declared by the President, hailing from Dr. Riek Machar’s ethnic group became a death sentence without due process . Those who share racial features and tribal marks with that ethnic group equally paid dearly.

The President who kept reminding the nation of 1991 inter-communal violence directly commanded his Dootkubeny tribal militia from the presidential palace to commit genocide, military vandalism, heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity in the name of fighting a fabricated coup. That operation of shame directly commanded by the Commander in Chief, sidelined the National Security and the Army dismantling the very core foundation of our historical national liberation army(SPLA).To many of  our  people, that was a crude treachery to our liberation heroes and heroines who died together to bring us the freedom we lost on December 15, 2013. Our martyrs under the heroic leadership of Dr. John Garang De Mabior must have been rolling in their graves to see the surviving leadership of the revolution shamelessly allowing their sacrifice of blood and treasure to go in vain. Even more agonizing is the plight of those who returned home limbless with lives shattered from physical and mental wounds of war.

I particularly feel for those who are physically confined to wheel chairs because of the struggle, war widows, war orphans and majority of our people condemned to illiteracy by the war of liberation and that failed leadership in Juba. Thus, I had to write this piece to mourn the eminent death of my nation, a nation I voted with my feet to liberate at tender age and defended with my pen at this age from overt and accelerated destruction.  With this, I sadly acknowledge that the darker forces stronger than many of us have overcome concerted efforts by millions of patriotic South Sudanese to maintain the fabric of our hard- won republic. That is what I hinted in an article entitled:  The Republic as a Responsibility stressing the vitality of collective responsibility to keep it a live and healthy which is remote and hopeless as things stand now.

Evidently, Kiir Kuethpiny Mayardit and the coterie at the helm do not want to read the writings on the wall that like all nations that died violent deaths, South Sudan can be relegated to the dustbin of world history at any time now in their bloody hands. One is well aware that talking about the death of the nation we all gave live and love is psychologically unacceptable but it must come home to all of us that death is doing us a part. Experiences and experiments else where like in Rwanda and Yugoslavia have proven that the premeditated death known as genocide inflicts deep scars on the collective psyche of the nation. Genocide breaks the socio-cultural fabric of the society in question. It is a violent social earth quick that shakes the very core and threads of nation’s existence (trust and confidence). I have always held the opinion that South Sudan is trust.

Once that is broken, the nation ceases to exist and that is what genocide has done in South Sudan. Genocide breeds deep-seeded mutual mistrust, victim mentality and collective denial of the death itself. The criminal psychology of genocide is a vicious cycle of self-destruction that endures and rages to kill the nation in question at the end of the scores.   Genocide traumatized nations like South Sudan do not stand to honestly face the filth and the ugly face of genocide. They rather tend to live under perpetual denial and collective defense mechanism that does not help the cause of both the victims and offenders.  That is why even well documented crimes like Holocaust in Nazi Germany and the genocide in Armenia are still denied by some racist bigots. I have been reading some writers from the government fraternity defending the genocidal death by equating the genocide in Juba with the revenge killings that ensued afterword.

True, as Comrade Morris Yoll asserted, “the death of all, whether in Juba or any other parts of south Sudan is death that must be condemned”. However, what is deliberately kept under the carpet is the cold truth that those deaths were caused by that premeditated deaths (genocide) ordered by the President of the Republic in Juba. Hence, the logic of cause and effects has it that the criminal responsibility of all those deaths still weighs heavier on the President of the Republic who planned and executed that barbaric campaign of death and mass-killing. All the other deaths were collateral damages that are difficult to control even under the simple law of physics.

We can read this article and other relevant literature on nation’s death and state failure but it will do little justice without asking the following questions:  what kills nations and what is the common cause of nations’ death?.  Well, empirical researches in this field have arrived at a scientific conclusion that all the collapsed and failed states in Africa and beyond were ruined by coconut-head despots like Kiir Kuethpiny Mayardiit of South Sudan. The Despots first kill the state and the state failure leads to the death of the nation. Despots are nearsighted creatures who see things only through the spectacles of power games and brute force to cling to morally bankrupt political power.  The despots and their vampire sycophants don’t care even if the country collapses over them as long as their pond is secure. The despotic regime as we have seen in South Sudan will eventually self-destruct from within largely owing to internal-contradictions and divisions but it can eventually take down the nation to the grave with it at the time when nobody can save its last breathe.As analyzed afore, under Kiir, death is doing us apart.

The man is good for nothing but cold blood killing and military vandalism using foreign mercenaries to set his own town like Leer, Bentiu and Malakal on fire. One South Sudanese politician who worked with Kiir since the liberation period described him as a typical village tyrant. I would rather describe him as Idi Amin of South Sudan.  In my book, mediocrity, sloth, godlessness, cowardice, using the law selectively or ignoring it, hopeless corruption and ruthless inter-tribal violence will define the new country under Kiir Mayardit. In South Sudan today, the government has morally lost the reason for its existence as it becomes a source of insecurity for the populace. General Salva Kiir has subjected the nation to a police state and red terror in Stalin’s fashion. Fear and violent death lurks on every nook and fissure of our social firmament.

Development has gone with the winds. Hunger, ignorance, poverty and disease are presently ravaging the land, while the government bulks feebly before it, incapable of arresting its rampaging onslaught on its subjects. One ethnic group in the country is lumped together as coup plotters or fifth columnists and left only with the choices to die in cold blood, wage a war of survival or take refuge in UNIMISS camp where future is never certain. In this political thuggery, the president has murdered over 20,000 of his voters mobilized by none other than his Running Mate and the Deputy he plotted to murder on December 15, 2013 but still claims legitimacy by virtue of being elected in the year 2010 and mandated in the year 2011 to continue up to the year 2015.

This defies logic and common sense if common sense is ever common. That is why we are adman that Kiir Kuethpiny Mayardit must leaf us a lone if we are to avoid the eminent death of our nation. Otherwise, our destiny is one like conjoined twins. Only death will do as a part. That is why we must all work hard to avoid this collective death. As we seek peace and reconciliation, let’s meet each other halfway, understand, compromise, tolerate, love, share, listen, recognize, accept, support and ultimately reconcile without Kiir.

Should that fail to settle well with all of us, then what rises from the ashes is a country that few of us will recognize, like, or learn to accept submissively and that is what I call the death of the nascent  nation.

SANCTIONS ON JUBA: HOW EFFECTIVE ARE THEY??

By Amer Mayen Dhieu, Brisbane

Under chapter VIII of UN Charter, the United Nation has been frequently enforcing “sanctions” on states and non-state actors as a tool to restore peace and order in the world. On small states, the United State of America, acting as the “global policeman”, uses sanctions to repel aggression against them or other allied countries, restore human rights order or put pressure on those nations supporting aggression against other weak states such as the current case in the Crimea.

However, just after the end of the Cold War, many policymakers in world capital cities and reputable research from academicians put pressure on UN with great concern for and doubt about the effectiveness of sanctions on targeted countries. This pressure put UN Security Council in an awkward position to coin such terms as “Smart Sanctions”. By Smart Sanctions, the UN Security Council claims to be only targeting specific individuals with financial sanctions, travel ban and diplomatic sanctions and certain regimes with Arms embargoes.

On the 3rd of April 2014, President Obama of the United State of America issued a statement listing sanctions about to or had been enforced on South Sudan in relation to the current military situation in the country. In justification for the sanction on Juba, President Obama stresses that “Those who threatened the peace, security or stability of South Sudan, obstruct the peace process, target UN Peacekeepers or are responsible for human right abuse and atrocities will not have a friend in the United State and run the risk of being sanctioned”.

The one-million-dollar question is: can sanctions help the already failing state of South Sudan? I am going to argue that the sanctions are not going to be effective because both the government and the rebels do not care about the citizens of South Sudan or about their international reputation. Therefore, if both parties to the conflict don’t care about the lives and welfare of their own citizens and supporters and nor about how they are perceived by the international community, why would anyone think that the sanctions would bring any positive change to the ongoing conflict in the country?

First and foremost, what message would the imposition of sanctions on Juba say about who is responsible for the crimes committed in the aftermath of the December 15th skirmish? What message does it convey to the general public of South Sudan? To me, it is too inconclusive and hard for any side (rebel or government) to accept responsibility for the killing, destruction and displacement meted out upon South Sudanese citizens. With confusions and war panic still reigning across the country, both sides are still blaming each other for an alleged genocide committed with horrible memories of rapes, absurd killings, and other human rights abuses.

Nevertheless, both sides are said to have committed crimes against humanity, with rebels in Bor, Akobo, Malakal and Bentiu and government in Juba. If that is true, it is the case that both sides are threatening the stability of South Sudan and are responsible for human right abuse and atrocities. Therefore, the sanctions imposed by Washington are both directed on the Government of South Sudan and the rebels. Rebels are said to be celebrating the imposing of sanctions on South Sudan and yet, they are part of the saga. The sanctions are imposed on the government as well as on the rebels.

However, will the sanctions serve their purpose in Juba and other places occupied by rebels? As I mentioned above, I think the sanctions will not achieve their intended goal because the government doesn’t care about the citizens and the rebels don’t care about their supporters. Secondly, both sides to the conflict don’t give a damn about their international reputations. The rebels believe that the US government is targeting President Kiir, not them. According to South Sudan’s Minister for information, Michael Makwei Lueth, the government considers the move from Washington to be an implicit support to the rebellion. The government in Juba believes that it can survive the sanctions if the alternative is to reward Riek Machar for his “failed military coup” against the government.

Secondly, the history of sanctions and their effectiveness in the past is ridden with failures and adverse effects on unintended targets. For example, the UN Security Council enacted crippling economic sanctions on Iraq’s oil in the 1990s. The sanctions were intended to bankrupt and bring down the government of President Saddam Hussein. But instead, financial difficulties occasioned by the sanctions only affected the averaged Iraqis. It resulted in chronic hunger and disease outbreak, leading to the death of nearly one million Iraqis. Going through this example make you wonder if the enforced sanctions will serve their purpose in the current conflict of South Sudan or will simply exacerbate the situations by affecting not the intended leaders but the averaged South Sudanese people.

To me, the Obama Administration may not have thought through the whole business of sanctions properly and thoroughly. I am not saying sanctions are no longer effective but only to those who cares about their citizens and of their international reputations. Despite being a member of the United Nations and now aspiring for Arab League membership, South Sudan has already lost credibility for good international reputation. Last year, for instance, it was ranked the 3rd failed state just next to Somalia—a country with no government at a time. Moreover, South Sudan was among the top most corrupt states in the world.

For the US to enforce such sanctions on a country with half of its population being illiterate and poor, top government officials being the most corrupt, and the government being the cause of political instability, is more like using man own sword to kill him. This means that the general public of South Sudan is being killed using their fellow citizen’s sword. Mostly, it is the sword of the government officials and rebels. These government officials and rebels have got nothing to lose: not their own citizens and supporters, not UN membership, or international reputation.

Because the government and the rebels have nothing to lose, they would not care about stopping the conflict, human right abuse and atrocities in the country. But if the sanctions won’t serve their envisioned purpose, should there be another quick and most effective way for the United State of America to stop this conflict and save the nation from failing apart? If there is, and I think there is, that way is urgently needed, not these sanctions that won’t put any effective and urgent pressure on the government and the rebels.

AMER@ 2014

The US sanctions on super rich South Sudanese Government Officials is a welcome Reprieve

By Malith Alier, Juba

It is no secret anymore. It is officially endorsed by the President and only awaits implementation by the Secretary of Treasury in consultation with the secretary of State.

The move by the Obama Administration to impose targeted sanctions on those officials on both sides of the conflict generates mixed reactions in the country. Like any other political issue, there are those who are for and against the sanctions. Those who are against the sanctions would like the downtrodden to continue to suffer and those who have access to resources to continue to enrich themselves unfairly.

The country’s oil has been flowing to the world markets since inking of CPA in 2005. The CPA wealth sharing clause agreed a fifty per cent to the South and fifty per cent to the central government in Khartoum. However, the government in Juba was recalcitrant with the large amounts of petrodollars allocated to it. First was the denial of non receipt of the agreed amount. The government maintained that it received less than fifty per cent because the central government deployed less transparency over oil. The SPLM government in the South was totally ignorant of the barrels produced in a daily monthly or yearly basis.

The same lack of transparency was the norm in the Southern government. The ordinary south Sudanese eyes were fixed on referendum and for that reason not bother to know about oil and other issues considered less important at the time. Second, the war impoverished government officials took advantage of the state of South Sudanese who emerged from the devastating conflict and were desperate to rebuild their lives before the D-day. The petrodollars allocated to the government disappeared before reaching Southern Sudan. Each one of us knows the case between the first Minister of Finance and the SPLM secretary General about the disappearance of US Dollars 30m in the 2005/2006 financial year. That was the first crack in the financial mismanagement by government officials.

The President declared war on corruption and to that effect established anticorruption body to fight it. Assets were declared but so far the people of South Sudan did not know whether the huge cash stashed away in US and Europe was disclosed. The list of suspected 75 super rich was published, but that did not end corruption. It was too little too late.

The six failures of the government were highlighted, but no reforms were introduced. SPLM vision and mission is collapsed, foreign policy has failed, corruption was thriving, tribalism paralysed the system and violations of the constitution were points noted by the very SPLM members. However, it was business as usual. Then is the war pitting SPLM against SPLM and SPLA against SPLA.

Enough is enough, enters President Obama of the USA. “And here I declare a national emergency to deal with that threat” the Citizen Newspaper April 5 2014.

I order the Secretary of Treasury to freeze your money, homes, cars, boats or private jets on the US soil. This is not only that, it also extends to those in possessions of US companies abroad. Your assets may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn or otherwise dealt in at your wish. I have taken this position because your crimes are as red as crimson. The cries of the people of South Sudan have reached me in the white House and I have to act in their interest.

Thank you Obama, the money was forever stolen from us. It was never to return. The country leaders were soliciting direct foreign investment but ironically siphoned away huge sums to be stashed in developed countries that do not need it. You have acted wisely by not sanctioning the country as a whole. The ordinary citizens will not feel pinch of the super rich sanctions. The SPLM led government employed too much talk but too little action for public good.