Howling in the Wind: The Futility of Establishing a Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) without the participation of President Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar
By Mawan Mourtat, London, UK
Sunday, May 6, 2018 (PW) — Many people, including myself, believe that we need Kiir and Riek to be around and involved if we are going to get sustainable peace. In fact, we need the FDs too.
There are two very simple reasons for this. First, these people have their supporters and, these supporters are not going to vanish just because their leaders have been forced out. If the belligerents could be made to reconcile, their supporters will follow them and our people could be united again.
The second reason is this. These leaders will never wilfully give up. They have resorted to violence, presided over the death of more than 50,000 South Sudanese, destroyed our cities and shown no qualms that our country’s sovereignty and its hard-earned independence are jeopardised. Threatened to sell us to the Arab League or the United Nations. Their insatiable apatite for power is unparalleled.
Those are the two reasons why it is unfruitful to demand that Kiir and Riek should leave before peace could be attained. In pursuing this path, its advocates are blinded to the facts that, they could entrench the disunity of our people, and that their demands are untenable. They are untenable because, neither Kiir nor Riek or the FDs are willing to leave the South Sudanese political scene. Our country is being held to ransom. Unless people are themselves willing to resort to violence to oust these leaders, they should stop pushing for this and begin to think constructively. (more…)
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