The Chaos of locating a capital city for South Sudan
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by Steve Paterno
April 3, 2011 — The chaos of trying to locate a capital city for South
Sudan began with the messy transitional period after the signing of
the peace agreement in 2005. Just after barely being sworn in as the
Vice President of Sudan and President of the government of South
Sudan, Dr. John Garang, the chairman of SPLM/A tragically died, even
before he could form his government. The SPLM/A leadership then
decided that Dr. Garang will be buried in Juba, the then regional
capital of Southern Sudan, which was still under the occupation of
Khartoum armed forces.
As a result, a chaotic transition ensued as oppose to a gradual
transition in occupying Juba as the seat of the government. Foreign
presidents and dignitaries who were paying their homage to the late
leader, Dr. Garang descended in town; the biggest of such visit in the
history of the town by foreign presidents and dignitaries. The SPLM/A
took to the city by the storm. The SPLA soldiers, triumphantly showed
their flying colors. The soldiers rusty Russian made T-72 tanks and
old trucks ignited the moral in town, with absolute resounding
assurance. The mourning of Dr. Garang was quickly overcome by joyous
celebration for peace. Town folks cheered the parading SPLA soldiers.
It was the sign of peace, albeit, demonstrated in a chaotic fashion,
under a backdrop of no functioning government, institutions, or any
meaningful regulations—a celebration in a city that has little to show
for. Just overnight, the population of the town skyrocketed. The
visiting foreign dignitaries found out that there were even no
functioning latrines for them to use on their short visit. The NGOs
that came to operate from the town had to improvise by setting up
makeshift shops. The big SPLM/A shots who had endured hardship in the
bushes of South Sudan were eager to find roof on top of their heads.
That means they have to occupy the best housings in town. The
overwhelming number of cars, which crowded the town couldn’t negotiate
through narrow street alleyways. Pagan Amum, the Secretary General of
SPLM, jokingly remarks that before 2005, there was hardly a car driven
on Juba streets. The town, which was reduced into military garrison
during the war, had only military vehicles before 2005. The military
objective was not to fix the roads, but defend the town. Trenches for
battles could even be dug literally on the streets, as long as the aim
was to defend the town. The only university premises in town was
actually turned into a barrack of Mujahideen soldiers, a clear
devastating sign of the war.
As human nature dictates, in such chaotic environment and in a town
with hardly any infrastructure, there are those who bound to gain by
capitalizing on the opportunities such a situation can offer, even at
the expenses of others or that of a nation. With the city’s population
quadrupling, everything becomes on high demand. One of the most highly
demanded commodities, is land, which is also now central to the
dispute related to the search for a capital city.
However, the story surrounding the contentions over land issue in Juba
is more complicated than the simple line that a certain tribe in South
Sudan, particularly, the Dinkas are grabbing the lands of the local
Bari people. The real story of land grabbing has even less to do with
the dispute over the capital city. Of course, there are instances
where lands are forcefully grabbed at gun points by some notorious
Dinka elements. Nevertheless, there are also cases of the Bari people,
illegally accumulating large pieces of land for themselves, and
selling them out only to highest bidders, who are non-locals. For
example, a highly placed official from Central Equatoria State, once
excitedly promised his Dinka colleague that he would award him with
lands as much as he wanted, because in his case, he already
accumulated enough to “live in and live on,” meaning he is living in
some of the lands and profiting of the others. The point is, there are
individuals from both the locals and non-locals who are exploiting and
benefiting from this chaotic situation. A friend of mine told me that
these clique of people forged their own tribe to corrupt the system,
in which all can agree.
One important factor connected to this saga that can never be ignored,
is the issue of tribalism. Rivalries among tribes in South Sudan is as
old as the South Sudanese people themselves. This fact can be said to
be true between the Dinka and Bari, just as it can also be true among
the other different tribes. Recent years showed ugly confrontations
between Dinka and Bari. Certain circumstances only tend to fuel such
ugly confrontations. Several decades ago, the cattle keeping Dinkas
fled their areas due to flood and occupied areas around Juba. This
marked the beginning of the land grabbing sentiment, since the cattle
herding Dinkas could hardly coexist with the land farming Baris. This
sentiment intensified during Kokora and after the signing of Addis
Ababa agreement, when the Dinkas were perceived to dominate the
regional government of autonomous South Sudan. There are those in
Equatoria, Bari in particular, who believe until to this day that
SPLM/A was formed by the Dinkas in response against
institutionalization of Kokora. The allegation is true to some extend,
because the actions of some Dinkas in SPLM/A against non-Dinkas are
proven to be contrary to the principles of the liberation struggle; in
effect, validating such sentiments.
The fact of the matter is that people joined SPLM/A as individuals and
all those individuals have different reasons, some of which are
genuine and others are sinister motives. There are the genuine
liberators; anti Kokora; thieves; career criminals; those who want to
acquire guns solely to fight the rival tribes; and the list is long.
However though, dispute these arrays of people, the genuine liberators
within SPLM/A will eventually prevail, because the cause for
liberation struggle is greater.
The issue of capital city is a national call that affects South
Sudanese of all walks of life. Therefore, tribal sentiments and
rivalries, among certain tribes of South Sudan, plus individuals’
greediness must not compromise the genuine quest for locating the
suitable capital city for South Sudan. The way forward is for South
Sudan Legislative Assembly to enact into law, the “Juba Capital City
Act” as ordinance to guide the expansion and constructions of the
city. Such an act must include provisions related to the other
counties in proximity of Juba, since all will be affected with Juba
being the capital city. The act must address the grievances of the
local people who will be affected as well as put a stop into illegal
practice of land grabbing. The issue of the capital city is one of
those that overate tribal differences and individual’s greediness.
With proper regulations and enforcement mechanism in place, South
Sudan will be able to rid the bad elements who ride on the backs of
their tribes for personal gains. The South Sudanese people should not
allow themselves to be deprived of co-existences of peace loving and
law abiding people of all the tribes in the would-be capital city of
South Sudan.
Remember, lack of land is not actually the issue that hiders the
search for the South Sudan capital city. The real issues are the
characters and attitudes of people, which tend to promote corruption
and tribalism, and that couple with absence of leadership and lack of
political will. Had lack of land been the issue, swath of land, more
than the size of some countries, would not have been leased out in
bogus and unscrupulous investment deals to foreign companies.
Ironically, Central Equatoria State, where the capital is proposed,
leased the most landmass to foreign companies than any other state in
the post-CPA period.
Steve Paterno is the author of The Rev. Fr. Saturnino Lohure, A Romain
Catholic Priest Turned Rebel. He can be reached at
[email protected]
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