The Republic as a Responsibility "Gone are those days when sovereignty was used as a shield against human right violation, misrule, political oppression and marginalization". 03 May 2011
By Stephen Par Kuol “The SPLM/A controls 2/3 of the South. What is being contested with NIF now is not the territory but the sovereignty of the country- Dr. John Garang De Mabior(2002)” Tick! Tick! Tick! Tik!!-----ticks the cloc to July 9, 2011, when the fixed birthday of the Republic of South Sudan will come to pass! For sure, the pregnancy has been too long and miserable, but the resilient mother has always been jubilant and determined even at this trying time of the third trimester months. As a diplomat, I can forecast with authority that the baby ROSS will bring treasures and prestige to our life as a family. Thence, we have all the good reasons on earth to be even more euphoric than we are at the time of this writing. It might sound too good to be true but it is customary that upon the anointment as a sovereign being on July 9, 2011, ROSS will qualify the extended family for membership in some of the most powerful and prestigious clubs known as international governmental organizations. The telling tale of the time then is that in the watch of both well-wishers and the ill-wishers, the young republic of Jamus, Tiger / Crocodile, 105/104, Koryom, Mourmour ,Zalzal and all the patriotic forces going back to the two Anyanyas(A1 &A2) and beyond will take her place among the 192 sovereign nations of the world with pride and dignity. In accordance with John Garang’s tradition, the sovereignty is contested and won at last. The rest is history. Pursuance to the existing international conventions and customs, this prestigious status (sovereignty) comes with dignity, rights, opportunities and privileges unheard of in this land since genesis. Under the lucrative and immunizing wings of ROSS, the sons and daughters of the Greater South will dine and toss with the loins of the world’s clubs in Arusha , Addis-Ababa, Geneva, New York and other power brokering capitals. As for those of us who have had the red tape opportunity to practice what our veteran diplomat, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin has called Bush Diplomacy, the word is that we cannot wait to see that time when the South will no longer be treated like a political client but as a legitimate member of those clubs. It is simply unbelievable that the baby ROSS will bring us to the fold of the sovereigns and equals with straight face at that moment of truth. What a precious baby!! No wonder some of us have been standing against the idea of aborting it out through the bath water during this turbulent and miserable pregnancy. In fact, moral common sense and conventional wisdom dictate that ROSS is worth uniting and dying for as it comes with huge package of opportunities for all including those blood addicted primitive warlords currently in the armpits of the erstwhile colonialists in Khartoum. Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that the package that comes with those opportunities also contains delicate responsibilities which will demand the South to put on new lenses to correctly see her new self and the surrounding global geopolitical environment. In their book entitled: Sovereignty as a Responsibility, the renowned scholars, Dr Francis Deng, Donald Rothchild, and William Zartman articulated that” sovereignty must be taken as a charge of responsibility where the sovereign state is accountable to both domestic and external constituencies”. In our context, the Sovereign Republic of South Sudan will be critically charged with a total package of responsibilities that include but not limited to: responsibility to provide public security and what the lawyers call equal protection under the law, the responsibility to build peace and the responsibility to provide socio-economic safety-net for the populace. In term of public security, the fundamental essence of sovereignty is the ability of the sovereign state to protect itself and its citizenry from all external and internal harms. According to Max Weber “the state could be said to "succeed" if it maintains the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within its borders. “When this is broken (e.g., through the dominant presence of warlords, paramilitary groups, or terrorism), the very existence of the state becomes dubious, and the state becomes a failed state” .This means that any state that does not ensure physical safety for the law abiding citizens who submit to its authority has no legitimacy to claim moral and political authority over them. ROSS must protect as it disarms, not the other way around (disarm to expose). The young republic must also be genuine in deterring white colour crimes through criminal prosecution in order to provide socio- economic safety-net for the populace. Experiences elsewhere in Africa have taught some tough lessons that development does not blend well with rampant graft even in a land that promises heaven like ours. Diplomatically speaking, the world of today is highly judgmental when it comes to governance where no state governs in isolation. Therefore, the Republic of South Sudan will be judged according to the conventional global legal and moral standards. Gone are those days when sovereignty was used as a shield against human right violation, misrule, political oppression and marginalization. In the global village of today, the international community is morally obliged to pass judgment on those who perform below standards at the expense of humanity. In the same manner it is obliged to provide humanitarian assistance for citizens of failed states, the international community holds the yard stick to declare any state failed or successful. According to some pundits in this field, the common characteristics of a failing state include a central government which is too weak to effect practical control over much of its territory; none-provision of social services; widespread corruption and criminality; involuntary movement of populations; and economic decline. Meanwhile, we are evidently suffering from most of the above described symptoms of state failure at present, the political history of the modern world has it that no state has ever been born with institutional perfections. As the saying goes, even the monumental Rome was not build in one day. Like all the nascent and post war states in Africa or any where in the world today, ROSS deserves some time to crawl to the baby upright steps and organic maturity. However, unlike the war- torn autonomy it has been historically, the independent and sovereign South must be seen as an asset, (not liability) to the region and the international community at large. In another word, ROSS must not come across as an intractable vacuum of political violence and humanitarian concern but as a responsible member of the global village. Like any member state of the existing international clubs, ROSS will be expected to pay her dues adequately and on time. In compliance with the modern international legal and political standards, its internal and external images must truly reflect what the “R Word” (Republic) means. Scientifically defined as a system of government in which the political power rests on the shoulder of a responsible citizenry, a true republic is the one that manages conflict with discipline, ensures political stability through fair representation of the populace, and sets a progressive agenda for sustainable economic development and efficient provision of social services for all. In a bonafide sovereign democratic republic, ethnic minorities, youth and women are physically protected and politically empowered. Of course, that demands political will, resolve and the same patriotism our leadership has been demonstrating to bring us this close to the Promised Land. Although the burden of proof lies on the national government and the ruling party to translate ROSS’s package of opportunities into responsibilities, it will take every body in this family of South Sudan to ensure that the house is politically, socially and economically in order. For one thing, it will take responsible and productive citizens to liberate us from economic dependency, ignorance, disease and the prevailing spirit of political tribalism. For another, it will take a responsible opposition political party that opposes responsibly and principally to bring about political stability in the country. ROSS must also work to defeat the current political culture that tends to reward pseudo politicians and psychotic primitive warlords who seek political power through treacherous means. It must thus be taught and learned that modern politics is an art of influence in which leadership is earned through persuasion, discipline, patriotism and proven responsibility. Ultimately, it must be taught that the prevailing culture of war and armed rebellion is the common enemy that must be fought in several fronts if ROSS is to survive and thrive. Historically, we have come along way as a family united and divided by the common struggle against the common oppression. Fatal games of fratricide sponsored by the common oppressor have been played and hard lessons should have been learned in the course of the protracted struggle that has consumed more than three generations of our traumatized nation. Unfortunately, the collective memory of our people is seemingly charged with self-defeating grudges that could cost us even more than what it has taken to attain ROSS. This is well evidenced by the perilous notion in the minds of some that we are waiting only for the Jallaba to get out of the way to settle trivial scores with certain political foes. Imagine for heaven sake strangling a baby whose nurturing has taken a century of labor- intensive work and over 2 million souls!!. Why build to only then dismantle? I hate to sound like echoing the malicious song of the colonialists and their stooges that the South cannot manage to govern itself with civility, but in the family where every body blames everybody, one can not help concluding that genuine acceptance of ROSS as a collective responsibility will be a long ,hard slog . The naturally unavoidable reality though is that ROSS is coming to stay. This means that we do not have more choices other than adopting coping skills to live with bruises like tongue and teeth do on daily basis. Hence, as the clock ticks to the time the founding fathers worked and died for, let the Southern family soul search, invoke the heroic spirits of the martyrs and unite to forge common sense of responsibility to preserve and serve the baby ROSS. Only then can the world’s 193rd and the Africa’s 54th state serve the purpose for which 2.5 million lives were sacrificed. For this and all the other paramount reasons we all know, the Republic of South Sudan must be seriously taken as more of a responsibility than an opportunity to settle political and intra-tribal scores. The Author is the former Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Sudan to the United Republic of Tanzania and the current Minister of Education in Jonglei State. The views expressed here are his own as a Freelance Political Commentator. Posted in: Opinions -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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