Unity of South Sudan at stake BY: Isaiah Abraham, SOUTH SUDAN
JUNE 14/2011, SSN; It is apparent that there are forces inside and outside this country called Southern Sudan that are doing everything in their power in an attempt to see the South splintered and in pieces now or immediately after independence. This is real and our people, especially leaders must watch out. We're a besieged nation from everywhere and unless we have toiled for nothing, we'll only throw it away at the eleventh hour. If you happened to be living in Juba, within this period from last month (May 2011) particularly from the moment the Provisional Constitution was passed by the Council of Ministers, there are forces that spoil for confrontation even if that means spoiling the Big Day on July 9. These people mostly are in Khartoum with their elements within the ranks and file of the Southern society, working day and night to divide our people. It is not anymore a constitutional issue but sheer tribal politics of this group against that group or this tribe against that tribe. We have been hearing one rumor after another each passing day, and then a bombshell or alleged charges against the Vice President about a certain constitutional document purported to have been written by his Office, then directed to Lawmakers (Southern Legislative Assembly). Our beloved Vice President is currently on a mission outside the country drumming up support for the people of Southern Sudan, after Southern territory was invaded and annexed by callous Arabs on May 19, 2011. The storm is still there, though its magnitude is dwindling. I strongly don’t buy that premature outburst from Kiir's camp that the document was the work of the Vice President. The Vice President has nothing to do with the document unless proven otherwise. The confusion came somewhere. There is this piece of article on hyperlink at Gurtong Website (https://gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124) written by some of our intellectuals (From Equatorian Sudanese Community Association in United States of America, entitled “Memorandum on Draft Transitional Constitution of ROSS” and compare notes. There are remarkable similarities saved for some slight changes and emphasis. Could the group be responsible for such a scheme to put a wedge between the two large groups (Dinka and Nuer)? I don’t know, time will tell! Juba leadership in this case should not take their eyes away from the main target on July 9, 2011. Let’s not bother much, but let’s concentrate on the Big Occasion ahead of us. The said political events or rumors are mere distracters by saboteurs whose sole objective is to foil the aspiration of the people of Southern Sudan. They have left themselves out of everything and are desperate to disrupt the march to July 9. People know them and we shouldn’t be disturbed. July 9 will come and go, but these people… Look, I read the said document and the paper has nothing new to cause fuss about. The same issues, the same people behind the scene. The bait unfortunately was ‘swallowed’ by President Kiir and on face value, he moved to show rancor to one of our most productive leaders in our land. President Kiir made a haste judgment; to backbite his Assistant publicly and when the former was on a crisis mission abroad. If however Dr. Machar had a hand in this paper, then I pity him because such a move is irresponsible and stands to be condemned. But deep within me, I truly believe this is a typical work of enemies of Southern Sudan, it has nothing to do with the Vice President. I want Guandit to keep quiet, ignore and never response to Kiir's charges. But the issue of unity for the people of Southern Sudan- my people- has become a challenge and unless we fail the test at our time, we shall be a laughing stock by generations after us. The unity we have been saying loudly often here isn’t about unity between this party and that party or group of leaders united by ideology; rather it is all about Malwal and Gatwei minds coming together, for that could be good for one, can still be good to the other. During Uncle Lagu's time, we were closer moving there, but somewhere we lost that direction and leaders of today are busy dividing us further. The call about decentralization is nothing but division of our people. Advocates of decentralization, federalism or regionalism have one agenda in mind: the division of our society. They must not be allowed! Alas, they easily forget that experience has shown that when people go for regions, even within regions the chopping will continue among the same group of one region. The world is moving away from there, as new ways of sharing wealth and resources are device. By division, there is no assurance that we can find peace, equality and unity. Let’s dialogue and talk, not run away from one another. It is my humble plea therefore that the leaders of the day make no mistake of adopting regionalism for that is a recipe for more troubles. That is the reason some of us are embracing the new constitution at its current status. I don’t care about Kiir or Machar becoming dictators, the Transitional Constitution has a lot more to celebrate. If we don’t pay careful attention and mess up with our security forces in the name of federalism, we will regret it later when we end up fighting ethnic strife caused by men in uniform. If we regionalized our security forces, we shall have nothing in common but dots in the form of passport, flag and national anthem. Unity of Southern Sudanese will make us strong in the face of many evolving challenges of building our beloved country. Imagine in Central Equatoria, just an example, we currently have over 2,000 well trained nurses, but in some states in Upper Nile and Greater Bahr El Ghazal combined we have less than 500 trained nurses. There are as many intellectuals roaming our streets in Juba and Bor without jobs, while high schools leavers are ministers, director generals in other parts of Southern Sudan, what do you think this federation is giving us in return when we aren’t benefiting one another? I strongly look forward for a country we shall all be proud to serve anywhere; a land someone will not ask from which region I come from, but for what skills do I have for the great use by the people of Southern Sudan. This constitution has these provisions well spelt out. Leaders must unite, youth should do the same. Kiir and Machar unity therefore is key for stability of Southern Sudan. If they fell out (God forbids) for whatever reason (say power), Dinka and Nuer will throw this great land to an abyss. These people are naturally ruthless, arrogant and egocentric. They are bad! Let’s make this final leap to freedom with no discord among our big tribes, and don’t make the constitution any reason to spoil our unity; after all we are only writing a provisional constitution, tomorrow we shall have more robust. In this period if Mr. Kiir misbehaves it will give us additional ammunition to that of corruption to refuse him another ticket after the Transition Period at the end of 2015. Please my people it time to make use of our talents for the betterment of all, and not to engage in petty politics driven largely by tribal hate. Down with reactionary forces, long live unity between Kiir and Machar. SPLM Oyees, Azania Oyee! Isaiah Abraham lives in Juba; [email protected] COMMENTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent those of the website. -- 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]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
