If Garang were to attend the 4th anniversary of independence!
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by Luka Biong Deng
July is a special month for the people of South Sudan during which
they celebrate their independence as the most important achievement in
their political struggle. Also in July, they commemorate together with
the marginalized people of Sudan the loss of their Great Leader, Dr
John Garang. As 9th of July is approaching, the people of South Sudan
will have mixed feelings. On the one hand they will be joyful that
their country, regardless of its health, is now four years old. On the
other hand they will be mourning for their shattered dreams after the
eruption of conflict in December 2013.
Certainly, the most disappointed people would be our martyrs who paid
the utmost price for the better future for the people of South Sudan.
In the preamble of our constitution we vow to remember and to be
inspired by the selfless sacrifices of our martyrs, heroes and
heroines in building our new nation. We promise to ourselves and to
our martyrs in our constitution to lay the foundation for a united,
peaceful and prosperous society based on justice, equality, respect
for human rights and the rule of law. We also promise in our
constitution and to our martyrs our dedication to a genuine national
healing process and the building of trust and confidence in our
society through dialogue.
There is no any other better times to live up to these commitments and
promises to our martyrs and ourselves than after the independence of
South Sudan on 9th July 2011. If our martyrs and our Great Leader Dr
John Garang were to attend the 4th Anniversary of our Independence,
what would they see and how would they feel? Like other South
Sudanese, Garang and our martyrs would certainly feel proud that South
Sudan is an independent new nation. This hard-won independence should
make every South Sudanese proud and to cherish it regardless of the
conditions being faced by our country. As some may doubt the value of
such independence, the post-independence difficulties faced by the
people of South Sudan should make them even more determined to create
a better future. Most nations that are now prosperous went through
difficult times but they managed to transform such difficulties into
opportunities for building better future. Garang would certainly
congratulate the people of South Sudan and President Salva for making
dream coming true.
For sure Garang would be shocked and amazed by the rapid development
in Juba. If he were to come before the crisis of December 2013, he
would see considerable improvement in the livelihoods of our rural
population despite the failure to realize his vision of taking towns
to the people and to use oil revenue to fuel agricultural development.
If every South Sudanese were to assess his and her wellbeing before
the conclusion of CPA in 2005 and before the eruption of crisis in
December 2013, one would say with confidence that there was a
remarkable improvement. The status of Millennium Development Goals as
reported by the National Bureau of Statistics improved considerable
during the period of CPA although not to the level of attaining these
goals in 2015.
Jonglei State was recognized as one of the best performing states with
Bor town considered as one of the cleanest towns in South Sudan during
the governorship of Kuol Manyang. Agriculture production increased
considerably in Western Equatoria state during the governorship of
Nunu and later under governorship of Joseph, one of the best
performing governors. Eastern Equatori state prospered under
Governorship of Emur and later on under Governor Lewis. Northern Bahr
el Ghazal state witnessed considerable development under the
governorship of Gen. Paul Malong who forged amicable relations with
Arab nomads and traders. Unity State witnessed also considerable
progress during the governorship of Taban Deng. Upper Nile state
excelled in its prudent financial management under Stephen Dhieu, the
then state minister of finance recognized to be one of the best state
ministers by then. Western Bahr el Ghazal state performed better under
governorship of Rizziq. Also Governor Clement Wani provided unique and
stabilizing leadership in Central Equatoria state. Yes, we would have
performed better if we were to manage better the oil revenue but the
fact of the matter is that a lot of progress happened during the
period of CPA.
Definitely, Dr John and the rest of our martyrs would be extremely
disappointed by the status of affairs after the eruption of conflict
in December 2013. Garang would find the country is bleeding with a
senseless war that claims lives and livelihoods of innocent citizens
everyday. Garang would also find SPLM is divided into four factions;
namely SPLM-IG, SPLM-IO, SPLM-FD and SPLM-DC. Famine was aborted in
2014 and it is looming now in 2015. The level of malnutrition among
children is as high as 30 percent that is more than double the
officially recognized emergency levels. In some areas, one in three
children is malnourished, a level that is usually seen during famine.
South Sudan faces the world’s worst food crisis in 2015 with about 4.6
million food insecure people. More than 2 million people have been
displaced, of whom more than 1.5 million internally and more than
500,000 who fled to the neighbouring countries. The number of
displaced persons is increasing everyday. During the month of June
alone about 15,000 persons fled to Sudan. This level of displacement
is unprecendented and it is the most serious displacement in the
history of Southern Sudan. The recent survey conducted by law society
shows that the level of trauma is extremely high at the rate of 45
percent with one in two persons suffers from trauma compared with 7
percent in USA. The civil war is costing the people of South Sudan,
the neighboring countries and the international a great deal with cost
ranging between USD122 billion to USD158 billion if peace is not
achieved.
Besides these enormous costs and human suffering, the image of South
Sudan has been badly tarnished and it is now labeled as the most
fragile state in the world. Also South Sudan is among the worst
performing states with regard to human rights, corruption, freedom of
press, civil liberties and political rights. Some leaders of the
warring parties may face UN targeted sanctions if no peace agreement
is concluded. It is most likely that some leaders of the warring
parties may also be indicted if the report of AU Commission of Inquiry
is released on 15th July. South Sudan is exhibiting the ills of Sudan
and it competes with Somalia and Sudan for the position of the worst
performing state. Alarmed by the status of human rights situation in
South Sudan, the UN Human Rights Council may consider the appointment
of human rights special rapporteur.
Certainly, we, as people of South Sudan, did not live up to what we
promised in our constitution to ourselves and to our martyrs. We have
failed not only to be inspired and guided by the selfless sacrifices
of our martyrs but also we failed to lay the foundation for a united,
peaceful and prosperous South Sudan as well as failing to build trust
and confidence among our communities.
The recent bold and historic decision by the SPLM National Liberation
Council under its Chairmanship President Salva Kiir, to reinstate Mr.
Pagan Amum to his position as Secretary General of the SPLM is a
genuine effort towards the full implementation of the SPLM
Reunification Agreement. This process will eventually provide a solid
basis for realizing a comprehensive national peace agreement in Addis
Ababa. With such optimism in the SPLM reunification and prospects for
peace, Dr John and our martyrs may rest in peace with the hope that
the surviving leaders of the SPLM will not again let down the people
of South Sudan. Knowing the damage they have caused, the living
leaders of the SPLM will this time around be inspired by the selfless
sacrifices of our martyrs to achieve peace as the only thing that
would make the people of South Sudan to meaningfully celebrate the 4th
Anniversary of their independence.
The author is the Director of Centre for Peace and Development
Studies, University of Juba, Global Fellow at Peace Research Institute
Oslo and Associate Fellow at Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at
Harvard Kennedy School. He is reachable at [email protected]
or [email protected]
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Kind regards,
The Sudan Tribune editorial team.
5 July 15:18, by Agutthon
Reunion will not help much because it demonstrates Kiir’s
incompetence. Why did he dismantle splm in the first place to reunite
it in a hash?
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