Sudan’s Anyuak wants Salva Kiir to evacuate Nuer Lou from their land
February 02/2008
– Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit,
First President of Sudan Republic
President of Government of South Sudan,
Khartoum and Juba, Sudan
Sub: The Anyuakland [Akobo] and Insecurity.
Mr. President,
We want to present the Anyuak case before you once again. We appreciate the acceptance and recognition that a problem does exist and that the Anyuak have the right to seek justice. We are also thankful for keeping our case on the agenda. The SPLM Secretariat, the South Sudan Land Commission and the Jonglei State have it on their tables also.
Since the action process has been slow the Anyuak have not settled because our homes are yet occupied by the Lou Nuer. The Lou Nuer have not vacated. The situation has not changed while census is around the corner. Eventually the elections will come. There seems to be no way for the Anyuak to participate in those important national issues since registration will be difficult. This allows the Nuer to be registered where they do not deserve to be. All the delay is time saved for them.
This time around the Murle, running away from disarmament in Pibor, are scouring the Anyuak territory including areas in Ethiopia. They are not hiding quietly but marauding. This is another threat to the Anyuak which gives the Nuer added advantage. The Lou Nuer government in Akobo does not care and is not concerned as long as the Nuer settlements are not attacked. The Murle linger around Alali, Burtuor, Aparawanga, Ojoki and Abuk villages terrorizing the people. A month earlier a child was abducted. The Nuer government in Akobo did not care to know leave alone reporting it. What the Nuer have done overtime is to downplay anything that does not concern the Nuer, much less the Anyuak existence.
We need also to bring to your attention the case of Wanding Payam [ proper name: Wanga Ading]. The Lou Nuer have given this Payam to the Jikany Nuer of Nasir to avoid more bloodshed among themselves. This is the Anyuak land being abused by the Nuer sections to appease each other after long fights over this Payam when the Anyuak were evicted from Akobo in 1982/3 by the Lou, supported by the Sudan government. The agreement between the Nuer sections to hand over Anyuak land to the other was made public by Sudan Radio Service on January 29/2008. This is illegal. No community has the power to appropriate land to anybody. Only a Government has the power to take land for development with applicable regulations and compensations.
During your visit to Akobo last August the Anyuak came out to meet you and presented their grievances. You saw and felt the pain of the Anyuak people. In front of them you gave instructions to the then Jonglei Governor to rapidly take action. That gave hope that the solution was near. But it dragged in the Jonglei system.
Now the new Governor of Jonglei, Mr. Kuol Manyang Juuk, is confronted with the Murle disarmament to stop the spillage of more blood around Bor and other adjoining places. The GoSS took action in Equatoria several times after much blood has been spilled between and among various groups. It appears the GoSS will stand up after loss of life. Should the Anyuak cause blood for their voice to be heard louder? Is it appropriate for the GoSS to see blood for a problem to be taken seriously?
We, the Anyuak, are convinced and believe that the GoSS has much room and power for peaceful solution to problems before chaos. That is why we are patient because it is not right to lose life at time of peace under our own government [GoSS] and our own leadership we see in your person.
Accordingly we are asking the Government, especially your office, to take the Anyuak matter seriously for the concerned bodies to work on this matter quickly. Time is running out. We want to be counted and vote. We are not asking for more land. We want back what is ours through law and order. We will continue knocking your door till justice is served.
God bless you.
God bless the GoSS
God bless the SPLM.
Signed
Akobo Anyuak Leadership Council, Diaspora.
Contact persons:
J. Ojoch, Chairperson: [email protected]
Lero Odola, member: [email protected]
USA.
C.C. Mr. Pagan Amum,
Minister of Cabinet Affairs,
Kharoum and Juba, Sudan
Mr. Wani Igga,
Speaker of the House, GoSS
Juba, Sudan.
Mr. Robert Lado Lwoki,
Commissioner
South Sudan Land Commission.
Juba, Sudan.
Mr. Kuol Manyang Juuk,
Jonglei State Governor,
Bor, Sudan.
Raan Wanding
Sudan’s Anyuak wants Salva Kiir to evacuate Nuer Lou from their land
Wanding Payam has always been Jikany Nuer land since creation. Your time frame of “1983 during which Annuak were evicted” is not supported by facts. You need to stop inciting tribal difference because that has not help you either in Gambella or Sudan for this matter and will certainly not help you anywhere you may think of. Wanding or Akobo, for that matter is Nuer land and any counter claim to its ownership must be presented in a sound legal perspective because I am sure taking it by force will be a devastating blow to your existence. Wanding is the Land of Chiengkueth to be precise. Messing with it would be a huge, huge, huge problem brother!
Victoria Naculya
Sudan’s Anyuak wants Salva Kiir to evacuate Nuer Lou from their land
Your problem is a big one Anyuak. And it is not only in Anyuak that people have to shed blood inorder to be heard by authorities, unfortunatly, it’s all over the world. Its good that you let the GoSS know before you guys did something bad. Seeking justice in a good way is what should be practice,otherwise, we should not talk about peace if we ourselves don’t practice it. So do not worry, anything bad happen, the government is the one to be blame, for you have placed it on their hands. Thanks [email protected]
Gatluak Wech
Sudan’s Anyuak wants Salva Kiir to evacuate Nuer Lou from their land
This is unjust dream and it will not survive at all.
Maduk tut
Sudan’s Anyuak wants Salva Kiir to evacuate Nuer Lou from their land
This is the time we need peace and not provocative action as such, my anyuak brothers use very confronting words claiming what they so call their land when they live in the US and creating enemity between innocent people who live togather for so long without bloodshed.
calling a government nuer government alone disqualify your understanding of the land you are claiming, to be precise i can only advise you to watch your words while you seek justice you may creat a permanent enemity between this peace loving people or else your claim may remain a day dream.
peace.
Gatwech
Sudan’s Anyuak wants Salva Kiir to evacuate Nuer Lou from their land
Ojoch,
I know where your urgent need for extra land came from. The Anyuak are being prosecuted in Gambella, Ethiopia, after their murderous acts, which is their historical culture, forced the Ethiopian authority to massacre them right inside Gambella town. The Anyuak are to blame for murdering UN officials and Ethiopian army officers for their alleged favour of the Nuer refugees in Pinyodu camp.
The Anyuak also, in their miscalculations, attempted to refuse to share power with the Ethiopian Nuer, in Gambella region. They were simply euphoric because for the first time in the history of Gambella, a son of Anyuak, Okello, was appointed Governor of the region after Mr. Thokwath Pal, a Nuer, was ousted after the fall of Mengistu regime.
And yet when the Anyual were being butchered in Gambella by the Ethiopian army, their salvation and survival came from Nuer who hid a good number of them in their houses.
Also, the Nuer do not treat the Anyuak bad in Gambella despite the fact that the Nuer are the majority in Gambella and hold most of the civil service positions and being represented at the federal level in Addis Ababa.
If the Anyuak want to look for lands to settle their people forced out of Gambella region, they are free to resettle in Akobo as the rest of refugees or displaced persons in Southern Sudan. They should NOT attempt to illegally claim Akobo, which the Lou-Nuer clan has occupied for more than one hundred years before the time of British era in Sudan. I also heard some members of Anyuak claiming Khartoum as their land of origin. Do they want to go back to Khartoum?
This is the same ill-planned attempt by late John Garang to claim the Gaajak Nuer land as historically belonging to Bor Dinka. This are lands occupied during the Nuer great expansion from Bentiu hundreds of years ago. They are legally theirs.
So, Mr. Ojoch, look for better ways to find where the Ethiopian Anyuak could be re-settled in Sudan. Salva Kiir is not naive to listen to such childish claims.
Cheers,