The macabre situation in Lakes State

By Maker Costa

September 12, 2008 — Yet another atrocity committed against innocent people in Rumbek by the very forces that claim to be the guarantor of liberation for the oppressed. It was with great sadness and disbelief that Southern Sudanese around the globe received the news of some indiscipline SPLA soldiers shooting randomly at residents of Rumbek for no reason other than that they happened to leave in the town of Rumbek; I mean what else could have been the reason for such a macabre. Well, some would say it was disarmament, but doesn’t that itself suggest that the government carrying out such a disarmament operation is dysfunctional? In fact, what we have now in the Lakes isn’t fit anymore to be called a government but a mafia, yes, it is a mafia.

Let’s put things in perspective here so that we address the ethos, not the pathos. We will present the causes as to why in particular there is such a concentration of illegal arms in the first place and what did or didn’t the government do to stop their ownership. In addition, we will put forward a proposal as how the disarmament should have been carried out.

Why are there illegal guns in the hands of civilians?

As in other places in the South, guns were distributed to the civil population by the SPLA, in good faith, hopeful that the civil population would protect itself from the then government sponsored militias and other armed groups during the war. Also, civilians during the war were able to purchase guns and ammunition from various sources including the SPLA itself as captured weapons were allowed by the SPLA to be sold to civilians. These are the weapons that are being use ubiquitously in sectarian and tribal feuds in southern Sudan in general and in Lakes State in particular.

What are the causes of these tribal feuds?

Tribal feudalism or feudalism in general is as old as humanity itself and has always existed in human societies throughout history, even though it has now receded in the more advanced societies. So, what are the causes of feudalism in Lakes State? A subjective answer to this question would come in different flavors depending on your angle of sight; however, an objective answer would bring forth a fact-based analysis, and this is what we are going to do here. These tribal feuds have always been there ranging from family feuds, clannish feuds, tribal feuds, etc., and mostly they were fought by arm-clashes, sticks, or spears, and they were always solved by tribal chiefs and elders. What happened to these tribal chiefs and elders now that they don‘t solve the feuds anymore, you would ask? Well asked, I would say, unlike today’s feuds that are totally politicized, the feuds then were apolitical in nature. This politicization puts the solution of these feuds beyond the capacity of tribal chiefs and elders, and instead, need a government to solve.

What did or didn’t the government do?

Even though there were guns in the hands of the civil population since the late 1980’s until 1994, Lakes was at relative peace with itself; therefore, it isn’t guns’ possession per se that is responsible for the feudal killings, but there is much to it than meets the eye. It was not until Molana Paul Mayom Akec was appointed commissioner of the then Lakes County, that politicization of these feuds started to accelerate at a full gear. In fact, it’s politicization, not guns’ possession alone, that is responsible for all the evils that came to be associated with feudalism in Lakes State. To be fair to Malona Paul Mayom Akec, however, it should be noted that his successors were no saints either; they all followed in his steps and in some instances even worse.

But what do we mean by politicization, anyway? Let’s break it down by the following analogy:
Let’s assume you were an intellectual in the SPLM during the war, or simply you were an officers in the SPLA, and you wanted to establish yourself as the local monarch of your clan; what would you have done? I guess you would have wanted to create the conditions that would have made you the guardian of your clan; as such, the simplest way would have been for your clan to engage in a bitter feud with another. And given your assumed rank in the SPLA or the SPLM, this feud would have necessitated your clan total dependency on you; consequently, your clan would have fought hard to preserve your position in the SPLA or the SPLM.

This is the simplest case of what we called ‘politicization,’ and there are other stratagems or forms of politicization that were employed by local commanders and civil authority officials in their quest for more power and wealth. Oftentimes, there would have been some sort of tacit agreements between the leaders of the warring clans that would have assured the continuation of the feuds on the expense of everybody else’s security.

This was the case then during the war and is still the case now as we speak. Now you can see why it has been very difficult to bring stability to the State of Lakes; simply, the very people who, in the first place, brought about all these mess, and who have always been and are still the sole beneficiaries of these tribal feuds, are the ones that were appointed by General Salva Kiir to be in charge of the State, and consequently, are now in charge of the disarmament. This is where the blame shifts from the local authority to General Kiir himself: why does he always this type of politicians to be in charge of the Lakes? It looks like that General Kiir has forgotten that one of the reasons why we hated Khartoum governments is that they always appointed corrupt and unqualified Southerners to be in charge of our affairs as their puppets, is General Kiir becoming another Omer al-Bashir? The answer is anybody’s guess.

Members of Lakes State’s government may argue that disarmament is no simple task, and we would absolutely agree with them; but how come that Kuol Manyiang can do it in his diverse state of Jonglei where the Nuer, Anyuok, Murlei, and the Dinka live together in peace now? Shouldn’t it have been much easier for the homogeneous state of Lakes? Clearly, you can see the disconnection there. None of these folks in charge of Lakes State really want stability to come because that would put a quick end to their temporal wellbeing; the reason being that stability will bring home the much needed skilled professionals like doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, economists, and so forth. Funnily, there are no doctors in the state, not a single one, despite the 35 or more doctors that are citizens of the Lakes. Well, you may assert that they did not come home, but I would tell you that they did but were bullied or intimidated to leave the State.

Obviously, Lakes State government is shedding a crocodile’s tears here by embarking on phony disarmament plans: what in the world were they thinking when they went on the streets shooting, looting, and terrorizing innocent people? The governor must be out of his mind: you don’t disarm the organized forces like the police and wardens by ordering the army to do it, why not deal with them through their officers if at all it was necessary to disarm the police. Whoever that was behind this disarmament raw had no intent to disarm the civilians; instead, he wanted us to panic and say: see it is hard to disarm them so leave them alone. Therefore, this person wanted guns to continue to be possessed by civilians, and in return continue to reap the benefits of insecurity in the Lakes.

What would constitute real disarmament?

1. A strong will from the governor: he must use all powers entrusted in him to push this agenda of disarmament vis-à-vis Kuol Manyiang plans in Jonglei State
2. A trained security cadres must be dispatched to all corners of the State in order to get hold of arms possession’s information first hand (this should include recruited personnel form Gelwong themselves)
3. The Police, not the army, should take over the disarmament process; the army can only assist if need be
4. Tough measures should be taken against government officials who are caught facilitating these tribal feuds (removal from office or imprisonment would be included)
5. County commissioners should be empowered so that they participate actively in disarmament
6. Traditional chiefs should now start to be government appointees as opposed to their monarchal system (can be removed if he failed to cooperate)
7. I think the UNMISS can facilitate the disarmament mission logistics wise

This is easier than most people like to think, just do it in good faith and it will work perfectly. Stop the kind of phony disarmament that took place in Rumbek earlier this week.

The author is residing in New York, USA