Why South Sudan is engulfed by tribal conflicts!

By Roba Gibia

October 18, 2009 – The tribal conflicts in south Sudan has become more deep-rooted than even chronic and epidemic diseases, as it doesn’t bypass couple of days or weeks unless there are tribal clashes in Great Upper Nile, Bahr el-Ghazal and Equatoria. Therefore, both consistent and rampant ailment together with manmade strife harvests daily tens of South Sudanese lives but no one dares to set up inclusive strategy or durable mechanism to curb and subdue tensions between ethnic groups in south. I know the tribal conflicts has been there since then and during the Anya-nya I and especially during SPLM/A struggle, it has become on horrific scale and geared on specific targets and to deprive other southern Sudan tribes, which is the nature of any region fashioned and originated on tribal grounds like any other nations around the world. But the tribal clashes in south is not like in any other parts of world, and due to the persistent poverty and illiteracy in south has added more flame besides the unseen hands and above all because of prejudice, nepotism and favoritism which is rampant and prevalent in every corner of south and especially in government institutions. As some ethnic groups or tribes in south considered Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) as their own government and possessions just like SPLM/A was visualized during the struggle and as this date, which has created profound enmity and abhorrence at the midst of south Sudanese tribes and each tribe is fighting for its existence, even if it is on the graves of other tribes. Not that only but due to the deliberate divest of capable cadres and appointment of incapable and ravenous personnel in key and high ranking positions on tribal basis has created absolute detestation to some specific tribes and between South Sudanese tribes at large. Thus, in my view, what is happening now in south is not weird but natural results of discharging accumulated accounts between South Sudanese tribes, as during the liberation movements in south for the past five decades, some tribes suffered dearly at the hands of other tribes and after peace agreement, reconciliation between south-south tribes was not initiated or never taken seriously to heal the wounds and make a real breakthrough in genuine reconciliation, forgiveness with open hearts and start of a new page and unity as one large South Sudanese tribe in its real sense, why, because we ache and die together and not bogus unity between South Sudanese tribes but the genuine one in order to curb tribal hostilities.

Since partition of Africa and during the colonial rule in Sudan, south had been divided and ruled on tribal grounds and the responsibility of tribes in south lies at the hands of Chiefs, because Chiefs traditionally know how to run their own folks which facilitates rule of entire south Sudanese tribes to colonial government through Chiefs. Thus, it is imperative for GoSS and in a society that has got absolute affiliation to its tribe, to organize and manage them through Chiefs which is the local government’s work to ensure administration of people in rural areas and to reduce tribal conflicts even in inaccessible and remote areas. And I believe GoSS has to have all possible options on table and pursue the best option to restrain tribal violence in south through well trained police and security officers, either by deploying and stationing every tribe in its own locality or in different localities but above all by dispensation of power to local governments and empowering chiefs, deputy and sub-chiefs in their respective localities. This is from one hand and from the other as far as we were aware that our enemies are tightening screw on us by instigating and flaming tribal conflicts in south, we have to set counter-part or pre-emptive strategy as how to deter, diffuse and annihilate enemy’s plans before hand. This entire procedure necessitates resources, self-refutation and above all patriotism to execute the whole strategy, but because of voraciousness, nepotism and dishonesty the resources to execute such national strategy goes into the pocket of high ranking officials, and at the end of the day we end up without execution of any security plans which is for the best interest of our entire populate instead of incessant decrying and trading accusations, let us move and act decisively to protect our territorial integrity. And that was evident, for instance while I was small child in village when lion used to come and break into our goats, my father makes certain that next time when lion comes to catch another goat, it is trapped by invigorating security measures around the house. Thus, if illiterate people with simple knowledge and wisdom know how to protect their household from wild animals and enemies, then why not we educated people living at twenty-first century and claim to be educated, intellectuals and leaders!

In conclusion it is crucial to highlight and recall that our Late Hero said in several occasions that after fighting for more than two decades to liberate marginalized people of Sudan from injustice, we can not replace injustice with another type of injustice, arbitrarily arrest and causal murder but currently at the watch of SPLM-led government of Southern Sudan, torment, rob, injustice and denial of other tribes rights has become predominant feature of government institutions in south. And that was one of the reasons why South Sudan is engulfed by tribal conflicts, simply because of nepotism and tribal rancor. Not that only but some GoSS officials behave made their staff to feel as if monthly salary paid to staff is from their own pockets, and this is just to enchain and make staff to live under his/her compassion because they are the proprietor of government of southern Sudan. And that was obvious at the current trend of tribal conflicts in south that doesn’t even spare lives of children or have compassion on them, and it pains one to death to see that innocent children are abducted and killed here and there just because of tribal rancor and reprisal, and this is a clear indication that the detestation and scale of tribal hostilities in south has reached devastating and alarming stage, which our government needs to not take it on low profile because it will have disastrous and negative impacts on South Sudan’s future! Therefore, it is imperative for our GoSS leadership to set up Permanent Tribal Reconciliation Commission tasked to engage in dialogue on consistency basis with South Sudanese tribes, to detect root causes of differences between each tribe with idea of bridging the gap and find common ground of understanding especially between hostile tribes, layout durable solutions and mechanism to reach compromises, iron out differences and put an end or subdue the chronic tribal conflicts which is tarnishing the image of South Sudanese people.

Roba Gibia,is Sudan Tribune journalist, he can be reached at [email protected]