Pride and madness of cattle rustling

By Zechariah Manyok Biar

January 9, 2009 — The New Year turned peacefully in Juba but not in Tonj in Warrap State, South Sudan. I was visiting friends in Joplin, Missouri, USA when I read a VOA’s report, reprinted by New Sudan Vision on January 7, 2010 that “At least 139 people have been killed and 5,000 cattle seized in southern Sudan in clashes between rival tribes” of Dinka and Nuer.

The violence in South Sudan is a great concern to both South Sudanese and the international community. In my visit to Joplin, I discovered that many Americans, especially those who love South Sudan, read Sudanese English news everyday.

However, the parts of articles that the American readers enjoy the most are the sections that Sudanese readers give their comments. You do not have to be a sophisticated thinker to figure out that American readers like the comment’s sections because our comments are silly, and we do not seem to realize that they are silly.

South Sudanese intellectuals always lock their horns in these silly comments even when they know they are missing the point of the article, which is what makes the comments interesting to American readers. South Sudanese would argue that their comments are always silly because they have the reason for doing what they do. They want to defend their tribes, and I believe them.

The attack on Tonj this month was motivated by cattle rustling, something that you would expect intellectuals living in first world countries like the USA to comment against, but unfortunately that was not the case. Those who commented under the Sudan Tribune’s article about the attack on civilians in Tonj sided with their tribe and tried all kinds of excuses to make their tribesmen look right in what they have done to Tonj’s civilians.

Is it not silly for intellectuals to justify the killing of other Southerners even if the attack was a revenged attack? Reasonable intellectuals would have encouraged their people to take the people of Tonj to court, if at all they were attacked by Tonj people.

Of course the word “silly” would be regarded as relative here because those who defended the attackers were acting on favor of their community. Such argument would be reasonable to me if those making the argument believed always that they did not care about the rule of law and good governance. But the irony is that these people are the same people who often condemn bad governance in the government in South Sudan. They even think that they would rescue South Sudan from bad governance in the near future, which is a great idea. We are supporters of good governance. We support those who want to rescue South Sudan.

However, if these rescuers-to-be celebrate the death of civilians in the hands of other civilians simply because it may be a revenged attack, then I do not see the reason why I should not call their comments “silly.”

What these people are telling the world is that it is a good thing for anybody to take the law into his or her own hand if anybody offended him or her. Such a behavior would be good in a lawless society, but not as part of good governance that these people always advocate for.

Do these supporters of cattle raiders know that they are inconsistent in their moral campaign or are they ignorant about it? You would be surprised to read that these people would be the first to tell me under this article that they know what they are doing. That means they are intentionally silly in their comments.

The question is: Why then are our people intentionally silly even when they are well educated? The answer is simple: pride!

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity argues that it is pride that makes people look down on other people without even thinking about looking above themselves or taking time to think about what other people think about them. Lewis regards pride as the center of sin because it forces people to pursue unending self-promotion. Proud people, according to Lewis, always want to be more powerful, richer, and cleverer than anybody else.

This is what we see in South Sudan and even on the websites. Some South Sudanese incessantly glory in things that they may not even maintain if the worst comes to worst. These Southerners feel good when they condemn others even though they often contradict the very ethical behaviors they pretend to promote.

It is the same pride that forces cattle raiders to want to be richer than everybody else. There is no any other explanation that one could give for the cattle raiders’ unethical behaviors. If those who attack other people to steal cattle were starving to death at this time where they have representatives in the government, the United Nations would have rushed to their area with a convoy of rations. The fact that the UN has not gotten any report of starvation means that nobody is dying of hunger in the areas where people steal other people’s cows. They only want to be richer than others and be proud in their area about their riches.

Those who support these criminals on the internet are driven by the same pride. They want to show off that their community is a tough one. What is not clear here is whether these people also believe that stealing is something to be proud of.

Another question that I keep asking myself in relation to the above mentioned pride in being tough is: Why would one praise a warrior who kills his brothers and sisters, people that are not his enemies? This question applies to any community that attacks another community. You know the answer, empty pride!

In order for the government of South Sudan to discourage this misplaced pride, those who attack and steal other people’s properties must be prosecuted and fined two times in addition to giving back what they had stolen. Chiefs in areas where people attack other communities (whether initial attackers or revenged attackers) must also be fined. If nothing is done, then the madness of cattle rustling may one day become political in South Sudan and get out of control.

Zechariah Manyok Biar is a graduate student at Abilene Christian University, Texas, USA. He just graduated with a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and he is still pursuing a Master of Science in Social Work, specializing in Administration and Planning. For comments, contact him at email: [email protected]