Dirty game
By Zechariah Manyok Biar
May 29, 2013 – The dirty game of killing of innocent people that has been going on in Juba and other areas of South Sudan is now becoming clear. There are people who seem to perpetuate this and they think they would use their community identities to escape from their crimes.
The current exchange of accusations between Maj. Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol of the Presidential Guard Unit and Maj. Gen. William Deng Garang Beny of Prisons Services are raising eyebrows of keen people in our country.
The exchanges of accusations started after assassination attempts on Maj. Gen. Deng Garang. Gen. Deng accused Maj. Gen. Marial of being behind the attempts to assassinate him. Gen. Marial denies the accusation in usual way of any accused person. But what is interesting in his denial is the statement he made.
He is reported to have said that “Garang’s community members were responsible in the past for falsely accusing another Major General Marial Nuor Jok in order to lose his job” (Sudan Tribune, May 29, 2013). I have decided to reply to this statement because I know the story that Gen. Marial is talking about.
The process that led to the arrest of Maj. Gen. Marial Nuor Jok started with President Kiir. President Kiir one day addressed the organized forces at Buluk about different things, including insecurity. I was there because I was the Executive Director in the then Ministry of Internal Affairs, now Interior. I was the one taking minutes for the Ministry.
After the address, the President was about to enter his car to leave when Maj. Gen. Marial Nuor who was the Director of Security in the Ministry appeared to greet him. The President looked at Gen. Marial and told him that he had been told that people had been disappearing in Juba under his responsibility. The main allegation against Gen. Marial was the disappearance of an Engineer who had quarreled with him. The Engineer was from Equatoria.
Gen. Marial was about to deny the allegation, but the President entered his car and left. Gen. Marial became angry and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Lt. Gen. Gier Chuang was standing there. No immediate action was taken against Gen. Marial Nuor.
The action against Gen. Marial was later prompted by the girl who was tortured and forced to sit on a bottle until it entered her private part. The people responsible for such a torture were Public Security personnel whom Gen. Marial Nuor was the Director. Public reaction against the news was strong.
Those of you who know how better security in Juba and other parts of South Sudan was during the tenure of Minister Gier in the Ministry of Internal Affairs would understand that he used to act quickly against the issues of insecurity and human rights abuses. He was angered by the torture of the girl. But he did not act immediately. He wanted to take time to think about the issue.
The push for action came from the Senior Security Advisor to the Minister, Khamis Abdallatif. He came to the Minister at about 6 pm at the Minister’s compound when I was also there. He talked about how bad people were reacting to the torture of the girl. The Minister also expressed disappointment and they decided to call other senior security officials.
The second one to come in after Khamis was the Inspector General of Police, Gen. Acuil Tito Madut. He was followed by Gen. Abel Makoi of Prisons. The one who was absent was Gen. Aru Man of Fire Brigade. The meeting was held and these senior officials agreed that Maj. Gen. Marial Nuor should be arrested. The arrest was agreed upon because Gen. Marial was not moved by the incident and he was angry at the President for having told him that people were disappearing under him.
That was the story. It went to court and died down there. In this case, I do not know where Maj. Gen. Marial Chanuong now gets his information that Garang’s community members were the ones who falsely accused Maj. Gen. Marial Nuor to make him lose his job. The people who were in the meeting that time never had a single member from Garang’s community.
In fact, most of the members who made the decision for the arrest were from Greater Bahr el Ghazal, starting from Marial’s own community. They seemed to have made the decision purely administratively. The only person who was from Greater Upper Nile was the Minister. Where did Marial get his information from?
Because of Gen. Marial’s statement, I would now conclude that the dirty game that has been putting our communities against each other is perpetuated by some generals. They make mistakes and use communities as their shields against their personal crimes.
The President is also spoiled by them. I had all along been thinking that the President is not involved in all the atrocities that take place in Juba. And I think I am right. His son was once even tortured. The question that the President asked Maj. Gen. Marial Nuor at Buluk would tell you that things do happen without his knowledge. Then he feels threatened when those who do these bad things gang up in a way that look threatening if he were to act.
Those who kill people in Juba are professional assassins who think they are working in favor of the President.
It is time now that those who hate tribalism and killing of innocent people let these generals who play dirty game know that they should not use communities as their shields. They should have to answer for their crimes in the court of law.
Gen. Marial Chanuong must not make statements that will let people think he has hidden agenda. Nothing is convincing in his attempts to justify the humiliation of Gen. William Deng. If Gen. Deng had not asked permission from his boss, it would not have been the Presidential Guard Unit to arrest him. There was no legal reason also for Presidential Guard Unit to act like the police and search for weapons in Nisitu since they are not mandated by law to do so.
To add fire to the already burned spot, Gen. Marial accused Garang’s community of having accused Gen. Marial Nuor to lose his job. Where are connections in all these? Is it not mere dirty game?
Zechariah Manyok Biar can be reached at [email protected]