Petition in favour of the release of WES Governor Patrick Zamoi

June 26, 2006 — The WES Community had worked tirelessly for the past week gathering all the information on the circumstances of the house arrest of the Governor of Western Equatoria State (WES) and his family and finally they came up with a Petition on the 22nd of June 2006, calling on the First Vice President and President of Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Lt Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit to release Col Patrick Zamoi and return him to his job. Over 500 people of Western Equatoria from all over the world and Sudan itself wanted to sign the petition but we had to settle in for 310 in order to contain the size of the petition. The petition had leady been handed to the Office of the President of GoSS and to the other respective members of GoSS leadership.

The 310 people are made up from all the communities of WES: Intellectuals, Youth, Women, Students, Politicians, and Ordinary citizens; and all were asking for their names to be included because the Governor was chosen by them in a semi-democratic process and they cannot expect their own government trying to undermine the democratic process in its infancy by such unconstitutional house arrest.. Also they believe the Governor is innocent of the accusation since everybody suffered in the tribal clashes including the governor, who was targeted a number of times.

After the first press release on the situation of the house arrest of the Governor and his family, the pressure on the GoSS was already being felt and hence Col Patrick Zamoi was given some limited access and his family were also given some freedom to move a bit. The house arrest had included two children and the wife of the Governor, Madame Emeline.

Further on the Presidential decree No. 42 for the house arrest, the reason given for the arrest seems not be entirely true and there seems to be some politically motivated reasons also. Somebody cannot be arrested and suspended from office for a report of a mere three men committee which went to investigate tribal clashes in Western Equatoria in November 2005, and that committee did not even include a WES representative or neutral observers.

Further a leader of GoSS has confided to some concerned WES MPs and leaders that GoSS only acted to issue the house arrest and suspension decrees because some WES politicians fighting each other put pressure on GoSS to act to arrest the Governor on the Tribal Clashes report as an Excuse to remove him so that he can be replaced with a choice of their own. The citizens of WES are very angry on this point since the Government cannot be run like a private enterprise where people can just be replaced or arrested because somebody else who speaks only for themselves demand or lobby for that. We have to recognize that Col Patrick Zomai was the only one chosen by representatives of all the counties while some of those MPS in Juba actually forced their way in because of the lack of proper channels for selecting people to go to Houses of the Legislatures, since people were at war for over 20 years and there was no infrastructure to conduct proper elections.

So for the Government of Southern Sudan and for Lt Gen Salva Kiir to maintain credibility, the President should release Col. Patrick Zamoi from house arrest without delay and let him resume his duties as Governor of Western Equatoria State. Although there are new moves by GoSS to send a new committee to investigate that tribal clashes one can see that this is just a watershed since from November 2005, many tribal clashes had occurred everywhere in South Sudan with dozens and even hundreds losing their lives and no investigation committee has been instituted in any of these cases. The Government and SPLM should engage the people of South Sudan in reconciliation rather then trying to target one particular people or persons to blame as perpetuators of tribal clashes. There should be a lot of programmes on reconciliation and peace conferences as well as demobilisation so that people can begin to appreciate the peace process.

Eng. Charles B. Kisanga

Eng. Kisanga is chairman of Azande Community World-Wide Organisation and he can be reached on [email protected], Tel: +44-770899 8373.

Date: 22nd June, 2006.

Lt. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit

First-Vice President of the Republic of Sudan,

President of the Government of South Sudan

Chairman and Commander in Chief SPLA/M

SUBJECT: Appeal for immediate and unconditional release and reinstatement of Col. Patrick Raphael Zamoi, Governor of Western Equatoria State.

Your Excellency,

1. We would like to sincerely congratulate you for successfully leading the Sudan as First Vice President of the Republic and President of the Government of Southern Sudan at this challenging time of post conflict situation. It goes without saying that over the past twenty years, Southern Sudan went through many turbulent storms and waves in which the people of Western Equatoria in particular maintained their full support for the SPLM/A movement and for the struggle for freedom, justice, respect for human rights and development. We would like to assure you of our continued support for your wise leadership.

2. Mr President, the people of Western Equatoria State are peace loving citizens. We believe that respect for human rights is the foundation of political and social stability, and the values of economic growth and development are very much intrinsic in Western Equatoria. We would therefore like to see socio – economic and political stability flourish in our part of the country, especially now that peace prevails in the Sudan.

3. Your Excellency, on Friday 16th of June 2006, the citizens of Western Equatoria State world-wide and the entire Southern Sudanese people received with disbelief and shock the news about the suspension and house arrest of our chosen and beloved leader, Col. Patrick Raphael Zamoi, Governor of Western Equatoria State. First and foremost, we demand to have full details of the accusations against Col. Zamoi which led your excellence to issue decree No. 42 authorizing the suspension, arrest and removal of his immunity as Governor of the state. Secondly, we wish to inform you that it was shocking to hear of such a decision when the minds of every Southern Sudanese is pre-occupied with the pressing issues of post-war construction, reconstruction, reconciliation, reintegration and rehabilitation of the long devastated Southern Sudan.

4. Although the circumstances surrounding the suspension and house arrest of our only chosen governor remain ambiguous to ordinary citizens in the state, it has now been confirmed to us that the decision to suspend our Governor Zamoi was because of the unfortunate and tragic inter-tribal incidents which took place in the Western Equatoria towns of Mundri, Yambio and Ezo in November 2005. To put things into perspective, we would like to draw the attention of your leadership to the fact that the spontaneous clashes that took place in Yambio and other towns in Western Equatoria in November 2005, were an explosion waiting to happen due to the tension which had been building up since early 1990’s between the internal displaced Dinka Bor community in Western Equatoria State and the host communities who are the Moru, Azande, Baka, Mundu, Avukaya, Balanda and the Jur. In March 2003, the Azande people and intellectuals responded by writing a memo which shed light on the issues relating to this conflict and made recommendations for possible solutions but no action was taken by the SPLA/M leadership.

5. Mr President, although there were several attempts to resolve the conflict between the displaced Dinka Bor community and the local people, none seemed to have worked and the CPA delivered to us by our late great leader Dr. John Garang came and found the issue still pending with several attempts made to resolve the conflict. It is well known that several attempts were made to have the internally displaced people from Dinka Bor relocated back to their home areas with their cattle as the fighting stopped during the time of the peace negotiations and calm had returned to their areas. Most of these efforts in finding solutions to the crises seemed always to fail and some of us even met your Excellency on several occasions with a view to resolving the issue amicably but without success. The local people started getting very agitated over the frequent provocations and continuous problems of the displaced people’s cattle of over-grazing farm lands, torturing, looting, raping and harassment of the local people by armed internally displaced communities. The IDP communities systematically did not want to respect the norms and culture of their hosts, thus allowing their cattle to roam and destroy the crops of the host communities in Western Equatoria. After death of our late leader Dr. John Garang on 31st July 2005, and the subsequent inauguration of Government of South Sudan, tension between the communities reached a climax as local people expected the displaced community to go back and participate in the formation of their local government and participate in subsequent development.

6. As a matter of fact, we would like to alert you to the fact that if it was not for our nationalist Governor Patrick Zamoi who contained the situation, in Western Equatoria, there would have been much more bloodshed. This conflict had been ignited by the Dinka Bor IDPs reckless attitude towards the host communities in Western Equatoria State. Before Governor Zamoi assumed state office of Western Equatoria, this tribal conflict had already started in Mundri, Kotobi, Yambio, Nzara, Ezo, Source Yubu, Tombura, and Nagero. Several attempts were made to resolve and diffuse the tension during the time you were the second in command of the SPLM/A movement. The effort to resolve these conflicts was left unsolved and our former leader and hero Dr. John Garang went to Navaisha (Kenya) for the peace talks. After the peace agreement he went to Khartoum to be sworn in. No commission of inquiry was formed to investigate the looming catastrophe in Western Equatoria.

7. That was the situation in which Governor Zomai assumed the governorship of Western Equatoria. It can also be recalled that Col. Patrick Zamoi, who was then a junior officer in the SPLA, had been away from Western Equatoria for over three years studying in Kenya and previous to that he had been posted in the SPLA Army in the Eastern Sudan. So it was under these circumstances these circumstances Col. Patrick Zamoi went to assume the office of Governor and by this time the conflict had flared up, yet he immediately made tireless efforts to contain the situation. It is well known to the people of Western Equatoria that the clashes were orchestrated by the displaced community, who went on the rampage in market places and later went on to residential areas to burn and ransack houses. We all regret the loss of innocent lives in the conflict.

8. Your Excellency, the citizen of Western Equatoria would like to bring to your attention the following efforts, which are in our documented petition as undertaken by Governor Zamoi to contain the situation from 14th -17th December 2005:

-Protecting senior officials from Dinka ethnic group working with NGOs and evacuating them out of Yambio to avert adverse retribution by the local population
– Protecting the Dinka senior army officers in Yambio
– Organizing joint troops of locals and Dinkas to patrol the streets
– Organizing flights to evacuate the wounded in search of better medical care and treatment outside Yambio
– Managing to bring in MSF medical personnel to treat those who refused to go out for medical treatment
– Organizing and arranging for food distribution to the Dinka communities who were affected by the conflict
– Arranging to provide transport and fuel to take the soldiers to Yei
– After the peace settlement between the two communities, the governor organized quality lunch jointly for all the community to celebrate the peace achieved amongst themselves.
– Conducting meetings with all the traditional leaders of all the tribes in the state to discus the way forward
– Conducting meetings with intellectuals and church leaders to develop a mechanism for promoting peace and stability in the state and open ways for better chances for development
– Organising a peace conference in Western Equatoria State hailed by the international community as a triumphant move

9. We believe also that there are much greater atrocities that occurred earlier which have negatively affected the lives of the Southern Sudanese masses that we expect your leadership to have resolved prior to issuing a decree for the arrest of an innocent man like Col. Patrick Zamoi. Pending atrocities that would have required immediate action from the GOSS include the Cairo incident in which several dozens of Southern Sudanese were massacred in cold blood; the Khartoum incident following the death of our late hero Dr. John Garang; the grievances of the Moru Community in Mundri which has lasted for 13 years with several losses of lives of innocent citizens; the on-going genocide of the Jur Community in Western Equatoria, Manvolo county; the systematic crimes committed by the LRA in Western Equatoria state against innocent civilians, to mention only but a few.

10. We would also like to remind your leadership of the conflicts in Upper Nile and Bahr el Ghazal which are not yet resolved. In view of the long list of issues that requires urgent action by your leadership, we do not understand why the Governor of Western Equatoria State has been singled out, suspended and put under house arrest with his entire family without due process? We strongly believe that governor Zamoi is a peace-maker as proved by the Yambio Peace and reconciliation conference in which Governor Zamoi gave your photographic portrait as a special gift to the UN special envoy to Sudan Mr. Jan Pronk, which is now displayed at the UN Head Quarters in New, York.

11. We learnt however, with shock that the GOSS own investigation team into the incidents that took place in Yambio in November 2005, was composed of only three people. The three investigators all hailed from other ethnic group, some that had already been directly or indirectly implicated in the unfortunate long grievances of the people of Western Equatoria State as narrated above and comprised of: a lawyer, a security officer and a police inspector. In the light of the investigation committee ethnic composition and background, we question their neutrality: therefore their report may not be fully trusted. We also consider this three-man investigation committee risks to be biased and lacking impartiality. Furthermore, we believe that with their limited resources and lack of expertise in handling complex information and investigation into ethnic clashes such as the Yambio incidents we are in serious doubt about their capabilities in producing a balanced report.

12. We do not need to remind your Excellency that the issue of tribalism in Southern Sudan is well known and that the SPLA/M as a leading political party in the government of Southern Sudan may be called upon to correct all these phenomena and make sure we attain a just system in the Sudan. But when a committee for such an important national matters is never inclusive then it runs the risk that there cannot be justice. A committee to investigate such an issue would have been made up of many more people and included equal numbers from all sides and must be well balanced ethnically and have neutral observers.

13. That being said however, we are not surprised by the three men committee of non-Western Equatorians including a member from Bor blaming Western Equatoria leaders for the clashes. They also went further to recommend the removal of Governor Zamoi since they see him as hope of the people of Western Equatoria: this we are not prepared to accept. We trust you as leader of Southern Sudanese people to look at us as equally and when there are any investigations or any role that can be influenced because of ethnicity then equal representation in the committee is the way forward to achieve justice and equal treatment for all parties involved.

14. We strongly question a report which has been compiled by three individuals who hail only from other South Sudan states without Western Equatoria representation. We believe that the said committee did not properly investigate the root causes of that inert tribal conflict. Of course inter-tribal conflicts had been going all over Southern Sudan and one community cannot be selected for punishment as a way for solving the root causes of those conflicts, which have lasted for over a decade already. It is also worth mentioning the fact that genocide has been orchestrated in the past in various places and most recently on Jur women and children in Manvolo and Maridi. Other atrocities were recently committed in Nagero and Nadiangere but the three men investigators who reported to you the inter-tribal clashes in Western Equatoria did not tackle those issues.

15. Once again the citizens of Western Equatoria would like to bring to light the commendable achievements of Col. Zamoi in his short period of office as a Governor:

– Achievement of highest female representation (40%) in the Southern Sudan.
– Achieved exclusivity of all counties and ethnic groups of the state.
– Formation of the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Installation of state communication system in particular a V-sat Internet & telephone.
– WES is the first to lay a five year administrative strategic plan.
– Provided all the county commissioners with satellite telephones and means of communication.
– All the permanent chiefs have been given their privileges, bicycles and offices in the counties.
– Vehicles have been provided for all the county commissioners to enable them deliver services up to the grass root level.
– Organized clear structures and office spaces of the SPLM at state level.
– Transporting all its civil servant from Juba to Western Equatoria.
– Organized the Yambio Inter-tribal Peace and Reconciliation conference to bring lasting peace among various Sudanese communities in the five neighbouring states.

16. The root causes of the situations in Western Equatoria are well known to you. As far as some situations are concerned, as we narrated before, these are what need to be addressed and removing or suspending a leader chosen by his people is already a violation of the CPA and sends a signal of a bad seed and is not the answer to the crises as it might even do the reverse.

17. The LRA has been killing innocent civilians in Southern Sudan since 1986, a matter which needs immediate action from the GOSS, but instead they have moved their barbaric activities to Western Equatoria State and some members of GOSS leadership have provided land for farming and money while our citizens are displaced in their own homeland because of fear of these brutal lawless killers of children and women in the region. We also alert you to the alarming and continuous news of corruption in GOSS. Corruption, Tribalism and the LRA are major problems in the South Sudan and we are appealing to you to tackle these issues urgently.

18. In view of the fact that the citizens of Western Equatoria will not accept the report of the three men committee of enquiries into the incidents that took place in Western Equatoria, we would like to appeal to your leadership to appoint a new non-partisan committee to include people of all nationalities of southern Sudan and also include impartial observers possibly from the UN. We request that the investigation should go back to the root causes and the history of the whole conflict, rather than dwelling on a one-month conflict in Yambio. Since justice was not even achieved in the first instance of the investigation, we are calling on you to nullify the findings of that committee and immediately release Governor Zomai and his family as free people because they cannot be charged on a basis of a report that is considered to be biased.

19. Your Excellency, Mr. President, our main positions are as follows:

We are denouncing the suspension of WES Governor and house arrest because the manner in which it has been executed is a total humiliation to our chosen leader and to the people of WES as a whole.

– We are condemning the illegal and unjustified house arrest of the governor’s wife, Madam Emellin Desdario.
– We condemn the confiscation and abuse of the governor’s properties by soldiers of the State Security in Juba.
– We denounce and condemn the inhuman attack and destruction of property at the governor’s house in Yambio on 17th June 2006 by some elements of the Joint Integrated Unity (JIU) who went to disarm his bodyguards.
– We condemn the mistreatment of local residents of WES by lawless soldiers who hail from other ethnic groups.
– We particularly condemn the mistreatment of two WES ministers recently by lawless and ethnically minded soldiers when the ministers were subjected to humiliation at beating at a checkpoint at Rasulu.
– We condemn the oversight by GOSS of the merciless torture, destruction, killing, displacement and humiliation of the WES community and leaders by some elements of the Dinka Bor displaced since 1990.
– We denounce the improper and illegal procedures in which the suspension and house arrest of our chosen and accepted Governor and leader of WES has been conducted.
– We denounce the disrespect and dishonour of CPA and the constitution e.g. implementation of 5Rs at the state level.
– We denounce and reject the self-centred divide and rule style of some of our former leaders in the South, a process which before led before to the collapse and abrogation of the Addis Ababa Agreement and the re-division of South Sudan.
– We total regret and condemn decision and action taken against our beloved governor based on fabrication of rumours of crimes of corruption which was aired on BBC by unknown source from the GOSS even though your decree never referred to such allegations.
– We denounce unequivocally any act that leads to disunity, disrespect and marginalization of the people of South Sudan and the citizens of Western Equatoria in particular.
– We reject the offering of safe haven, food and cultivation land to the LRA in Western Equatoria.

Recommendations:

– Immediate and unconditional release and re-instatement of the governor of WES.
– Institute an impartial investigation committee, which should cover and date back to the problems the people of WES faced over the years of which the final tribal clashes in November 2005 had originated.
– Avail a detailed and comprehensive report of the committee of enquiries to prove the transparency and implementation of the constitution of the GOSS.
– Brigadier Konger, the man behind instigating the tribal conflict should be the one investigated and arrested.
– All Officers and Soldiers who are ethnically minded and inciting mistreatment of local people must be transferred else where. Local people must be given the privilege of protection by their own people. SPLA and JIU forces in WES must not contain the majority of forces from one non-local ethnic group as quite often happened before.
– SPLM and GOSS should take time for reconciliation rather than trying to ignite fires and looking for retribution and dealing blows to leaders who hail from other nationalities in the GOSS because they had misunderstanding and fights with each other in the past.
– We argue GOSS to promote stability and respect for decisions of the people/tribe who chose their leaders and avoid undermining of democracy.
– Respect for human rights and dignity of individuals are the foundations for political and social stability. Therefore, we fear that the continued suspension and detention of our governor under ambiguous circumstance may create instability in an already volatile region.

21. The CPA is our treasure and legacy; let us not risk it by this event, which is surely disturbing. This is time to work together for a peaceful cause for the interest of the majority of South Sudan. Thus we are appealing to you to indulge in reconciliation where tribal clashes and tensions are involved, and to impart love, tolerance, unity, fraternity and understanding to your people. When good understanding is lacking one must have recourse only to the Gospel compassion.

22. Finally, we congratulate your Excellency once again in your tireless efforts to initiate and bring stability and development to south Sudan. Your varied efforts at commitment will anchor definitely the unity and solidarity of our oppressed people. The people of Western Equatoria are committed and shall always rally behind your wise leadership.

Long live the Just Struggle for the oppressed masses of Sudan!

Long Live the Democratic Transformation Process in Southern Sudan!

Forward ever, Backward never.

Signed by Concerned citizens of Western Equatoria (Intellectuals, Religious leaders, Youth, Women, Civil servants and Ordinary citizens) in the Diaspora and in the Sudan.

(The original document received by ST contains the full name of the 310 signatories and their locations.)

CC: Lt Gen. Riek Machar Teny, Vice President of the Government of Sudan

CC: Lt Gen James Wani Igga, Speak of the Interim National Assembly for South Sudan

CC: Lt. Gen. Pagan Amum, SPLM Secretary and Adviser to President

CC: Lt. Gen Samuel Abujohn Kabashi, Adviser to President of GOSS

CC: Hon. Richard Noti, Speaker of the Assembly, Western Equatoria State

CC: The Council of Governors of the Government of South Sudan
CC: The Cabinet of Ministers for the Government of South Sudan

CC: All MPS of WES in GoNU, GOSS and State.