Clean the house by solving grassroots problems
J. Ojoch*
July 14, 2006 — Grassroots problems are at the community level. There are so many of them. The most important and dangerous one is the conflict between ethnic groups. People in the rural areas are more in countries such as the Sudan, in particular, much more in the South. They are the backbone of the Southern Sudan Government [GoSS]. The implementation of the CPA and long term peace existence will rest on the stability and happiness of the rural and urban civil population. Hence, the GoSS must be aware of and sensitive to what happens within and among critical mass it leads.
At this time the GoSS is tackling big problems. It is succeeding but at a slow pace. The implementation of the CPA is the biggest and most difficult because we are dealing with cruel partners. Corruption within the Southern ranks adds obstacles on the road. It has been dormant. But now it is on the headlines in the Southern Sudan bogging down the administration. The repatriation of the refugees and the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is also a pain. However, repatriation is problem but more of procedure and logistics than intentional imposition. The international community and the refugee systems will lend support at every step of the way. For the Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOS) like United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to repatriate refugees or IDPS, they to need see the political and economical situation on ground improved. The improvement of the situation on the ground, of course, is one of the GOSS duties on its plates. Garang said: let us go to the people than people coming to us. If the elites in the GOSS want to fill in Dr. Garang’s shoes they must go to the people to succeed in solving the problems the common person is facing.
The greatest risk is at the resettlement in the homeland. All refugees and IDPs are expected to go to their original homelands which they left and ran away to save their lives. The journey back home then will never end until they reach that homeland. Successful resettlement is one important thing that will accrue to the success of the CPA as well. With this population uneasy, insecure and unsettled, any advantage as an outcome of the CPA is bound to fail. The liberators fought to liberate the long forgotten critical mass of the South. This critical mass must be happy when they return home. They are not ready for more wars but for peace and development.
Given the logistics and quick procedures, the journey home will still be slow and rocky. Many of the people have lost the homelands to other people who remained inside the Southern Sudan but who migrated to other areas for security. Now the migrants are not ready or even willing to return to their original homelands. The most popular example is the Dinka Bor migration to Equatoria. Recently we saw conflicts because of land not being vacated by the IDPs. Some tribes took advantage of the war. They sided with the Arab, got the gun in pretext to fight the Anya-Anya and the SPLA but used that gun to fight tribal wars. A good example is the Lou Nuer displacement of Anyuak of Akobo who were already targeted by the Arabs because of hosting the liberation movements. The Lou Nuer took advantage not for their own security but because they have been looking for this land and water since the colonial times. The liberation wars presented great advantage for them to move in easily without much resistance. Leave alone displacement of a tribe by another. Even within same tribes displacements have occurred. This is also a problem on the GoSS way.
Because of not being sure of where to go to resettle, the IDPs and refugees are reluctant to leave the camps to hurry home. They are waiting for the GoSS to clear the way. They expect the GoSS to declare that all persons go back to their original homes to make way for the owners to return. Whether such people migrated or displaced others by other means, they must leave to their original homes where they lived before the war in the boundaries of 1956. If the GoSS will not speak out to the people, resettlement of IDPs and refugees in the South will remain to cause bloodshed. It already happened in Equatoria between the Dinka and other tribes, and is likely to erupt somewhere else in the South. The whole of the Southern Sudan felt sorry for the unnecessary loss of life. No more lives should be lost when peace is already here.
Some may suggest that the returnees must go home and settle their problems at the community level. It will not work without the presence of vital government involvement because competing tribes cannot negotiate without a fight. It is such conflicts that the GoSS must try to avoid by all means. Everything is within the means and power of the GoSS. No tribe will ever be above the GoSS decrees and instructions. The GoSS has the total responsibility to make sure that all ethnic groups are safely home and resettling without worries. Community leaders can solve cases happening during fishing, dancing and competition for girls but not cases involving confiscation of lands. Confiscation is an intentional occupation. The presence of a government in solving conflicts can be in any form. For example, government appointed committees from the civil societies and elders. These committees will find out the differences and recommend resolutions to the government. As much as they are appointed by the government they represent the government. The newly formed fourteen commissions (e.g. Land Commission, Peace Commission, Civil Service Commission, Human Rights Commission, and Anti-Corruption Commission) are exactly the kinds of government bodies which will deal with grassroots problems in all walks of life. They must begin their work from the ground up.
There are many ways for GoSS presence among the people. However, a government decree will iron out simpler forms of conflicts reducing the number of cases. The grassroots must be safer and sound if the national efforts are to succeed. Grassroots problems are not settled in courts as cases of people caught in corruption. It is the government will and institutional arrangements that will produce co-existence between and among the various ethnic groups of the Southern Sudan by recognizing the rights of groups and individuals.
It is very important that each group returns home to enjoy peace and to begin development. Children must go to school and the sick to hospital, no matter how meager those may be. It is what we have at this moment. Without anything else the land is there to plough; the waters are there for fishing and grass for grazing. Safe resettlement of the rural and civil societies is a big step forward that bears on the protection of the CPA achievements. When there is no chaos in any form, life is better, and the government will have lesser burden. Look at how the “White Army” of Lou wore down the SPLA energies and look at how good it is now that the militias are out of the way. Disarmament must continue to neutralize the Arab appendages throughout the Southern Sudan.
When going back to the original homelands and 1956 borders are mentioned certain groups are agitated because they will lose the advantages of the war. The GoSS must not shy away or be afraid of them, be them majority in tribe or in government. Their happiness must not be at the expense of the minorities. The GoSS should function as a government and not as a tribe. The GoSS is there to represent and to safeguard the minorities against brutal majorities. The minorities want peace as do the majorities. The minorities want happiness as do the majorities. Let the majorities use their democratic vote to take positions. That is the right thing to do. Let the majorities show development in their areas by using their man power properly. That is the right thing to do.
Again the agitated persons may take the above idea of original homelands and 1956 borders as tribalism even if they understand the context of this article. Let them do so. It is their opinion. Indeed there is so much sensitivity about tribalism. Yet it is part of our lives in the Southern Sudan. Tribalism is more of a contemporary political avenue to attack an opponent. It may mean hatred of one by another of different tribes; domination of one by another even in government ranks. It is evil because it generates mistrust among people, in politics and social life. This is the negative sense of the word.
Taken positively, tribalism is not as bad as we think it is. It is a belief in one’s self and origin. People of the same tribe have same beliefs, interests and objectives in life. This tribal group does not want to die out. The group preserves and protects the culture. Having to be who you are is tribalism provided you do not hurt the other groups. Who among the Southern Sudanese will like his tribe die out today into extinction? If you do not raise up your hand you are a good tribalist. The line between good and bad tribalism is very thin. It is important to understand the thin line and accept that tribalism exists but it is not all that bad. It is analogous to ethnicity.
We must therefore bank on the positive side of tribalism and ethnicity. All tribes want to exist and to flourish side by side to develop own culture for its generations. To develop such cultures and maintain them will not happen under circumstances of conflicts and bloodshed. Conflicts are destructive at times leading to extinction of other partner[s]. The Southern Sudan is out of the woods of war. Peace is here. But the woods of tribal conflicts are closing on the South again. The GoSS must pave the way to stability of the civil societies. A healthy civil society will then support the GoSS to stand up to implement the CPA with relative ease. The key is: Get rid of the tribal conflicts that may hamper development and good administration. If the GoSS is keen to mediate between Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army [LRA], it should not be difficult to mediate between its own people. If the GoSS can give money to LRA to make it happy, it should not be difficult to neutralize problems at the base of its administration. Everything within the Southern Sudan territory is within the control of the GoSS. Why then should Southern nationalities continue to fight and suffer as if there is no government in place?
Let us follow Dr. Garang’s example. He built a rest house in Yei during the war. After the signing of the CPA, he gave back that land to that community. If he had wanted to keep it, he would have asked the community for permission. This shows that even the mightiest has no authority over the weakest. This is a message to the present leaders of the GoSS like Dr. Riek Macher and President Salva Kiir [and so on] to follow Dr. Garang’s foot steps. They must follow this example if any of them has property in places that did not belong to them originally. By doing so, they are sending a strong message to others who are in the wrong places now that no one is above the law. This is simple because the leaders themselves know where they came from within the Southern Sudan. Their journey is not over until they shift their rights to their origins where the rest of the extended families are. Their action in this direction will show their readiness to solve problems for others.
The existence of LRA in Southern Sudan at this time of peace is a sign of no government presence within its population. Solve internal problems in Equatoria region. The peace among the tribes there will give LRA no space to operate. The people will help the GoSS to tell about the LRA hidings. As of now some unsatisfied elements might be assisting the LRA to move freely around. The GoSS must carry its population as a whole. That is what the CPA demands of our leaders to take happiness to the people. So, the GoSS must not delay in solving the inter-tribal conflicts now rampant in the South. We cannot continue to blame the Arabs for our troubles at this time. The referendum is not far away. The GoSS expects the rural and urban populations to vote for their rights. All the holes of conflicts must be sealed now. The population will then have one sense of purpose if there is peace within itself. Peace among us is the only means to have a solid vote against our long time oppressors. Thus, to avoid sabotage from the former enemy and anti-peace within our society, the GoSS must eradicate obstacles now and pave the peace way to total freedom.
The message in this article is: take care of inter-tribal problems. There is no peace if the solid base of the GoSS is at war with itself.
J. Ojoch* is in the USA, e-mail: [email protected]