Equatorians call for anti-Dinka alliance in South Sudan

Oct. 19, 2006 — The Equatoria Solidarity International (ESI) is appealing to people of South Sudan to unite against tribalism being practiced by the SPLM’s leadership in Juba. The discrimination of non-Dinkas in both the government and the army is so severe that thinking Southerners are concerned about military confrontations among Southerners.

There are widespread discriminatory practices and human rights abuses against non-Dinka population in South Sudan. In Greater Equatoria province, the Dinka IDPs are supported by the SPLM party and the SPLA army to grab other people’s lands in a form of colonization. The IDPs in Zandeland refused to go back to their hometowns with an intention of colonizing and settling Western Equatoria State. There are Dinka IDPs imposed by Salva Kiir to be trained as police officers despite the fact that they are not citizens of the WES. When Gov. Patrick Zamoi ordered all the Dinka IDPs to go back to their lands, the response of President Salva Kiir was to detain and remove him without due process of law.

Instead of adhering to the division of powers between the States and the GoSS, President Kiir imposed Samuel Abujohn to speed up Dinkas settlement of the WES. Indeed, the new governor, Samuel Abujohn, said last weeks in a public rally that “any Equatorian who would oppose Dinkas settlement would be severely dealt with”. It appears from his public statements that the SPLM/A took up arms in 1983 to colonize Equatoria rather than to liberate Sudan as they want us to believe.

In Central Equatoria State (CES), the Bari speakers are struggling daily to protect their ancestral lands from SPLM’s leaders. Land around Juba has become a commodity that the SPLM’s leadership wants to take by the use of force whether the Baris like it or not. The SPLM’s Secretary General, Mr. Pagan Amum, told the Juba Post newspaper in July that “either the Central Equatoria State would move its capital to another place or the GoSS would take over without consent of CES”. What he literally meant is that any SPLM’s member has a right from the barrel of the gun to occupy a land in Juba and its surrounding areas without recourse to private property rights enshrined in South Sudan Constitution.

To be fair to history, even Jellaba soldiers never went to extend of grabbing lands in the South the way SPLM/A is doing. Although successive Northern regimes and their soldiers committed human rights abuses in the South, there is no documented evidence of resettling Arab tribes in the South the way the Dinka leadership is doing in Equatoria. It is now clear that the SPLM/A wants to capitalize on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to occupy private lands in South Sudan unconstitutionally. Among many instances, the case that could be cited is that of Yie County where even President Kiir himself occupied private land during liberation struggle and does not want to leave after the peace is concluded.

Another discriminatory and tribalist policies being practiced in Juba are the mistreatment of non-Dinka SPLA soldiers. President Kiir is currently restructuring the SPLA to obtain Dinka’s domination of the army. It should not be a surprise that former SSDF soldiers of Gen. Paulino Matip have not been given their salaries since the signing of Juba Declaration. To realize Dinkanization of the South militarily and politically, President Kiir has now appointed Kuol Manyang Juk as a Minister of SPLA Affairs. Kuol Manyang is a war criminal who killed innocent Nuer, Murle, Anuaks and Equatorians in the 1980s. He is also a staunch Dinka tribalist who is one of the SPLA’s commanders who murdered Nuer officers in cold blood in Equatoria after 1991 split. His appointment will not bring peace but perpetual conflict among Southerners.

Tribalism in Juba is so rampant that it doesn’t need one to have a telescope to see it being practiced. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Arthur Akuen, has been giving Dinka’s businessmen loans while the rest of Southern tribes are denied the loans. Although the practice violates all forms of banking systems in the world, the intention of this illegal authorization of loans is to assure Dinka dominance economically. In the rest of the World, a businessman cannot get loan from Ministry of Finance but from the bank that would ascertain the financial capacity of the individual to pay back. It is mysterious why only Dinka businessmen may get loans while the rest do not. If this is not economic Dinkanization of the South, then, we need the President of the GoSS to tell us what it is.

It is undeniable fact that there are no roads and clean drinking water in most parts of the South. The people of the South should ask President Kiir why Dinka businessmen are being issued loans at the expense of developing South Sudan infrastructure. Juba, the capital of the South, survives on bottle water from Kenya and Uganda. Yet, the money that could produce clean water for the city is being given a way in the forms of loans to Dinka businessmen. If this is what the SPLM/A took up arms for, it is time for the people of the South to struggle against the SPLM’s injustices and abuse of power.

We call up on all South Sudan tribes to unite against tribalism of the SPLM. There will never be development or respect for the rule of law if SPLM is the party in power. The SPLM leadership’s aim is not to develop the South. The motivating force behind the SPLM’s struggle is wealth. Mr. Pagan Amum, the party Secretary General, bought his wife a house worth $450,000 in the U.S.A. in August. Where did he get such amount of money to buy a house in the United States? He even instructed SPLM’s members in the U.S. to send their monthly contribution to his wife. The SPLM’s leadership regards nepotism as the creation of New Sudan.

Long live South Sudan Struggle For Democracy, rule of law and Justice!!

Down the Dinkanization of the South!!

Down with the tribalization of South Sudan by the SPLM!!

Down Salva Kiir Mayardit!!

For Contact

Victor Charles Adeba

Spokesman of Equatoria Solidarity International (ESI)

Helsinki, Finland

Email: [email protected]