Unabated insecurity in South Sudan
By Steve Paterno
October 30, 2006 — Peace has been signed on behalf of the people of South Sudan, but that peace has not brought with it the security protections to the people of the South Sudan. Residences of South Sudan are still exposed to greater security dangers. There are those who are been killed as a direct result of arms confrontations either as victims in the cross-fire, targets of the arms confrontation, or participants of the arms confrontations. There are the unlucky ones who unwillingly expose themselves to the potentially exploding military ordnance littered throughout the war torn South Sudan. And there are landmines planted or are being planted throughout the South Sudan ready to claim victims. Such does not portray an atmosphere of peace but that of insecurity and fear.
Since the singing of the peace agreement, certain measures have been taken to arrest some of the things which cause insecurity and fear, but unfortunately, those measures have not been successful because they missed the fundamental points. Arms confrontations are still in full swing despite the pacification and disarmament efforts. Residences are still finding themselves exposed to military ordnance, which act as time bombs. There are already several major incidences of deadly explosions of military ordnance including the huge explosion of arm depot in Juba town. Residences of Juba are so frantic to the point of developing a myth that electronic devices such as radios contain explosives. And the effort of removing the landmines is largely unsuccessful because those engineers who are removing landmines have become victims of road ambushes and also could not locate where all the landmines are planted since there are so many of them planted within the course of two decades by various groups. Even the notorious rebel Lord’s Resistance Army of Uganda (LRA) is refusing to assemble in a designated area of Awiny-Kibul for the fear that they may be victims of the landmines they might have planted there.
The major source of all these insecurity is non other than the existence of the various armed groupings in the South Sudan. Armed groups can maintain security and at the same time can cause insecurity. In the case of South Sudan, the armed groups choose to cause insecurity partly because there are several of them with conflicting objectives and goals.
By large measure, there is the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA), which is the arm wing of the Government of South Sudan (GOSS). Legally, the SPLA is supposed to take charge of the security of the territorial South Sudan. However, SPLA has not only proven that it is practically incapable of taking charge of security in the South, but that most of its soldiers are bent toward the jungle rules, which contribute even more to the insecurity and fear among the population. High ranking SPLA officials who have been assigned political posts can still administer harsh punishment of the jungle rules such as corporal punishment, imprisonment without charges, and intimidations. As of today, SPLA still cannot account for all of its fighting forces, meaning other fighters are running loose and acting outside of the chain of command, and can easily escape with their actions without being held accountable. Worse, SPLA cannot mobilize and respond quickly to any security threats within its area of control. In other words, SPLA has no control of security in its territory. The SPLA road blocks are more of intimidating the innocent civilians than intercepting security threats. And in the end, the SPLA does not only fail to play its role of maintaining security but becomes part of the source that creates insecurity.
The other existing armed group in the South Sudan is the Joint Integrated Unit (JIU), which is made up of SPLA and the Khartoum army. The JIU is supposed to constitute the identity of the Sudan army and protect Sudan sovereignty from any foreign threats, but the JIU has to yet make an impression in how and when it will make a move against the foreign entities such as the Ugandan People Defense Force (UPDF) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) who are already threatening Sudan tranquility and sovereignty. Until, the JIU make an impression to fulfill its duty, it will be considered part of the destabilizing force in South Sudan.
Another existing armed group in the South of Sudan is the Khartoum army. This group has no business in the South, but it has already claimed many roles in contributing into the insecurity. The group turns into insurgency tactics by raiding civilian houses, setting ambushes on the roads, looting and destroying properties. The group also is engaged in the sabotage of sophisticated scale such as impeding commerce and trade activities as well as setting off bombings similar to the arm depot explosion that took place in Juba town. In ranking, this group will be on the top of the lists of those causing insecurity in the South Sudan.
And then, there are various militia groupings that enjoy the support of Khartoum regime, and in collaboration with Khartoum, they established firm in the South. The integrations of these groups into either SPLA or Khartoum army are long over due. They are operating loosely within South Sudan without anyone questioning or challenging their activities. What they do best is contribute to the already volatile situation of insecurity of South Sudan.
Then, there are civilians who are armed just to cause enough security threats in South Sudan. They are running around in their villages killing each other. They take the laws into their hands as there are no other prevailing laws other than trying to prevail by using their guns in the world full of guns. There is even a general acknowledgement that the civilians are the best marksmen in the Sudan—the acknowledgement that reaffirmed the saying “one bullet one man.” By counting, a civilian who empties a twenty bullets magazine in a battle has twenty killed, and that is not counting him if at all he is going to survive the battle. This just gives hint on what level of security threat is caused by the armed civilians.
In the mixed of all these different armed groups, there is the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group from Uganda. This group is not secret about its objectives of inflicting terror and fear among the residences of the South Sudan. The group just plunders through destroying pretty much everything on its way. The group’s act of brutalities indeed creates fear and insecurity.
The presence of the Ugandan People Defense Force (UPDF) in South Sudan is just one of the embarrassments among many to the Government of South Sudan and the regime in Khartoum. The UPDF has established itself as a force that defies the rule of sovereignty by invading other countries and occupying them. One will still wonder on how the UPDF can manage to invade and occupy other countries given that it is not a capable fighting force. Just recently, the LRA snatched a UPDF commanding officer from nearby UPDF base in South Sudan. The UPDF soldiers’ response to the incident was to run from the ensuing LRA fighters exposing their commanding officer to be murdered by the LRA. In a real capable military setting, when a commanding officer is killed, it means whoever manages to kill the commander had managed to kill all of his soldiers. When Cdr. Dr. John Garang was killed, his soldiers did not run but stick there to their last breath. The first instinct of a capable military person is to protect each other and more so to protect their commanding officers, but in the case of the UPDF, it is the opposite, and one will still ask how can a force as coward as the UPDF can manage to invade and occupy other countries including South Sudan? The UPDF is nothing but a force of insecurity for the South Sudan.
Finally, there is the United Nation peacekeeping force operating in South Sudan. From the meaning of its name, the peacekeeping supposed to maintain peace, but the U.N. peacekeeping has a history of abusing the people they suppose to protect. The U.N. personnel use their privilege positions to abuse the most vulnerable among the society, the young girls and women. The U.N. peacekeeping missions in Congo, Liberia, Burundi, Haiti and other places have resulted into widespread sexual scandals than maintaining peace. The U.N. peacekeeping mission has to yet reform in the area of discipline, accountability and transparency before it can assert itself as a credible peacekeeping force. Even though there is no report of a major U.N. peacekeeping scandal in South Sudan, one will not be surprised that the U.N. is part of the force that creates insecurity in the South Sudan.
If these various armed groups continue to exist, the insecurity in the South will continue unabated. Therefore, certain measures have to be taken to ensure the reduction of the armed forces in the South Sudan. In the case of SPLA, they need to be, mobilized, disciplined, trained, and equipped so as they assert their role in providing security for the territorial South Sudan. The JIU will need to be confined within the barracks and disarmed. They can only be called in a case of emergency. The Khartoum army needs to be forced out of the South by all means possible including military. The various militia groups need to be integrated, disarmed, or demobilized as soon as possible so that they do not cause more insecurity. The armed civilians will need to be disarmed and the rule of law must prevail in civilian disputes. The LRA solution is the simple one of all. They are needed to be captured or killed. The UPDF should be expelled from the South with immediate effect. If Khartoum can expel a top UN official there is no excuse of not expelling cowards like the UPDF. Point a gun at them, and they will run without looking back. Experiences have already told us so. And the U.N. peacekeeping force should be reduced into unarmed civilians’ monitors and their interaction should be restricted with military men so as to avoid them from taking advantage of the young girls and women.
* The author is a Sudanese residing in the U.S.A. He can be reached at [email protected]