War is too bad a phenomenon to be returned
By Nhial Tiitmamer de Nhial
Dec 21, 2006 — Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish satirist and historian wrote, “ Under the sky is no uglier spectacle than two men with clenched teeth, and hellfire eyes, hacking one an other’s flesh, converting precious living bodies and precious living souls into nameless masses of putrescent, useful only for turnip manure.”
How many times have many precious bodies and souls been converted into putrescent masses useful for manure? How many times have the birds of the air and the animals of the wild been feasting on the precious bodies of our loved ones? Enough is enough. War is too bad a phenomenon to be returned. Let us seek dialogues and seek no more wars to put an end to more woes. This piece is a lamentation of the souls. It is the voice of love drowned in the sea of hatred. At some points in time; my heart is loaded with optimism and at other times, I take a heavy dose of pessimism.
My optimism lies in our ability to put our embattled past behind us and accommodate each other’s differences to give chance to peace. A chance to peace will not only save life but it will also be an impetus to development, eradication of poverty and diseases.
I get drowned in a heavy dose of pessimism when setbacks to peace in Sudan strike. The shocking events of the last few weeks in South Sudan are a painful slap in the face of peace. These events are a vivid indictment of our resolve to incorporate the values of peace into our blood stream. The Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) with its militia broke the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) resulting in the drowning of the city of Malakal in a heavy flood of blood.
Yes, war is too bad a phenomenon to be wished to return. It bears some of the deadly woes that have rocked our society since time immemorial. War does not only take innocent souls but it also corrupts the people’s morals and their ability to think fairly and make sound judgement.It robs them of age old ethical values that distinguish mankind from animals.
Edmund Burke, an Anglo –Irish statesman, author, political theorist, orator and philosopher who lived in the 18th century wrote of evils of civil wars and I quote,
“The civil wars strike deepest of all into the manners of the people. They vitiate their politics, corrupt their morals. They pervert even the natural taste and relish of the equity and justice, by teaching us to consider our fellow citizens in a hostile light, the whole body of our nation becomes gradually less dear to us.”
To talk more or less like Burke, I can say that in a situation of war, men are seen only as human by the virtue of wearing human skin but deep under the cover, they are synonymous with evils. War situation is the breeding ground for human evil behaviors. This is because rule of law that control evil parts of human behaviors gets no ground to thrive. War produced lords of all kinds whose respect of humanity is a novelty in their life.
War has pushed South Sudan to the periphery of human society. God created mankind to develop into a civilized creature capable of fulfilling God’s purpose of a better world. It is of great sorrow that South Sudan top the list of the global have nots as if she does not have the resources to tap as well as if her people are not hardworking. Sorrowfully, the hardworking people of South Sudan are bleeding to own. They are bleeding to obtain their freedom instead of sweating to utilize their resources.
It is high time to break with the tradition of hacking each other to the point of no more. Dialogue should be given a chance. War is not a solution. The solution lies in the will to understand and tolerate each other’s differences and the solemn promise to respect agreements.
War is the least of all available solutions to the human problems for there are no victors in war situation. “The state of war is a loss – loss situation.” They say.
“Through dialogue,” the wise argue, “the right of the oppressed can be granted without loss on both sides based how humane the oppressor is.” In fact dialogue makes both sides to the conflict winners.
War is brought by impaired common sense. In the case of Sudan, there is a glaring evident of breakdown of common sense especially by one of the parties to the Sudanese conflict. The National Congress Party (NCP) formerly known as the National Islamic Front (NIF) is mainly to blame for most of the country’s wars and woes.
The Stone Age status of South Sudan can be blamed on none other than the NCP. They are also responsible for the Darfur crisis cum genocide and Eastern Sudan conflict. The leaders of the National Congress Party (NCP) are religious workaholic whose their actions are in contradiction to the will of God. They fledge allegiance to God but they do not fear Him in their actions. It should have been a great service to Allah had the leaders been implementing the peace agreements in good faith.
South Sudanese leaders have also their share of the blame. As I said in one of my earlier articles, unity of purpose should be the prerequisite for the South Sudanese to achieve freedom. Most of the recent carnages have been executed by mainly elements from Southern Sudan with only a help from the NCP. If we had unity, the recent loss of our loved ones could have not occurred.
The Government of Southern Sudan should make sure that there is peace among the South Sudanese by convening an all inclusive dialogue not the one where by one group signs today for other group to emerge as enemy tomorrow. Any angry individuals should not be taken for granted despite the reason of their anger for they team up tomorrow with the enemy and result in the loss of life.
The late Dr.Garang said that the CPA was neither his nor was it for Bashir and Taha but that it was for all Sudanese people. For this matter, it should be the responsibility of every Southern Sudanese to own it and make sure that it is maintained.
A century old grave epitaph which I did quote in one of my earlier articles in The Southern Eye has it that there was a man that once lived. When he sensed his death, he called to his bedside his loved ones and told them to write this on his grave stone and I quote,
“When I was born, I thought I would change the world, when I was a youth, I thought I would change my country and now that I am dying, I have realized that I can change myself first before I change my family, clan, tribe, country and finally the whole world.”
Southern Sudanese leaders of all political affiliations should change themselves before thinking of the whole country. They should examine themselves individually by adjusting their behaviors that have been affecting the entire population in the country. By doing that, they will be able to change the country for the better. This will stop further repetition of the shocking events of the recent months in which we lost innocent souls that God did not ask. Our war mindedness took their lives away. Men who wage war are a curse to humanity for the end product of war is death. God takes lives of human beings only through aging .But war; diseases and poverty take the souls of mankind before time.
We are from one family. Why should we be killing each other instead of solving our problems peacefully? Have we ever seen birds of the same kind hunting one an other?
The answer is “no” for birds of the same kind do not prey on each other. The same is to the animals of one mother. Lion does not feast on fellow lion and you name them. This brings me to the poetic words of Sir Walter Scott,
The hunting tribes of earth and air,
Respect the brethren of their birth,
Nature, who loves the claim of kind.
Less cruel to each other assigned
The falcon, poised on soaring wing
Watches the wild duck by spring
The slow hound wakes the fox’s lair
The greyhound presses on the hares,
The eagle pounced on the lamb,
The wolf devours the fleecy dam.
Even tiger fell and sullen bear
Man, only, mars kind, natures plan
And turns the fierce pursuit on man.
We are children of one mother. Let us seek dialogue to put an end to woes of the wars. It is time to decorate peace heroes; don’t you want to be one? Come on, forsake the war making and join the peace making spree.
Nhial Tiitmamer de Nhial is a Sudanese based in Canada. He can be reached at [email protected]. More of his articles including this one are available in The New Sudan Vision – www.newsudanvision.com