Capturing post-war people’s mindshare in Sudan
By Joseph Deng Garang
Dec 27, 2006 — As Sudanese begin to ‘celebrate’ the 3rd anniversary of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, many stock taking exercises compete for that end -of- the- year last spot on people’s minds, and dairies. As a young man who grew up in war, my Youth Dairy/Travelogue has the CPA initialized as the major watershed event of my life time.
Mainstream response also shows that the Marginalized people of Sudan, in a referendum pulse, long for the protection of the same CPA because it is such an internationally-hailed peace document that has every potential written all over it for Southerners, Northerners, all in the hope that the same potential will be used as a possible panacea and strategy for freeing other Marginalized areas such as the Darfur, and Abyei.
Since signing, the implementation phase of the CPA between the NCP and SPLM has dragged for two years now and I join many people in applauding the SPLM for its tenacious support for Darfur despite NCP bullying posture. This year we have witnessed no improvement over Darfur; the NCP has been leveraging its way through many domestic as well as external circles. The most recent and disappointing one was its (NCP) arm twisting of UN Peace Keeping Mission this past September at the sixty-first UN Submit in New York. At that moment, the world, knowing the suffering in Darfur within ear shot, left the elephant in the room by giving in to Khartoum’s notorious pushing of deadlines through suggesting an extension of African Union Mission already on the ground.
This was done by Khartoum ostensibly in the name of sovereignty because a few NIF crooks who read about classical sovereignty have resorted to lecturing other African countries into buying into their idea of ‘African solutions’. This line of reasoning would resonate with anyone if it were well-meant but NCP being what it is, would within hours talk down those same countries it uses to bargain its way out of possible troop send-in. This cycle of stonewalling of international community by NCP has not only brought surprise but untold suffering to the people of Darfur. Now the next pressure is yet again on Khartoum to respond by January first to allow the ‘hybrid’ force to come to Darfur.And as the year comes to a close, it is everyone’s hope that this warning doesn’t get trumped by politics because this time human life must take precedence over national interest.
In the South the people are consolidating their government through the SPLM, and many challenges continue to abound. Some of the challenges trickle down from NCP meddling, such as the most recent incident in Malakal in which some lives were lost, more notwithstanding. Some challenges also come from Junubin themselves. Matter of fact, I do not want people to begin celebrating the 3rd year with some issues uncommented for.
Recently some ethnic groups that called themselves the Equatoria Professionals in Europe, equatoria Solidarity International, and Union of Nuer in North America released one of the lowly informed memoranda calling for decisive action against what they called ‘mismanagement of Southern affairs by the SPLM party’. The same memo singled out ‘institutionalization of tribalism and corruption in the SPLM’ as one of the vices warranting their collaboration as ‘three communities’ pushing for the democratic aspirations of the marginalized people of South Sudan. The three communities also share something in common with the writings of Dr. Wani Tombe who calls the SPLM vision of New Sudan a ‘nihilist concept and infatuation’. But wait!
Dr. Tombe also says the concept is ‘nihilist because it is founded on the dangerous process of debunking, de-legitimization, deconstruction and trashing of those without semblance of a functional replacement’. He went a head to say that ‘the rampant violence inflicted upon innocent civilians……by the SPLA with jurisdiction of the GoSS’ is morally reprehensible. To those within South Sudan and Diaspora these statements are disturbing not because of their weight but because they simply imply how some of our own, without knowing, sell themselves short. The reasoning behind their criticism is viciously circular because they believed they were trying to correct tribalism when in real sense their actions are tribalistic at best. To throw a little help into assuaging Dr. Tombe’s fear of ‘New’, I would like to say to him that SPLM/SPLA concept of New Sudan has nothing nihilistic about it. It has nothing to do with killing its own people because the same people are the ones who have been fighting for the liberation of the marginalized people. In its 1994 Convention, the SPLM adopted the New Sudan to mean the South, Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains and Abyei.
While the four voices of EPE, ESI, UNCONA and TOMBE have every right to complain under the GoSS and SPLM, they seemed to have gone too far in betraying the cause of their people. One can not conceivable think of any greater and fatal disservice to one’s cause than the idea of these three communities ganging purportedly in the name of discrediting the very liberation movement that has afforded them the luxury of being able to meet and even organize teleconferences across whatever continents they are living.
My goal is not to silence them from speaking against corruption because these days many lips are bleeding about the issues of corruption. But we ought not to forget. We need to keep in mind that this is not the end of life. Like many people, my heart has always been touched by the phenomenal spirit of our gallant heroes and martyrs who brought us this peace and I always think of something to do as an individual to return that honor. The years following the signing of the CPA are years we Southerners should have spent marveling about the vigor of our proud soldiers who over the last two decades never showed the slightest form of weakness against Jellaba. It is a time we Southerners should have spent equally marveling about the shrewd human decision element exemplified in that peace document because popular belief has it that over 90% of the CPA has clauses favoring us in the South. It is time we should have felt a little vindicated. But the actions of those who hate the current direction prove otherwise.
In fact, sometimes I get a sense that we in the south have mediocrity as yet another liberation struggle to fully wage war against. This war will be the war of minds—one that is intended to bring forth mental liberation. This has to be in the form of public information campaign geared toward informing masses about the importance of shared commonalities—an adoption of some culture behind our cause. This is if the last two decades were not enough for our own personal learning.
And it is so important because the work of these disgruntled few can translate into apathy among our youth and to corrupt the minds of youth in any society is very unfortunate, especially in our case where our struggling nation is supposed to count on the ideals and energies of these youngsters.
On other world societies we have read about their struggles and how few of them became identified with the Enlightenment Projects. In our case, while the authors of EPE, ESI, UNCONA and TOMBEISM seek to be the first to epitomize the ‘enlightenment project’ in South Sudan, their choice of words lends itself to simple categorical rebuttal in that the expressions they espouse are full of divisive, overused and uneducated viewpoints.
In conclusion, our destiny verdict as the marginalized people of Sudan is something that doesn’t need lecturing because over twenty years of suffering is too long a time for us to have learned. The post war period is a time we should be spending shaping the direction. It is time we should be spending offering that expertise and scholarly upbringing from all corners of the world to make sure the NIF doesn’t trash the document. It is also a time we should be calling out to the world to invigorate partnership to help us put in place every infrastructure in places it has been nonexistent. It should not be time for exhausting our little knowledge of political systems on empty criticisms that don’t go pass ethnic embracing because what we sometimes say fails the test of any possible alternative if that is what criticisms are all meant for.
As we close the second year and begin the third year of waiting, people’s perceptions about the post war period are regrettably getting mixed.
My end of the year advice to those who call for community alliances against the GoSS and SPLM is to note the difference between a government and a community and that it needs more than just a compilation of high sounding criticism to discredit the movement that brought us pride and to even begin to be critical. I’m exceedingly thankful to former vice president, General Joseph Lagu, for urging other groups to join the SPLM. His comments are those of a statesman and they send patriotic messages to young people and politicians from all hues of political persuasion.
On the other hand, the GoSS and the SPLM must find ways to reassure its citizens, disgruntled and nondisgrunted alike, that after all those years in the bush fighting for the freedom and dignity of its people, it is not settling for mediocrity but ultra progress. This is the mindshare we all need in order to throw ourselves into New Year with my resolution and expectation that people begin by opening up their social boxes.
* The author is based in the USA. He can be reached at [email protected]