Can South Sudan leadership think big and build a nation?
By Justin Laku
March 7, 2007 — It has been more than a year since the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) became a political party and assumed power in Southern Sudan . However, the Government of South Sudan (GOSS) has failed to deliver services to the returnees, displaced people, and the heroes of Greater Equatoria who resisted the Khartoum regime’s policy of islamazition and arabization of Southern Sudanese.
The enemy of Southern Sudan was able to kill the dream of a New Sudan, and the referendum of South Sudan , by killing Dr. John Garang. The death of Dr. Garang was a great loss to Sudan as whole, and the south in particular, because some of northern Sudanese were looking at Garang as their champion. The enemy of South Sudan succeeded in that because Africans by nature never pass knowledge to the next generation. Dr. Garang happened to be one of those who failed to transfer knowledge to younger, more visionary Sudanese to carry on his ideology and mission just in case something happened to him.
The current leadership of GOSS, instead of focusing on the future of the Southern Sudanese by preparing them for independence in 2011, is involved in creating more internal division among the Southern Sudanese, and therefore allowing the enemy to suppress great Equatoria state citizens through certain groups. In addition, the GOSS is fighting over Juba as the only national Capital of the South Sudan, and should not be share by Central Equatorial State . There are many national capitals in the world that have been shared with municipal, provincial, and federal governments, because the three levels governments understand their jurisdictions.
It is wrong for the GOSS to push out Central Equatorial State ’s capital from Juba to Yei, as it has to push the Dinkas out of Yei city. The GOSS should not stop developing the South because the government of Central Equatorial state refused to move to Yei. Moving Juba‘s citizens to Yei was not one of the objectives for which the SPLA/M went to fight the Khartoum regime. I‘d like to suggest that the GOSS should build new capital of the GOSS in area north of great Equatoria with the boarders at Upper Nile and Bahr Al-Ghazal states.
The high-level corruption, nepotism, and scandals have continued the tribalism that has dogged south Sudan since SPLA/M assumed the power in 2005. The failure of good governance, lack of good leadership, lack of sharing power, and equal representation of all South Sudanese within the GOSS, are indicators that will lead the people not to trust SPLA/M.
The GOSS should repatriate the Southern Sudanese displaced people around Khartoum , and other parts of northern Sudan . In my last visit to Khartoum , Darfur , and the South, in every internal displaced persons (IDPs) meeting that I attended, there was no group that failed to mentioned the word repatriation to the South. The Southern Universities’ teaching staffs and the students have repeatedly indicated the transfer of Juba University to where it belongs. What has the GOSS done regarding this issue?
The people of Southern Sudan need better health care services, education, and empowerment of the local business, real development on the ground, rule of law, security, and bringing the killers who committed the 1992 genocide in Juba to justice.
The GOSS must learn from the experience of the Polisario movement in Western Sahara for self-determination. As the Polisario movement had been rocked by a number of unforeseen difficulties in 1992; the leadership must quickly refocused their attention on the goals of their movement. Likewise, we expect the South Sudan’s leadership to remind us why southern Sudanese took arms against the regimes of Khartoum in 1947, 1956, and 1983.
“While South Sudan is pressing for self-determination, the political thought of the Khartoum regime is similar to that of Morocco of denying self determination for whole sector of their population. For more than half a century, the regime has played intrigues on the south and doused the south’s political aspirations. In fact deceit, imposition, encumbrance, corruption and austerity, are practices that characterize the regime, which they have ruthlessly pursued in the South. Uprooting, displacement, and dislocation of indigenous South Sudanese and resettlement of Northern Arabs, and Egyptians in their stead are to change the political demography of the South”. South Sudan Civic Forum-London
From my experience in 2005 Iraqi’s general election, I believe that GOSS must ensure the South becomes a nation. The GOSS must create an Independent Electoral Commission as soon as possible, and not to wait until the last minute because anti-referendum groups are not sleeping.
In addition, the GOSS should be mindful of the Khartoum ’s regime continued obstacles in connection with implementation of the referendum. Also, GOSS should request assistance from countries like Canada , Australia , Holland and USA to help the electoral commission with training as well as setting up the elections offices and how to administer voting by the Southern Sudanese Diaspora.
War is fought in many ways, and there are some Sudanese outside Sudan with political, social justice’ activists, Students, and ordinary citizens of the world who fought along with SPLA/M against injustice in the Sudan . It is time for the GOSS to honor or at least send a letter of appreciation to the following for their efforts in bring awareness to public in the West: Prof. Eric Reeves who does nothing but Sudan, Hon. David Kilgour who quitted his party to sit as an independent because his government was not doing enough for Sudan, Hon. Baroness Cox who traveled to Sudan many times to redeemed slaves, Dr. Maurice Vellacott, M.P and Mel Middleton who made so much noises to get ride of Talisman Energy out of Sudan.
The author is based in Ottawa, Canada. He can be reached at [email protected]