South Sudan Forum rejects Martin Eliathe leadership

June 15, 2007 — Following serious deliberations, the mainstream Democratic Forum’s leadership has rejected the resolutions adopted by Dr. Martin Elia’s faction during June 8-11 leadership meeting in Khartoum which violated the principles enshrined in the constitution of South Sudan Democratic Forum. The executive leadership loyal to Dr. Martin Elia adopted a political program and objective which flagrantly contravened the core principles of the Democratic Forum as they were promulgated by the various parties which made up the Forum in the London Conference of August, 2003.

Although Dr. Elia’s faction, which is composed of septuagenarian politicians, deviated from the core objective of the marginalized people of the South, the mainstream Democratic Forum still upholds the fundamental principle of the party, which is the right to self-determination that shall be exercised through an internationally supervised referendum as stipulated clearly in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This core principle of the right to self-determination came as a result of intense negotiations which commenced initially in Frankfurt between the SPLM/A–Nasir Faction and the National Congress Party (NCP) in 1992. The quest of the people of South Sudan to have an opportunity to exercise the right to self-determination also dominated peace talks in Abuja I & II, and subsequently led to 1994 Nairobi Declaration which was followed by the historic Asmara Declaration of Principles (DOP) in 1995.

The right to self-determination which Dr. Elia and his illusive septuagenarian advisors rejected was firstly affirmed by the Khartoum and Pashoda Peace Agreements. These accords were the first in the history of Sudan to enshrine the right to self-determination in the constitution of the republic. As advocates of the objective of the South, we felt letdown by Elia’s faction based in Sudan by opportunistically deviating from the core principles of the party which state clearly that the Democratic Forum is a South Sudan based party whose objectives cannot be traded with positions and material wealth. The party was founded upon fundamental principle that the energies of South Sudan masses shall be amalgamated to combat social inequalities, institutionalized tribalism and regionally inspired corruption.

It is to be recalled that our successive press releases have awaken the people of South Sudan to exercise their constitutional rights and made them to be critical of the rampant corruption in Juba, tribally inspired embezzlement of public funds, dispossession of Baris from their ancestral lands and the breakdown of law and order induced by the SPLM’s culture of impunity and thievery.

In our previous releases, we confined ourselves to issues pertaining to the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) and its institutions because the constituency of the Democratic Forum is based in the South. The mainstream Forum has no serious issues to raise with northern parties regarding matters pertaining to northern states except the implementation of the CPA, Darfur conflict and the democratization of Sudan during the interim period. We are in a position to consult with northern parties only to seek means and ways of how to resolve the question of Southern problem in a more peaceful and democratic manner, enabling us to avoid blackmailing of future generations.

In this regard, the leadership of the mainstream Democratic Forum will make contacts with northern parties concerning the indisputable truth that the majority of South Sudanese would prefer to vote for secession should they be availed the opportunity to exercise the right to self-determination in the 2011 referendum. Contrary to the opportunistic position Dr. Elia and his septuagenarian mentors has taken, the masses of the South are looking for a political party that has a clear agenda, vision, and program in regard to the issue of separation versus unity. Regrettably, the position adopted by Dr. Elia’s faction regarding unity or separation is so opportunistic that the Northern and Southern masses need to hire professional psychics to explain to them whether Dr Elia and his septuagenarian supporters are for unity of the Sudan or separation of the South.

It should be recalled that during the struggle for the independence of Sudan under the Anglo-Egyptian rule, the UMMA Party led by sayed Abdurrahman El Mahdi stood for the independence of Sudan while the National Unionist Party (NUP) led by Sayed Ali El Merghani supported the idea that Sudan should remain united with Egypt. In the end, the pro-independence group won, obliging the pro-Egyptian group to join forces with elites calling for independence to build modern republic of Sudan.

The leadership of the mainstream Democratic Forum believes that the people of the South can exercise the right to self-determination in a similar manner the UMMA and NUP resolved the question of whether Sudan should have remained united with Egypt or become an independent republic. We feel that what the masses of the South want is a political party with a clear objective concerning unity or separation so that ordinary people would be informed to vote for an objective of a party that is either for unity or separation. A party whose objective is either unity or separation must persuade the people why they should vote for either unity or separation in the referendum.

We disagreed with septuagenarian politicians of Dr. Elia’s faction because they turned the South Sudan problem into profitable business. They have taken a convoluted line of politics which makes them materially opportunistic as well as directionless. This opportunism had caused confusion and led to the resignation of prominent founding members of the party last year (former Vice-president, Lt. Gen. Joseph Lagu and Hon. Mary Yak, former senior government official and the daughter of former governor of Khartoum state, Jarvis Yak). The illusive septuagenarian mentors of Dr. Elia–whose tainted records are publicly known–are not in tune with political awakening in the South where the masses have rejected tribal nepotism, Gogrial-Aweil’s cabal, mistreatment of Equatorians and the culture that embezzling public funds for the benefit of ethnic groups in power is a divine privilege.

We would like to inform the Sudanese people, particularly the South Sudan masses, that the leadership of the mainstream Democratic Forum is making serious consultations with members in Diaspora and Sudan in order to reorganize the party‘s executive leadership. We will soon come out with a program of action in due course.

For any questions contact:

Mr. Gordon Buay Reath

Spokesman of South Sudan Democratic Forum–mainstream

Email:[email protected]