Why is Dr. John Garang’s tomb being guarded 24hrs?
By Lago Gatjal Riaka *
August 21, 2007 — These two days, Garang’s conspiracy death has come to be top story on most of the political discussion websites; South Sudan.net, Sudan Tribune, and Southsudannation.com. It is amazing that we are inconsistently covering the future by talking about the past when we know who might have been behind the death of Dr. John Garang. There is no question that Dr. Garang might have been assassinated by an interest group internationally or within the SPLM leadership, however, it will take generations to discover the truth behind his death. Therefore, we should move on to the future and keep our heads up for what is coming next in our struggle.
Recently, I was in Juba the capital city of Southern Sudan. I visited Dr. Garang’s tomb where I found about six SPLA soldiers guarding the tomb. After seeing the six men who were guarding the tomb, I laughed. The reason why I was laughing has to do with the future of Southern Sudan from every aspect of it. Instead of working toward the future, we are guarding the dead. There must be reasons why SPLM is entitled of guarding the tomb while the average people in Southern Sudan are still suffering across our the ten states. I have several questions in mind that I think Southern Sudanese should be asking regarding the guard ness of the tomb. How long are we going to guard the tomb? In other word, let us imagine that some how we again go to war with the government, and Juba fall into the hand of the enemy, who is going to guard the tomb? These questions need to be answered by anybody including the outsiders. Is it right that Southern Sudanese should be guarding Dr. Garang’s tomb 24hrs? How long are we going to be doing that? Years? Centuries? Millenniums?
Dr. Garang as the former Chairman of SPLM has been highly honored. When Dr. Garang died, Southern Sudanese around the globe cried in tears, raising the issue of following Garang’s foot steps even if his footsteps are not the right paths for Southern Sudanese. Southerners understand Garang’s role in the fight of bringing justice and equality to all Sudanese as SPLM leader. Even though Garang’s vision was contrary to Southerners’ interest, his death had not been accepted by vast majority of Southern Sudanese accept those who thought were unjustly ignored in the movement. Therefore, I would argue that Southern Sudanese have done enough in honoring Dr. John Garang and still remembering him in their prayers. There is no reason SPLA soldiers should be guarding his tomb 24hrs, seven days a week, months, and years. Instead, we should be guarding our people from poverty, health issues, providing education, and by installing democratic institutions in Southern Sudan so that justice and equality prevail for all. As I’m concern, we are far away from installing democratic institutions in Southern Sudan. For instance, SPLA soldiers are still harassing civilians, there is cultural corruption in the government, and slow implementation of the interim-constitution are all contributing to the slow development in Southern Sudan.
When I was in Rupkona County Unity State, we took a vehicle to a near village in Nhaildiu area. As we were preparing to go back to Bentiu at dusk, a SPLA soldier who was in uniform showed up threatening us in trying to travel by force in our vehicle. We had to negotiate with him otherwise; he was trying to take my younger brother to one of the SPLA headquarters close to Nhaildiu. I was shocked by his behavior as a soldier. I’m sure such a behavior is also happening in other parts of Southern Sudan and it is going unnoticed.
Thus, let us remember our late Dr. John Garang however, I think guarding the tomb 24hrs is inappropriate since our vast majority citizens are suffering across our ten states. The government of Southern Sudan must now be investing in education, health, and democratically transform the government so that security and peace are installed in Southern Sudan.
* The author is based in Canton South Dakota, U.S.A. He can be reached at [email protected]