Salva Kiir: Better fight for something than live for nothing

By Koang Tut Jing

September 12, 2007 — No good will ever comes from slow thinkers and short visionary leaders in the Sudan. Ever since this country and its people have been up in flame due to poor quality of leadership and world-lordism. In 1997, the current vice president of Government of Southern Sudan signed Khartoum Peace Agreement with NIF Regimes in which he and his group vowed to defend the agreement. He stated publicly that his forces would fight along side the NIF in defend of the then Agreement. The vice president by then perceived the Mother SPLA under Garang as threat to peace. The unnecessary campaign he waged against SPLA resulted due to lack of our Vice President seeing far enough. Our Riek and his Group failed to realise the real evil remains their New Ally. It is imminent that the history is repeating itself once more.

It is demoralising to see SPLA/M led by people that do not look beyond their borders and analyse things the way they should. The recent tune from Juba by the Chairman and Commander In Chief of the SPLM/A that “the Sudan will likely reverse to war” is too late. Actually, the NIF declared war on SPLA/M on the day the SPLA/M lost the Ministry of energy and mining and the day the NIF failed to act on Abyei Protocol. But due to lack of farsighted individuals among the SPLA/M top leaders the NIF is catching us off guard. Although, finger-pointing do not help but fuel the situation still we have to be straight in a hope that people may one day listen. “In the long run, it is what we do not say that will destroy us.” This author is not sure if our leadership will ever take a tougher stand against NIF’s aggression. For instance the besieging of the SPLA platoon in Central Sudan by NIF forces is a shameful image on us and humiliating incident. These NIF forces are roaming Southern Sudan with impunity and yet the SPLA cannot exercise its movement when they need to, what a world? Every single New Sudan citizen knows where the blame should be laid. The author clearly sees alienation policy adopted by our President since they took office as the route of this inevitable vulnerability and causes of looming disaster.

The author and other critics have been crying out loudly but the group who look down on the facts we want our leadership takes notice of see us as pointless voices. No one cries/weeps baselessly. None of us need attention here but for the sake of humanity in us we must continue to voice this out. Nothing indeed happens for the sake of happening. There is always a cause why this is happening. Today there are bunches of Southern Sudanese who view CPA as gift from God not realising the survival of CPA depends on how aggressive we response against the NIF ill intention. Those bunches think if we take the similar line as NIF, the CPA will vanish. My fellow countrymen/women, the appeasement policy our leadership have been devoting their times for will soon cost a great deal of lives and more destruction. What do you think if a partner in Government can be raided and have all its office windows vandalised? The NIF police force that stormed the SPLM office in Khartoum destroying the portray of Garang did declare war on the SPLA/M. But the question is does the SPLM leadership understand what the moved means? The NIF has already seen a window of weakness within the SPLA/M which they are exploiting to the fullest.

My fellow Sudanese, the abrogation of CPA is just some years away and the author would to say to all the Sudanese that the terrible agony and possibly the doom is descending on us all still. As Late Garang put it, “the NIF is too deformed to be reformed. One ought to remind all Southerners who think their dream is closer that neither the cessation nor unity of the Sudan is viable in the present of NIF. If the leadership in Juba continue acting submissively to obtain NIF sympathy they are mistaken. How can a rebel minded leaders think as pacifists? General George Smith Patton put it correctly as this, “if you listen to your fears about death you will destroy every day of living. Any man who is afraid to die will never really live.” The General who was full of wisdom further stated that “better fight for something than live for nothing.” General Kiir did not try his best so far to fight for the well fare of the New Sudan’s people. Today, our people in Nuba Mt and Southern Blue Nile are troubled with fear of us deserting them. But the fact that neither area of the New Sudan is free from fear is echoed by the way Kiir himself has been airing his views recently. The President should know the CPA is no longer safe as he and his circle thought it would. So, if the President genuinely loves the people of New Sudan, he must now consider taking action. In a war you don’t have to allow your opponent pick the battle site. General Patton put it that “keep moving and pain will never hit you. Tear into the enemy so fast the bastards will run for their lives. You keep moving around and the enemy cannot hit you.” Salva Kiir should consider those quotes seriously if he and the New Sudan people will cross these dark hours in peace. The time for rescuing CPA is over but what left is the survival of people of New Sudan.

Koang is a Sudanese living in Pacific Rim and he can be reached at [email protected]