Jonglei incidents: Arms are not for threat but protection

By Ngor Arol Garang

December 21, 2007 — As political leaders pushes for peaceful and voluntary disarmament across the country, guns in wrong hands continuous to cause insecurity in Sudan and Southern Sudan in particular. These guns need to be forcefully removed from civilians and any other army personnel who are causing such chaos to our innocent civilian who need peace and development in their residential areas.

The indication of arms threat with other armed group in some areas of southern Sudan is the recent tribal fight in the state of Jonglei which in turn resulted to the death of 37 people excluding those four patients killed in Bor town civil hospital by an angry mob that broke into hospital to revenge on in innocent patients. The issue of abduction and cattle raiding in Jonglei State has become another civil war which need a complete attention from both the central government and the government of Southern Sudan so that vulnerable group such as returnees returning home comes with free mind set to settlement and development while in their original places. Removing and appointing governors in this said state without considering forcefully disarmament as done to areas of Akobo will not help bring peace and stability to the state of Jonglei.

It was sad to hear again this week that two kids were kidnapped and later retrieved after another fight. All though I don’t come from this state, I feel bad when I see my fellow southerners killing themselves without genuine reason for fighting each other almost everyday. It is sad to tell you that the first innocent that occurred on 29 November got me there. This is an incident which is not worth commenting on because the armed civilians were wielding guns and smiling with this discomfort. The issue of insecurity in Jonglei state should not hold one person accountable for it. The governor Phillip Thon Leek has tried his best to curb the situation but he could not make it to disarm the tribe which is causing such chaos in the state because he was not mandated to do forcefully disarmament in the areas believed to still have individuals carrying arms in Jonglei.

We must not shy away from bringing individuals who are committing such crimes to the court of law. This war criminal must be brought to book immediately without protection if the government needs to bring permanent peace and stability to citizens of Jonglei State. To bring peace and stability the SPLA and JIUS must be competent and professional enough to device a means to curb the movement and carrying of small firearms by individuals not legible to carry arms besides these two mentioned groups recognized by the CPA. The history of our democracy has a volatile past and an uncertain future, and this is well embraced by the fact that our top military officials are heavily fortified with platoons and battalions.

Putting aside these militarist calculations of uncertainties, we see it as our noble cause to advocate for our leaders and government and all the concerned arms of the military to perform their duty of safeguarding the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement leading to lasting peace as a priority agenda above all other concerns. Fire arms must be properly handled and accounted for their movement and number, and use. The hisses of gunshots in the city of Juba in recent is also causing another security threat and post a sad memory that many people in Juba had started to put in the past. Nobody in Southern Sudan has the energy and time to visit our miserable history unless for the purpose of getting glimpses of the lessons that we can learn from this endeavor.

Thus, guns must be used at the right time and for the right purpose of countering insecurity and not being part of the problem. A leaf of history tells us that agreements are the best grounds for disagreements and also that guns are the root cause of the conflicts across Sub-Saharan Africa. We must learn from history and ensure a better future for those who are not holding firearms but use their intellect to shape and build the nation. The culture of loyalties among our soldiers to their specific commanders along the lines of tribe must be dealt with accordingly. Arms are not for threat but protection. More guns flowing freely in the hands of the illegal armed groups will inevitably encourage the peaceful civilian to acquire guns in an effort to protect their assets from regular looting and lives from untimely death.

* The author is a Juba Post journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]