Sudan’s Salva Kiir- slip of the tongue or slap on the face

By Mahmoud A. Suleiman

February 21, 2008 — A News paper article has reported that First Vice-President of the Sudan and President of Southern Sudan (GoSS) Salva Kiir Mayardit as saying, in reference to unity of the Darfur rebel group SLM and the Abyei dispute, that Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has agenda similar to Shari’a! We think that was an unfortunate remark and unhelpful and we wish it were a ‘Slip of the Tongue’ and not a Slap in the Face! One would have thought there were more important issues that the First Vice President of the government of national unity to address than talking about his alleged Shari’a Agenda of JEM. Mr. Kiir is expected in his capacity as a First Vice President of the Government of National Unity to intervene and stop the incessant and relentless military attacks of his partner, NCP, against the civilian population in Darfur. Will the First Vice President at least condemn, for a minute, these assaults? The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Dr. Khalil Ibrahim is firmly committed to the urgently needed unity of the SLM factions under one umbrella prior to any upcoming peace negotiations. JEM spent a considerable period of time to bring about this to happen unsuccessfully due to number of factors, the main of which had been the regional powers who had competing agenda. JEM representatives were in Juba when the SPLA extended an invitation for that end. JEM would like to point out to the Southern People Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), that the cause for which you fought for more than two decades is the same one the people of Darfur are struggling for. The people of Darfur support full implementation of CPA and the Region of Darfur remains the backyard of Southern Sudan whether it finds unity attractive or secedes in the 2011 Referendum. While regarding highly the recent gesture of goodwill of comrade Pagan Amum Secretary General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Cabinet affairs minister, on Monday February 18 that the SPLM would not mind the reviewing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) including the power and wealth sharing, to facilitate a political solution for the five year crisis in Darfur, JEM believes that the rights of the people of Darfur in Power sharing and Wealth sharing will Not be charged at the expense of the gain achieved in the CPA; it would be charged against the lion’s share that the elements of the NCP enjoy its monopoly. JEM would like to be treated as equal to the other Darfur Rebel Movements that seem to be enjoying favouritism from SPLA/M. The two Darfur Movements SLA/M and JEM received the launching of Naivasha/CPA with hope and optimism. They will never be spoilers of the CPA. JEM and the people of Darfur will strive to protect the achievements of our fellow citizens in the Southern Sudan.

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is a rebel movement that took up arms struggle as an option of the last resort against injustice that denied the legitimate rights of the people of Darfur. JEM has attracted its membership from a wide range of the political spectrum. Among the members a Communist, a Liberal, Umma Party, United Democratic Party (UDP), a Secular, an average Muslim and a Christian. This Darfur people’s Revolutionary movement will never ever retreat and advocate a political system that proved unsuitable for Sudan and was a recipe for disunity. We learned the hard way after the experiences with the September Laws of 1983, imposed and promulgated by the Northern Sudanese Military Dictator Jaafer Mohamed Nimeiri when was under severe political pressure and the Islamisation campaign which followed. For the people of Southern Sudan jihad against the civilian population during the terror rein of the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the atrocities committed by the National Defence Force (NDF) militias and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) is still in the living memory. Unfortunately, foot soldiers from the marginalised parts of Sudan including Darfur were forced to fight in the South against their fellow compatriots.

The author of this article will be the first to breakaway from JEM if there are any hidden agenda of the kind Mr. Kiir has referred to. Islam which is the religion of peace and justice has been exploited hypocritically by the Northern Region elites to rule and humiliate the masses in Sudan for more than half a century enslaving the marginalised majority of the Sudanese public. Everybody in Sudan should be free to choose his/her faith they wish within the rule of law. The State should have no right to impose specific ideology on the others. Sudan is a nation of diverse ethnic, cultural and multi-faith country. We need a Political System that suits every citizen without discrimination, coercion or bullying.

Whilst we are reproving our comrade First Vice President Mr. Salva Kiir, we value his statements that there will be no peace in Sudan without the resolution of the Darfur crisis and there will be no Democracy in the Country when the prisons are full of Politicians held incommunicado detention and Prisoners of conscience arrested in previous years remained in jail to be tortured. He is right but we expect him to exert more pressure to rectify this dire state of affairs. Tackling these issues needs action not words!

The National Congress Party (NCP) regime has lost its spine to protect the Sudanese citizens whether in Darfur or elsewhere. The NIF/NCP government considers death toll in the Darfur genocide as “Only 9 or 10 thousands”. We say even one death is a tragedy and is too much. The main objective of the NCP regime is to further prolong their stay in power at all costs, abusing resources of the country as private farm produce, irrespective of detriments that might have on Sudan and its people. Al-Bashir’s Congress Party can not fairly represent the entire north of Sudan and categorically can never represent Darfur. The consolidation of power and wealth in the hands of the Northern Arabised Islamised elites should cease. The marginalised people will no longer tolerate the hegemony and centralisation of power by the “Old Guards” who come from a region that only represents 5% of Sudan’s population any more. The people of Darfur and the marginalised majority aspire in their struggle to bring about a New Federal United Secular Democratic Sudan, a political system that will accommodate everyone. One will, therefore, call upon all Sudanese political forces, Civil Society Organisations and above all the silent mass of the people of Sudan to demonstrate their genuine concerns about the future of our country.

Last and not the least, will the First Vice President of the Government of National Unity, Mr. Kiir, be able to find the time to visit and see the people of Darfur in their IDP camps? A sixty-four dollar question ($64 question)!

Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). He can be reached at [email protected]