Ambororo nomads and the LRA cause insecurity in W Equatoria

By Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba, MD.

April 24, 2008 — The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Northern Arabs of the National Congress Party (NCP) if anything, has only benefited a few as far as the South Sudanese masses are concerned. Though it is meant to be a peace agreement, but in actual fact it has not delivered any peace throughout all these three years since it was signed. But of course it brought posts and luxuries to many top SPLM/A cadres so that they do not really have to see beyond their backyards and share in views like the ones I am currently raising.

In the last State Governors meeting, almost all the ten governors have expressed deep concerns about the failing security in their various States. Yet no clear resolutions were made on how these insecurities are to be tackled. In many of the states, their insecurities are linked to local politics and inter-tribal feuds. In others it is basically due to the old nomadic culture of cattle rustling between clans. But if you are in Abyei, Northern Bahr Ghazal or Western Equatoria, then the situations in these places are completely different as the insecurities here are in fact caused by non south Sudanese who are simply exploiting the weak administration of the government of south Sudan (GOSS).

There had been several reported clashes in Abyei, Meiram and Northern Bahr Ghazal between the SPLA, which is the official army of south Sudan per the CPA and the Arab Misseiriya nomads backed by the ruling Islamic NCP of President Omer El Beshir. And up to this moment the situation remains tense and unpredictable.

Where as in western Equatoria State, the poor citizens are left to struggle with their own fate. Western Equatoria was hit hard by the Arab forces of Khartoum at the beginning of the south Sudanese rebellion both during the Anya Nya Liberation Movement and equally so when the SPLA took up arms in 1983. Yet sadly enough after the fall of this vast and rich state in the hands of the SPLA, the citizens for time again experienced all kinds of torture, mistreatment, looting, raping and all kinds of evils in the hands of their fellow southerners until the eve of the CPA.

When the peace agreement was signed, the people in Western Equatoria thought that their problems would come to an end when SPLA guerrilla fighters transform into regular government forces. They were proven wrong, as these un disciplined soldiers immediately became the new masters and tribal politics sooner than later surfaced on the horizon and the first SPLM appointed governor was soon removed , and arrested as he became outspoken of all the ill deeds and atrocities of this neo – oppressors .

Today as I write, Western Equatoria is being devastated by the notorious bandits of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). These ruthless LRA bandits are supposed to be fighting the government of Yoweri Museiveni in Uganda, and as they have lost their route to Gulu, and Kampala, they have chosen the citizens of Western Equatoria as their soft targets. The roaming nomadic tribesmen of the Ambororo are also another headache to this once peaceful state. They are well armed with AK-47 rifles and they have ever been a nuisance to the agricultural communities in these areas. So where is the peace we have all longed for? Unfortunately there is none.

Since the government of GOSS is in no way interested in the security of the people of Western Equatoria, then the responsibility should lie somewhere within the State. The people must organize themselves into armed guards to protect the villages from both the LRA and the Ambororo nomads. The SPLM/A are not the people to count on at this particular time as far as dealing with the groups in question is concerned. The People of Western Equatoria should understand that it is they themselves who can protect their ancestral soil as well as their people. There is no point talking to the SPLM/A led government in Juba about the evils of LRA which they obviously already know but have chosen to turn a blind eye. The two are now involved in some dubious peace deals which only God can tell it’s out come.

The author of this is article is a South Sudanese doctor living in the UK and can be reached at: [email protected].