Nuer Supreme Council slams accusations against their tirbe

On September 17, 2008 an individual in the alias of Isaiah Abraham wrote an outrageous article. The whole theme of the article, all clustered in five points, is that the Nuer have always been against SPLA. They have killed the liberation soldiers ever since the movement’s inception and they continue to do so even after the CPA, thus citing disarmament incident of 2006 in Yuai area of Central Nuer. Moreover, the author fallaciously accused the Nuer of dominating the military organ now in South Sudan.

The Nuer were or are always shy to reveal horrible crimes they endured from the very movement which they have since been grooming. While the bush brothers or the mighty SPLA soldiers used to get food only after doing some works, that’s food for work, in other parts of South Sudan, they were treated like a new bride in the Nuerland. The fattest bull, goat, ox, or sheep is slaughtered only when SPLA soldiers settle in any Nuer village. Grains reserved for rainy seasons are taken out to feed the liberation soldiers. Providing free services, what do people want Nuer civilians to do? In an unfortunate reward, instead of recognizing their sacrifices, countless Nuer villages were for no apparent reason attacked and innocent civilians murdered. The Nuer swallowed horrible crimes committed against them in Lare, Teluth, Thiajak, Man-Jangdit, Koor-Machar, Tiergol, Puobor, Akobo, Ayod, Waad, Deng-Jok, etc. Whatever we forget, Ngundeng knows?

Today we break our long silence and declare to reveal the truth about what SPLA had done to Nuer. This memo attempts to refute allegations made against the Nuer by Isaiah Abraham.

1. The 1983 Split

The crumbling and disintegration of the movement in South Sudan in 1983 was a political one. The scramble commenced because various Southerner politicians had conflicting political ideologies and mindsets. Akuot Atem, both an uncle to Garang and a brain behind the split, and his long time friend, Samuel Gach Tut, wanted just an establishment of a liberation movement aiming for an independent South Sudan. Garang and his group, of course newcomers to the bush, longed for a united Sudan. The two groups also disagreed over military arrangements and organizational restructuring. The newcomers demanded redefinition of the movement and selection of the new leadership, thus yearned for Garang to take over the command. Samuel Gach Tut demanded that Akuot Atem, because of his ages and bush experiences, must lead the new movement. Garang himself wanted Samuel Gach as a chairman and himself as Chief of Staff. Talk after talks in the presence of an Ethiopian delegation produced no valuable solution. The groups just were divided along ideological lines. Tribal affiliations were least, at least. And if public opinion is needed now about these ideological lines, South Sudan and united Sudan issue, we can stand apart still. The Nuer were not part of the disagreements and no need to consult them collectively as a tribe. Before new recruits from Bar El Gazal flooded to Ethiopia, supporters of either John Garang or Akuot-Gach factions were mostly Nuer. We did not feel to lecture our readers because those are the same old stuff every Junubi knows. But, if people are still being misled, history needs to be rewritten and the truth told. The Nuer did not kill the liberation soldiers.

2. Bukteeng Incident between Anya Nya II and SPLA in 1987

Bukteeng used to be an Anya-nya II controlled outpost although the area is located in the heartland of Gajiok Nuer. However, the SPLA forces, most of whom Nuer, were not happy about having the Anya-nya in the area. They plotted to launch an attack. That assault overpowered Anya nya II group, eventually leading the SPLA to take control of the town. After a successful reorganization, Anya nya group instigated a counter-attack, where the SPLA forces sustained heavy casualties. The Nuer civilians were not involved in the clash. If the war was fought between the SPLA and the Nuer, Gatnoor wouldn’t have been killed because he is a Nuer. However, because people have different ideologies and politics is always different from family affiliation, Paul Gatnoor exchanged gunfire with his brothers in the movement on the opposite side.

3. Bilpaam Battalion and the death of Francis Ngor 1985

When neither their property nor their honor is touched, majority of men live with content; and men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony (Machiavelli). True enough. The SPLA/M leadership provoked the strife between Gajaak section of Jikany Nuer and the SPLA soldiers. The common norm with some generals among the SPLA is the accumulation of civilian properties, things which were meant to be protected. Back in the days, the Nuer have more cows and so became cheap target for uncalled looting. Go nowhere to find the cause. The Nuer have never killed an SPLA soldier for no reasons. Don’t argue about gun issues because it is baseless. All were useless at the time. It was illegal for a civilian to carry a gun in an SPLA controlled area and the movement controlled about 98% of the Nuerland.

Long history short… In 1984, Miya Arba (104) Battalion dispatched 24 armed SPLA soldiers to a Gajaak village so as to roundup family members of Tongyik Gil, a soldier with the Sudanese government. The SPLA illegally ruled that any Nuer family whose son is fighting along with the Sudanese forces must be harassed and their property confiscated. But they forgot to notice that during our years of the struggle, people were caught between coming to the bush and going to the North. Those who chose the path of sacrifice made their way to Ethiopia to free all of us. Others who feared of coming to the bush remained inside the Sudan. Prominent figures who served as vice presidents and advisors in the 1980s in addition to countless others were all with the Sudanese government. Were their family members charged and their properties confiscated because they did not come to the bush? This is a legal question and should be settled in the court of law. In this case, Tongyik family v. SPLA, the soldiers insisted on taking the cows of the whole village. But, civilians refused their demand. Instead Bol Gil, Tongyik’s brother, offered to join the training camp just to defuse the tension. His offer was rebuffed and the soldiers plainly demanded the cows taken. Fierce disagreement ensued. The SPLA soldiers, seeing the villagers as deviators, started an indiscriminate shooting. A pregnant woman was shot dead on spot. The villagers rushed to spears and any other sharp instrument around, thus escalating the situation. Being outnumbered, the SPLA soldiers sustained heavy casualties in which all but only one of the combatants named Biel Malual Ngok survived. If Isaiah Abraham knows history better, he should first study the cause.

Late William Nyuon quickly initiated a bogus peace with Gajaak civilians, which of course was achieved. Few months of calm ended in January 1985 when the SPLA violated the truce. Gajaak in the cattle camp areas of Bargeer and Dung Bier Row were attacked and horribly murdered. Worst cases still to come. Through an order from Kerubino, the SPLA dispatched Francis Ngor with some well equipped men to attack Gajaak in Man Jangdit. Francis refused citing that “I came to the bush to liberate civilians, not to fight them”. Talimat talimat ya comrade, Kerubino yelled in a strong military tune, you must go”. Francis finally agreed. Claiming that Francis Ngor was killed in Maker is a mere lie, not to mention the fact that the history itself is flawed and is full of intellectual dishonesty. Francis Ngor was killed in a masterminded political suicide in Man Jangdit around April or May, 1985. Ask Kwanyin Boldit in his grave for details.

4. 1991 Split

The division between Nasir and Torit factions was clearly a political split. No tribal attachment involved even if supporters, dead or living, of each group misunderstood the concept. The truth of the matter is that executive organ of the SPLA/M clearly lost faith in Comrade John Garang, period. Whatever reason there is, what that faith must be, one needs to ask the deceased people for explanation for they know better than the living.. Or turn around your shoulder and ask Salva Kiir and Lam Akol. People like Arok Thon Arok, Kerubino Kwanyin Bol, William Nyuon Bany, Joseph Oduho, and Lam Akol, apart from Riek Machar, were at the top of the SPLA/M’s higher organ. They were not Nuer, except Nyuon. But their aim, which we presumed to be putting the pressure on Garang to take the movement out of his briefcase, we cannot explain. Their aim might be to free the heroes: people who gave up their precious lives to free Jinubiin from Arab rules, but were rotting in jails. No trials, forget about how fair it could be. No cases at all, stop thinking about evidences. They were just victims of their own good consciences. We have no comment on that since our aim is not to educate the readers about the cause of the split, but to deny unsubstantiated accusations against the Nuer. However, what we can pinpoint is that people who are able to gather every piece of rubbish information and send it to the media do it because of the little change the Nasir faction brought to the mainstream SPLA.

Bor incident wasn’t meant to wipe out Dinka Bor. If people misconstrued it, these people are preaching the hell of hatreds. They are thus playing with the fire and we afraid in whose hands that burning heat will fall onto. The truth is that Torit Faction, after learning the coup de tat, sent out troops to Nuerland in three directions: the first batch dispatched to Leer and Bentiu; some went to Ayod; and the third went through Pochalla in order to capture Akoba and then Nasir as final destination. But, all three SPLA fronts met fierce resistance and finally retreated.
It is undeniable that both Ayod and Bor suffered during the SPLA/M split. Claim over territorial control created military confrontation between the two factions. The Nasir Faction, through Arok e Thon’s influence, wanted to win Bor civilians just so to assure Southern Sudanese that the chairman is not a trusted person even in his home. Garang wanted the area to retain the control. Then both factions greeted each other with heavy bombardments. Civilians, who are now claimed to have been murdered, were just caught in the crossfire. If Riek and his men from Nasir faction wanted to wipe out every piece of Dinka that walks, talks, and runs, they would have started killing Dinka with Arok e Thon then. If Riek wanted Garang supporters dead, why would he want to have his meeting convened in Garang’s hometown? Story tellers and all these trying so hard to instigate tribal abominations must learn to differentiate between lie and truth, between fabricating information for publicity and hitting the core issue. Therefore, the Nuer killed no Buor in Bor.

5. Yuai Incident, February 2006

SPLA forces, masquerading as disarmament unit, used excessive force against the central Nuer. They have attacked Gon, raided cattle suitable for consumption, and threatened to do more harms. Use commonsense here! Dinka Bor were not disarmed. Murle were not either. And there is a triangle intertribal cattle rustling ongoing for decades between civilians. Lou Nuer needed guns to protect their cattle. Or else an organized disarmament must have taken place simultaneously Jonglei counties to assure residents that they would not be vulnerable to attacks by other tribes. Forget about exaggerated number of the dead SPLA soldiers, how many civilians were killed in that disarmament process? And neither the governor of the time nor the SPLA central command apologized for what they did.

6. SPLA army domination

Claiming that one section (Nuer) has dominated an organ of the power of the SPLA structure nowadays is not a sole remedy for Nueri-phobic perceptions. What people should remember is that SPLA had carried out recruitment processes. It opened training camps all over south Sudan. And people have voluntarily joined as they have been doing in the past. They have chosen to voluntarily carry the guns to protect fat stomachs comes CPA collapsing. But some tribes chose instead to work light duty where public resources are easily looted. Let them eat what they wish though. The Nuer have flooded into the SPLA training camps in their thousands. And they are facing the consequences. In Abyei bodies of the dead Nuer have littered the dusty streets of Sultan Deng Majok area. Their corpses are feeding vultures, cranes, eagles, and hyenas of the Dinka Ngok places. And don’t tell me that the Nuer have lost war to Arab in Abyei. Tactical greed of the SPLM Convention forced field commanders to withdraw their men from the front lines until such times that greedy politicians realized their wrong passes.

Therefore our ugly pasts, however ugliest they are, result from the consequences of the struggle. These pasts will shape our journey by either building a bad image or by modifying our thoughts. We (South Sudanese) are starting to be national leaders and writers. Yet what we write sometimes does not hold the truth. It is often flawed, something that is full of hatreds and prejudices. We are trying to come out of our tribal bunkers and smell the sense of nationalism. Yet our common sense derived from ethnic affiliations never allows us to do so. In between, we stuck anyways.

The bottom line is that South Sudanese must learn to live with bruises and scars, however big and inerasable they are, encountered during the darkest years of the struggle. We must learn to live with the fact that any precious life lost during these periods, any harm inflicted either knowingly or not, is all about the consequences of the struggle. Painting one or more tribes with false accusation is beyond an individual level of freedom of speech and expression. It is a crime punishable by law, if they are there to protect everyone. We must bear with our contusions; if not, the gate to the hell is wide open, we afraid to mention it. But it is the reality everyone must face.

The co-authors of this press release are members of the Nuer Supreme Council. Anyone with question can contact them by writing to [email protected]