Land grabbing in Equatoria unreported danger to unity

By Jacob K. Lupai

December 10, 2008 — The word unity can be defined in many ways depending on the different perceptions. For example, when the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) spoke of unity of Sudan they differed in their definition or interpretation. This may explain the extent to which the NCP and the SPLM were bitter enemies as one laboured hard to sell its own version of unity to gain popularity in their respective constituencies. The NCP stood and stands for Arab and Islamic unity of Sudan which in itself is discriminatory because the Sudan is a basket of racial, ethnic and religious diversities while the SPLM stood and stands for unity in diversity where the right of the individual is guaranteed irrespective of race and religion. Both used their respective armies to battle it out in the field to settle the issue. Fortunately the NCP and the SPLM realised that a military solution was not achievable but a political one was most likely, hence a comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) was reached.

In the process of the implementation of the CPA the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) was formed with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) as the army of the South. Sudan Armed Forces virtually became the army of the North. However, in the meantime according to the CPA joint integrated units (JIUs) were formed as a nucleus of future army of Sudan when the unity of Sudan was confirmed in a referendum to be held in the South. With the formation of the GOSS as the product of the CPA Southern Sudan would not be the same again. The GOSS brought with it a bag of high hopes and probably misgivings. Previously in the Addis Ababa agreement of 1972 on the problem of Southern Sudan, the three southern provinces were granted regional self-government. The three southern provinces were then renamed Southern Region and Juba the capital of Equatoria province became the capital of the Southern Region. However, as power corrupts, greed and tribal chauvinism ate away the relative peace and development opportunities that the Southern Region. The broad day light greed and tribal chauvinism became a curse rather than a blessing to the people of Southern Sudan. People from all corners of the Southern Region flocked to Juba in search of a better life. The idea of taking towns to the rural areas was not yet conceived. Competition for resources and employment opportunities was high. This encouraged nepotism as people tried to cope with relatives and tribesmen’s demands for favours. With a very aggressive and arrogant behaviour the situation became unbearable particularly to people of Equatoria. People began to raise questions whether it was right for others to behave so badly to the natives of the land. Out of this a concept was born. The concept was the decentralisation of the Southern Region into its former three provinces and this time to become regions in their own right. This was however misunderstood as “Kokora” (dividing it up) as it took tribal lines. The concept became offensive to those who imagined that their privileges in the Southern Region were being challenged and so there was a steep resistance to the concept.

The May 1969 revolutionary government that had granted the South self-government saw this as a golden opportunity to administer a fatal blow by decentralising the Southern Region into its original three provinces of Bahr el Gazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile. This was an abrogation of the Addis Ababa agreement. This was never entertained by those who strongly believed that their grip on monopoly of power and access to privileges would be weakened drastically. On the Addis Ababa agreement the 1983 SPLM manifesto had this to say, “The Southern elite would use the Agreement as a means to enrich themselves, ..” Those who felt threatened of monopoly of power and privileges blamed Gaafer el Numeiri, the then president for the abrogation of Addis Ababa agreement by decentralising the Southern Region into what was claimed as three weakling regions. However, nobody seems to blame Omar el Bashir for the creation of ten states in Southern Sudan. I would argue that it was the making of southerners themselves in their blind greed for power and privileges that they were oblivious to conspiracies against the South. The 1983 SPLM manifesto also had this to say “The Northern elite dictated the terms while the Southern elite compromised the interests of the masses in return for jobs which had long been denied them”. This clearly shows how Southerners took advantage of the Addis Ababa agreement. Nonetheless those who hated the decentralisation of the Southern Region never forgave the agitators for the decentralisation. One would have hoped that the CPA should have brought with it lessons from the corrupt system under the Addis Ababa agreement to establish a system that wouldn’t encourage disunity again. Unfortunately the CPA may be a repeat of the unpleasant memories of the tribalistic system of the Southern Region. The same greed, insensitivity and tribal chauvinism that had characterised the system in the Southern Region seem to be on the increase again. It seems we have not learned lessons from the miserable failures of the Southern Region. We may be living on an active volcano. However, it is hoped that southern leaders of good will are capable of taking a deep look to reverse the trend of affairs to save Southern Sudan from utter disintegration.

In 1983 with formation of the SPLA that coincided with the decentralisation of the Southern Region many who saw that they had lost everything and had no future flocked in droves to join the SPLA with the obvious hope of regaining what was imagined to have been lost. The abuses inflicted on the people of Equatoria during the SPLA advances could be explained in the context of the hated decentralisation viewed as the “Kokora” of the Southern Region. Although it was the people of Equatoria who mostly agitated for decentralisation of the Southern Region, no Equatorian ever defected from the SPLA to join the NCP jihadists to launch a vicious attack on the SPLA as others did. Equatorians never disowned the SPLA. If it was not for the principled Equatorians things would have been different. Major General Isaac Obuto Mamur, an Equatorian who fought gallantly in the ranks of the SPLA is now languishing in prison or under house arrest. He has been under those conditions for quite some time. Keeping somebody in detention for so long without trial must be worrying to human right activitists. This is because this could be a case of human rights violation, detaining somebody indefinitely without trial.

When the Southern Region was decentralised all the assets of the former Southern Region were equally divided among the three created regions of Bahr el Gazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile. When the GOSS was created by the CPA Equatoria welcome the GOSS to Juba with open arms and even Central Equatoria State vacated its ministerial and assembly buildings for the GOSS to occupy at no cost at all. The Government of Central Equatoria State instead relocated to old buildings in a gesture of good will. Under normal circumstances the GOSS would have been planning to construct and occupy complete new ministries and assembly buildings in a reciprocal gesture of togetherness. However, the GOSS is still clinging to buildings that were legitimate property of Central Equatoria State. Worse still the GOSS had wanted to throw out altogether the Government of Central Equatoria State from Juba. That would have been unacceptable humiliation. This may remind one of the Arab and the camel story. The GOSS should think seriously of a new capital outside Juba if future problems are to be avoided in the interest of unity.

The establishment of the GOSS in Juba was an obvious blessing to others while a curse to those at the receiving end. I would, however, argue that the GOSS was a blessing in a wider perspective. The GOSS is a symbol and recognition of a people that they exist in the world. It is a step to nationhood. This will, however, depend on how southerners conduct themselves as a people in the interim period. The problem, though, is about insensitivity. This could be the problem of different cultures clashing. In Southern Sudan we have two dominant cultures that of the pastoralists and sedentary cultivators. Most of Equatoria and some parts of Bahr el Gazal are of sedentary cultivator culture while the rest of Southern Sudan is of pastoralist culture. The Southern Region administration under the Addis Ababa agreement was predominantly led by pastoralists and the result was disastrous. This may appear divisive but it is not meant to be so. When the leader is a pastoralist or of sedentary cultivation culture it is immaterial. It is the result or outcome of the administration that is the yardstick to measure success or failure of the system. It only happened that a pastoralist led on that occasion but with poor result. The present administration under the CPA is also led predominantly by pastoralists and is yet early to judge. However, failures of the Southern Region that nearly brought disunity may be repeated. This article attempts an analysis of a problem that may be a seed of disunity.

The main problem here as analysed in this article is land grabbing in Equatoria and particularly in Juba. A very tiny minority of pastoralists is a thorn in the flesh of the peaceful sedentary people of Juba. However, even though it is a very tiny minority, one rotten apple may spoil a full bag of apples. It should also be noted that a country is usually composed of different cultures but this does not mean that the cultures are in perpetual state of war against each other. As a country may be full of diversities so are the various cultures within the country. Peaceful co-existence is maintained through the rule of law, integration and respect for diversities. People of Southern Sudan are of one destiny whether they are pastoralists or sedentary cultivators. The war of liberation saw not only fought particularly by one group. It is therefore out of place for one group to claim special privileges as some people would like to convince others that they had sacrificed more than anybody. In Southern Sudan one may hear others saying we died here liberating you so we must occupy this land or we have been here for a long time so this land belongs to us. This is nothing but a real seed of disunity. Sedentary cultivators do not behave like that.

In Equatoria there are two main problems worrying citizens. Insecurity and land grabbing are the two problems. There are other problems too but in the context of this article insecurity and land grabbing are considered. Immediately after the CPA and the establishment GOSS any citizen would say security was hundred per cent. People said they could leave their doors open without any worry. They could also walk in the town until past midnight without any fear of insecurity. However, as time went security became a problem. Unexplained murders began to occur and a culture of lawlessness was reviving terrifying memories of the war era. People began to live in a state of fear for their lives. How on earth can this be acceptable in peace times brought by the CPA? Where is the peace dividend when insecurity is rampant? Land grabbing is another problem that causes a worry about unity. People are quick to preach about unity but are utter inefficient and ineffective in promoting unity. As usual a hard tiny core of insensitive thugs may cause untold misery. In Juba land grabbing has become a problem that a land grabbing committee has been formed to address the problem. According to one committee member resources will be mobilised to regain land grabbed from their legitimate owners who possess valid documents for the land. As to when this will take place is not clear. Land grabbers usually do not have valid papers for the ownership of the land. They abuse their positions to grab whatever land they can lay on their hands. With regards to land grabbing this author has experience intimidation that should not have occurred when there was a system that dealt severely with land grabbers. Unfortunately there is none and land grabbers have been seen beating up legitimate landowners.

To begin with the author went to the Survey Department in Juba to have his first class plot measured and pegged out because land grabbers had earlier disposed of the original pegs. Due to the serious problem of land grabbing two policemen were provided. This was because surveyors had been intimidated and beaten up by land grabbers. When the surveyors tried to measure and peg out the plot a citizen appeared from nowhere and yelled out an order to the surveyors to stop their work. The citizen walked away in a hurry only to reappear in a uniform as an SPLA soldier. One could then conclude the person was an SPLA soldier. In panic the poor surveyors fled. The soldier warned me not to do anything on the land. I was later told that the SPLA soldier was not in fact occupying the land in question. However, the SPLA soldier had claimed the land belonged to them, probably a claim of communal ownership. Another citizen in an SPLA T-shirt and a military camouflaged bottom who appeared like a soldier joined in by warning me to keep away from the area. One other citizen in plain clothes, in support of the other SPLA soldiers, challenged me that the land belonged to them before any survey work had ever taken place in the area. I asked the men to produce their legal papers for the ownership of the plot. They had none. The men tried by all means to intimidate me into submission. The policemen did nothing, not even uttering a word. Probably they felt also intimidated. In the heat of the moment I told those fellows that a man only dies once. The ringleader asked whether I wanted to die. I told him in no uncertain terms that I was ready to die for my property. This was the strength of feelings that the land grabbers in Equatoria and in Juba for that matter must be facing. If this is the case then it is a matter of time before an explosion takes place.

When tempers cooled after the heated exchanges the ringleader in a conciliatory tone said he went to the bush to bring freedom and so he was not out there to harass or threaten any citizen. In response I said a sight of an SPLA soldier should have been a reassuring sight in terms of security instead of the SPLA soldier harassing citizens. However, he was adamant that the land belonged to them. I challenged him to produce legal papers from the Survey Department in support of his claim to the land. There was none but the claim was that there were relevant documents in support of their case. I asked the soldier to produce those relevant documents. For efficiency I even offered the person to fetch the documents a lift in the car in which I was travelling. After a while the soldier disembarked saying I should wait for him at the Survey Department because he was bring the documents there. I proceeded and waited at the Survey Department for hours on end but there was no sign of the soldier. I left convinced that the land grabber’s intentions were to intimidate me into handing over my plot that I legally owned.

On a number of occasions I have observed people in SPLA uniform as soldiers harassed and beat up citizens. On the very day that the SPLA soldiers intimidated me I also witnessed a person in SPLA uniform slapping and kicking viciously a female traffic police opposite the traffic police offices near the Mulid Square in Juba. The soldier continued to assault the female traffic police while other male traffic policemen including an officer were trying to restrain and separate the two. I found it unacceptable that a uniform SPLA soldier could be savagely assaulting a female colleague in arms and in clear public view in such a very vicious manner. Something somewhere is not right in the SPLA as a professional army that is to protect the territorial integrity of Southern Sudan. It could have been that the SPLA soldier was provoked. However, where is the respect for the rule of law and order by a soldier in uniform when the soldier takes the law into his own hands? What will a civilian do if a man in uniform and the supposed guarantor of tranquillity and order is behaving so badly?

On another occasion in one of the open markets in Juba two armed soldiers in what was SPLA uniform were viciously slapping a helpless citizen. The soldiers were also threatening to hit the citizen with their rifles’ butts. The helpless citizen was pleading but to no avail. The soldiers seemed to enjoy humiliating the poor fellow or simply were showing off. It was difficult to know what the circumstances were leading to the beating up of the poor fellow. The SPLA should be conscious of polishing its image as a disciplined professional army of high quality not only quantity. It could have been that those SPLA soldiers were previous militias who were never behaving as disciplined professional army. One way of identifying an SPLA soldier in uniform is the SPLM flag on the right hand side of the arm.

To be fair not all is negative about the SPLA. There are SPLA soldiers who can demonstrate that they are for peace and fairness to citizens. While driving in the town between Al Sabah and Juba Teaching Hospital a contingent of SPLA soldiers on patrol stopped motorists to check in case of any security issue. This could have been a response to the menace of unruly gang of youth known as “niggers” who are terrorising the innocent ones. The visibility of soldiers on roads was a welcome sight. When I stopped a little before midnight six soldiers approached the car three on each side. I dreaded being asked who I was, what my occupation was and what was I doing at that hour. Fortunately the soldiers were very polite and respectful. This should be the norm of every SPLA soldier when dealing with civilians except in an emergency when the civilians are turning into criminals. I was only asked to put on the interior light so that the soldiers could see what was inside the car. I did and to their satisfaction the soldiers waved me off saying “ma salaam ya jenabo” which may be translated as “good night sir”. However, like in any army there are soldiers who are not up to standard. Those SPLA soldiers who are a nuisance to the society may fall into this category of good-for-nothing soldiers. Nonetheless to generalise that the SPLA is a bunch of reckless soldiers because of some misdeeds of irresponsible few is not fair. I have seen very respectful SPLA officers and soldiers who have the South in their hearts and so wouldn’t antagonise the civilians. There may, however, be a need to sensitise SPLA soldiers on the rule of law and respect for civilians for a mutual understanding. This should be one step in fostering unity in Southern Sudan.

It is a pity that land grabbers think of themselves as majestic and invincible warriors while others are nothing but cowards. Well sedentary people who respect borders like farmers do, are usually well behaved towards others, a characteristic which is unfortunately viewed as cowardice by land grabbers. In contrast the lands grabbers hardly respect borders because their search for green pastures dictate that they are blind to borders hence the frequent clashes with sedentary people. This is precisely what is taking place in Equatoria which is considered a permanent green pasture that must be occupied through the use of brute force. However, this all must come to a stop. The approach now should be “an eye for an eye” to check the arrogant and primitive behaviour of land grabbers. There must be time to say enough is enough. When a land grabber slaps you do not ever turn the other cheek but rather slap the land grabber twice harder. The land grabbers must be made aware that they are living on borrowed time or on active volcano.

After having said all that one way forward is for people to take stock of what might have gone wrong in the search for sustainable unity. Foremost an unreported land grabbing in Juba in particular and in Equatoria in general is a danger to unity. Doing nothing about land grabbing will be like watching a bridge being damaged without an adequate response to eliminate the damage for the sustainable use of the bridge. In Equatoria land has been grabbed with impunity. No Equatorian on the other hand has gone to other states to grab land from others. Eastern Equatoria State may be the model of development for the whole Southern Sudan because nobody from Eastern Equatoria is emigrating anywhere but are contented to develop their state. Unfortunately land grabbers are wasting their time leaving behind their states in a situation of utter neglect in development. What is so sweet about Equatoria? Well, Equatoria may be a land of civilisation and high moral values that is why it is so attractive. It is clear that the land of Equatoria is the one that the grabbers need but not the people. This was typical of what the Arabs from the North wanted from the South. How unity of Southern Sudan will be attractive is unknown. The fear of external enemy to galvanise unity is not enough when there is no internal cohesion because of the primitive behaviour of marauding pastoralists and land grabbers.

As said earlier the land grabbing behaviour is of a tiny minority of thugs. Given tribal politics these thugs may enjoy the sympathy of their tribesmen in positions of authority. However, the rule of law must prevail. The formation of land grabbing committee is a very positive step in the right direction. This has been a clear message that land grabbers must not be allowed to get away with their criminal activities of harassing law abiding citizens.

It could have been in the medieval times that people left their ancestral land only to occupy other people’s land through brute force as in the survival of the fittest or jungle law. The Europeans did that to the native Indians in the Americas. Should this also happen in modern-day Sudan? I hope not. It is only unfortunate that land grabbers behave like animals as when the animals feast on food crops. In a similar way land grabbers behave like animals by threatening violence for the land that does not belong to them. This may appear rude, offensive or even insensitive but anybody observing land grabbers in action may not fail to notice such behaviour. There is therefore no regret for the land grabbers deserve something much stronger and they will get it because absolute anger is simmering underneath.

*The author is a regular contributor to Sudan Tribune and can be reached at [email protected]