Why SPLM and NCP Must Be in the Sudan Government

Why SPLM and NCP Must Be in the Sudan Government as Catholic Married Partners

*By James Okuk

February 4, 2009 — As I write this article, I would like to salute the late heroes of Peace in the Sudan, especially Dr. John Garang de Mabior. I would also like to salute the prominent South Sudan intellectual and political veterans, H.E. Bona Malwal and Hon. Dr. Lam Akol and unmentioned others of high calibre who are faithful to the dignity of South Sudan, keen in understanding of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) within the context of complex Sudanese and foreign politics of interests, and firm in their stand for realization of self-determination for the people of Southern Sudan. I am saluting them not to flatter but to acknowledge the good work they have done so far and so best. I encourage other intellectuals and politicians who are behind time to catch up with these veterans and join them in their noble visions for South Sudan. Happy are those who acclaim the dignity of the South whatever some temporary internal problems it has. Happy are those who find joy everyday in the name of the South and who make love, respect, peace and justice the source of their bliss. One day the South will see a great light as the yoke that was weighing heavily upon it and the rod of its oppressors shall be broken. Something sweet for the joy of the people shall come out from the dead lion jaws. Any cloak rolled in the blood of the innocent citizens shall be burnt in eternal fire.

Last year an elder told me that he is finding it hard to match my mind with my age because I appear as small boy in body but a tough big man in head. “In my first glance and interaction with you, I use to belittle and ignore you but later when I discovered who you are, I started to admire and respect you,” said the elder. He looked me straight in the eye and strongly told me to keep up the good character I am building out of myself and never get tempted to be silenced with money or other threats. On my side, I thanked him for his positive notice and assured him that I strongly believe in power of knowledge more than power of money, luxury or gun. I told him that I am aware very well that some fake and unpatriotic Southerners have been busy enough siphoning the common rights and peace dividends of the poor people of South Sudan into their own private affairs that they are protecting by gun-power. I promised him that I will never get tempted to join this club of burglars even if I have to live and die poor like Karl Marx of Germany or Aggrey Jaden of South Sudan (please note that I am not saying Aggrey Jaden was a communist). I also assured him that from my childhood up to the moment, I have been busy siphoning noble strategic knowledge and skills into my mind and heart and sharing it with the public whenever I find it necessary to do so. I told him that I am deeply convinced the dignified future of South Sudan will only be shaped by honest people and never by shameless parasitic thuggish thieves; God shall humble the wicked to the dust and exult to the air those who anger and thirst for what is right when it is good.

The elder may have a point in evaluating my personality but this is not the point of discussion here. What I want to argue out truthfully and logically is how I think it is very necessary for the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) and National Congress (NCP) to keep on with the agreed partnership for the sake of joint and full implementation of the CPA till its expiry date at the end of the six-year interim period for the caretaker government – with all its levels – of the temporary unified one Sudan. My premises for this thesis are:

1. The SPLM and NCP are the ‘native owners’ of the CPA who have signed a government contract (not necessarily a social compact) publicly with international witnesses, obliged themselves constitutionally, and stated it categorically that they will be the leading partners to implement this agreement jointly and fully(read Chapeau and Machakos Protocol). This de jure hard fact is rarely comprehended by the arrogant cadres from SPLM and NCP. These imprudent or wicked political fanatics do not want to understand that the CPA is supposed to be a binding Catholic Marriage (No divorce) for the entire period of its life-span (2005 – 2011). Thus, these fanatics need to be tamed or distanced from echelons of government or from the two-partner parties’ decision-making position in the South or North before it is too late to neutralize their excreted poisons.

2. The CPA will not be jointly and fully implemented in letter and spirit if one of its major partners jump outside the Sudan government or assumed an opposition role against it. Without SPLM-NCP Catholic Partnership and Mutual Cooperation in the management of diverse public affairs of Sudanese constitutionally, the CPA will never survive to reach its maturity and destined age. If there were some secret gentlemen deals in Naivasha or elsewhere, these should be suppressed as illegal and not allowed to surface openly from their tacit forms. Such kinds of secret individual contracts are not sacred to be entertained at the moment, because they will surely spoil the broth of the CPA before the people of Southern Sudan reach the desired point of emptying the dish and calling for more if at all there will be any need. The other minor partners who were invited after the table have been prepared and the CPA broth put on it for ready consumption, should be encouraged to continue sitting on the table; otherwise if any of them chose to leave earlier before the last prayers are said, the boycott will not spoil the banquet.

3. The experts of conflict resolutions have confessed that the CPA has set the best model for resolving other national conflicts and also other regional conflicts in Africa. This is a credit the two native partners of the CPA should be proud of and never negate it by any defiant behaviour. The consequences of aborting the CPA from the womb of Sudanese politics of governance will never be desirable, nor will any other conflicting parties come up at the end of the ‘new war’ with any best document than the CPA. They will only go back to ‘square one’ in order to come back to ‘square two’ to lick their vomit without any thing new to offer after the waste of material resources and human lives.

4. If SPLM and NCP decided to make the CPA a non-binding document by declaring it as a Non-Quranic or Non-Biblical Holy Book to be faithful to all the time, then the following difficult and disastrous repercussions will come up:

a) The sitting President of the Sudan may unconstitutionally declare a “State of Emergency” in the country without consulting or reaching into a consensus with his colleagues at the Presidency (especially the 1st Vice President), and without invoking the required constitutional paths for such a decision. Such decree will immediately mean dissolution of parliament, cabinet and any other constitutional body until further notice. It will mark the beginning of the end of constitutional democracy that was ushered in by the CPA and other invisible forces. Once this has been affirmed, also the Parliament in South Sudan will decree a “Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI)” de facto from the August House (because by then, they shall not have any constitutional power de jure). Since the constitution of Southern Sudan is just a corollary to the Interim National Constitution of the Sudan, then once the national constitution has been repealed also the Southern Sudan Constitution and any other appendixes constitutions will lose their legal force. The people of Transitional Areas (Blue Nile and South Kordofan States and Abyei Area) shall be put into dilemma as to which side they will have to join? The International Community and African Regional Communities shall be put into a dilemma too whether to recognize the de facto declared sovereign governments in Khartoum or/and Juba. The country will stay without a law for sometimes except the jungle law, which is the best for the fittest only. But who shall be the fittest; Juba or Khartoum? The answer to this question involves sensitive military secrets and intelligence and I am not in a position to answer it here. Those who want to take the South back to the state of war through their political imprudence should answer this question to justify their move.

b) Once Khartoum and Juba became seats of two heads of separate sovereign states de facto, the two giant elephants may then get into the ‘war of borders’ with many innocent citizens becoming victims of this situation and double troubles. I am emphasizing the “war of borders” here because neither Khartoum nor Juba will have legal guts to say it is fighting the ‘war of rebellion and illegitimacy’ from the other side, since both of them would have acted unconstitutionally and proving Yash Pal Gai thesis that Africa is the best graveyard for the best constitutions. The unilaterally declared country of South Sudan may try to defend its territory according to the demarcation that will suit its interests. Also the government of Northern Sudan (though it may try to call itself the government of the Sudan) may try to put its military forces on the borders that will suit it too according to oil reserves or other natural valuables like fertile lands for agriculture. The clashes of the two heavy military forces in the territorial war may cause the grasses of the Transitional Areas to suffer since it is going to be a war between two giant elephants whose military capacity build-up have been going on for sometimes now. But this time, it may not be a war between voluntary guerrilla gallants and paid government army, but a war between two strong armies of two neighbouring countries. This would mean that any weapon that each side would lay hands upon may be used without remorse. Bombs and missiles may rain down from sky with unimagined lightnings and thunders to destroy many human lives and properties. Buildings in both Khartoum and Juba may be brought down to smoke and ashes. Dollars and Euros business of Emergency or humanitarian NGOs and UN agencies (who care so much for their lucrative salaries) may boom as magnitude of refugees and IDPs get greater. Countries in the East and West that do war business will be very happy to make good economic income from arms and ammunitions sales to Juba and/or Khartoum. Western Media (like CNN and BBC) will be very happy to find very bad news to broadcast and portray Africa as a continent of human savages.

5. The dirty war affair between Juba and Khartoum may get on for sometimes before intensive mediation efforts or intervention from the international community kick off. The international community may take it upon itself to draw borders between the two warring de facto countries after a negotiated compromise has been reached, and after the interests of the giant countries that control the UN has been secured. Once the peace has been made, with UN military forces deployed in-between the two warring countries to keep this peace and ensure that Juba and Khartoum would not strike each other again, then the two divided entity shall start to employ ways and means to create constitutional legitimacy if they think that being a democratic country is the best option to go for. Otherwise each of these independent countries shall be free to choose any form of governance (even if it is undemocratic) as long as it is agreeable to her people and suitable to her international relations with other countries in the world.

From these premises, the thesis above becomes the possible truthful (not only logical) conclusion to avoid using a wrong mean to justify a right end. There is no need to vomit the CPA from the womb of Sudanese politics of government at the moment since the end result is going to be the same whatever the opted means: 1) the democratic peaceful means of self-determination for the people of Southern Sudan in a plebiscite of December 2011(the end of the six-year of interim period) shall result in constitutional declaration of the independence of South Sudan with good neighbourhood and friendly bilateral relations with North Sudan Country; 2) the unconstitutional violent means of self-determination for the people of Southern Sudan in case of declared state of emergency and divorce warrant of SPLM-NCP partnership will also results in declaration of independence of South Sudan de facto; in fact, it will be a short cut. But since the end will be the same though the means might be different, it is wise enough to choose good and rights means. Dear SPLM and NCP put “little love” into your politics for the sake of implementing and safeguarding the CPA jointly and fully.

*James Okuk is a PhD student in University of Nairobi reachable at [email protected]