South Sudan USSP slams Solana support for unity

Sudan Tribune of 3 September, 2009, reported European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, as declaring in Cairo, Egypt, on 2 September, 2009, that…”It is very important to have that country united”, referring to the Sudan.

United South Sudan Party (USSP) joins Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, Mr Solana’s proposal for a one solution (unity) for Sudan, a solution which has been tried many times since the independence of Sudan in 1956 and has failed all along. Does Mr Solana think that South Sudan’s struggle for freedom and independence since the eve of Sudan’s independence in 1956, as a result of which an estimated 3 million people have lost their lives, as something to be reversed just because of his personal and inconsiderate wishes? Mr Solana’s stand shows that, because he lives a comfortable and dignified life under independence and freedom, he does not actually care how those of us in places such as South Sudan suffer from oppression, humiliation, dehumanisation and indignity. Mr Solana, who is a leader in a democratic system, thinks democratic rights are an exclusive prerogative of only certain types of human beings like himself and his friends in Northern Sudan and Egypt. What right does Mr Solana have of undoing what has been done through a great deal of effort by many international bodies and governments and which has culminated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)? Organisations such as IGAD and governments such as the United States of America, United Kingdom, Norway and others that have been genuinely impartial, worked tirelessly to try and find a just solution to the irreconcilable differences between South Sudan and Northern Sudan and that is why we have the CPA today which empowers the oppressed people of South Sudan to exercise their democratic right of free choice. Here, Mr Solana, who is supposed to uphold democracy, is, in fact, trying to deny South Sudan of that very democratic right. What a double standard?

Any peace loving nations of the world should pay no heed to what Mr Solana is advocating because his suggestion is the surest way to plunge South Sudan into another round of civil war and further loss of human lives. The surest way to sustain the current fragile peace and make it permanent is to support the total and transparent implementation of the CPA and to allow South Sudanese to make their free choice.

Another thing Mr Solana needs to know is that much of the insecurity in South Sudan is actually created by Northern Sudan. Incidents of Khartoum-backed Janjaweed who make incursions into South Sudan to loot, burn villages and kidnap women and children, is well documented. It is common knowledge in South Sudan, and Mr Solana may carry out his own research to establish the facts for himself, that Khartoum has all along supported the Ugandan rebels, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who are presently causing insecurity and havoc in South Sudan. Khartoum has also been arming militia in South Sudan. Khartoum has time and again used the tactic of ‘divide and rule’ in South Sudan to cause conflict among South Sudanese in order to further its own agenda. This means that, once Khartoum’s influence has been cut off, South Sudan will settle down much more harmoniously than at present. So, the case for the independence of South Sudan is more compelling than any alternative arrangement. However, what is more acceptable is to let the democratic process of allowing the people of South Sudan to choose for themselves what they want, instead of Mr Solana imposing an unpopular solution on them because that approach reminds us of colonialism!

USSP wants to assure concerned individuals, organisations and nations that South Sudan will be a viable nation under a proper leadership. The present poor image which hangs over South Sudan is just because of an unelected poor leadership. Things will be much, much better under a democratically elected competent South Sudanese leadership. Therefore, South Sudan should not be denied its right.

Brian Badi

Deputy Leader

USSP