A Better approach to peaceful disarmament in South Sudan
By Peter Chuol Biel
September 25, 2009 — As a citizen of South Sudan, I would wish to provide the best case scenario on peaceful disarmament of civilians throughout Southern Sudan. First, it’s so clear that our civil population has acquired more guns and arms than ever before when SPLA/M was still active on the ground.
Although I have greatly disagreed with overall civilian killings in the state of Jonglei, I believe the approach must be completely different from that of H.E Minister of Internal Affairs, General Gier Chuang Aluong who stated in his press statement that: “There is no way the government can allow her civil populations be massacred at will.” This begs the following questions as to who massacres the civil population. Have they not been the civilians themselves killing each other every day? I believe the correct statement should have been the government cannot allow her civil populations to massacre themselves at will if a righteous government is in place.
Based in the paragraph two above made by H.E the Minister of Internal Affairs, Government of Southern Sudan, I fear the result of such a move using our nation armies against the civilian populations is not the best policy of the government.
As educated citizens within the government of Southern Sudan, if our aims were to establish, build a peaceful and prosperous nation, it is my believe the best approach to a such gigantic problem of arms at the hands of our civilians in Southern Sudan can be solved by employing the following ten criteria rather than fighting them. They include:
1. Organize forums with local communities throughout ten states especially with the Youth and Elders;
2. Hold conferences with chiefs and communities leaders at all levels to promote trust and at the same time collect information on who has what and how many guns in the community as it was discussed in May 10 -17, 2009 in Bentiu, Unity State;
3. Exchange policy approach, meaning guns for money kind of idea;
4. Promote service delivery, meaning health care centers, schools, and agricultural programs in exchange for guns;
5. Provide enough both military and police posts and use community Watch Dog Policing along state boundaries;
6. Encourage these idol NGOs to implement their programs and hold them accountable on service delivery according to their own area of specialties;
7. If any of the NGOs can’t perform, rebuke its operating licenses and send it out of Southern Sudan and therefore reinitiate policies for its re-entry into the country;
8. Political leaders in state and GoSS must come out and tell the civilians how good it is to give up the arms;
9. Send all the MPs to their constituencies to preach to their own people the importance of peace and security. The same policy on performing to the NGOs apply to them, that is remove them and bring in others who will carry out the will of the government of the Southern Sudan;
10. Our President and his Vice must make it a habit to visit all states and dialogue with the people for the need of peace and disarmament.
Generally, guns ownership is a rightful thing for citizens who could only use them in case of self-defense. Personally, I discourage so much the use of military force against civil populations because it saves no purpose for doing so.
In my true humble opinion, the best government is the one that respects the will of its own people while providing all the necessary protection for them. Based on such factualism of challenges, there is no need for forceful disarmament of the civilian population without exhausting the above options throughout the Southern States.
Furthermore, I warn the government not to be mistaken again like what had taken place in the state of Jonglei between the SPLA and Lou Nuer civil populations in 2007. Therefore, being smart in approaches on issues of disarmament is crucial to the good governance. As far as my knowledge of government is concerned, no citizen in the right mind would hate the government of his country unless that government is not delivering its best for its citizens.
In light of the above, I am promptly encouraging both state governments and the GoSS to care for their citizens since they are the future of this country. If the above mentioned criteria are applied strongly by the southern Sudan authorities, I believe things can change greatly and the South will become a peaceful place. I am not saying that these approaches are less expensive or less costly.
It must be put in mind that each step taken it comes with its own cost; however it is less expensive than the prices that our people are paying in blood shed through unauthorized guns ownership by villagers. This will help sustain the community especially those who have guns if they wisely cash in their guns to the Government of Southern Sudan in exchange for money.
The author works for the Government of Southern Sudan in Juba and can be reached at: [email protected]
Dinka Boy
Nuer are born empty and will die empty,
” Born empty and will die empty”.
Dear brothers i don,t feel like commending to this fools Called Chuol Biel. The above quote resemble you indeed.
Your commemd seem covering Criminal nuer lou who killed innocents people in the South.
Mr Gier Aluong hasn,t said any thing different from the truth,
He said SPLA need to protect the lives of civilians being attack by militia.
You are worried because you simply knows that SPLA have the military equipment like nuer militia does, and Civilians lack those weaponary.
I doubt of you telling the truth because you have hided since several attacks against the country that is why i said born empty and will die empty.
You are like hynea who diverge,but appear when smell the rotten meat.
Thanks mr Criminal nuer lou.
Bol Akoch Buoi
A Better approach to peaceful disarmament in South Sudan
Dear Peter, all you have stated have been done so far by the government of Southern Sudan except points number three (3) & (5. There is no other way for our people to handover their guns other then forceful disarmament. As you quote the minster of Interior Affairs H.E. Gier Chuang said that his governement will not allow her citizens be “massacred at will” which is correct, no citizen is allowed to die in any how. But you have intepreted wrongily which you should not do so because you are an intellectual person who should be honest and fair at judgement. The Minister does not intend to protect any particular community nor does he means any particular group not to be or be allowed to be massacred at will by the Governemnt. But your intepretation is more bais brother. Nuer and Dinka must acknowledge their contributions they made toward Southern Sudan liberation and must accept one another for better living. Just to let you know that in any country, laws are enforced inorder to work effectively.
Moses Kur Akech
A Better approach to peaceful disarmament in South Sudan
Peter,your proposals for peaceful disarmaments are correct and would even be more democratic and professional if GOSS primarily introduces disarmament Act and Firearms laws and ratify those laws into GOSS Constitution before carrying out disarmament. All of these have would happened long time ago had government been so proactive enough.
However, I repudiate your criticism of Gier’s statement in relation to recent attack. First, the assailants of the recent Duk attack evidently were well-armed with G3. G3 is a type of gun commonly found with Northern Army not SPLA. G3 is a strong evidence which indicates that these assailants if not militias have strong link to Khartoum and I believe that Khartoum is the very undoubted Source of firearms to both murle outlaws and Lou-nuer White-Army. As you mentioned in your article that Lou-Nuer was disarmed in the past, commonsense could ask where they actually rearmed themselves with G3 guns in such a large number which resulted in such carnage and destruction of such magnitude in Duk.
Thus, I believe Gier has rightly put it because Khartoum wants to covertly exploit vulnerability of weak hearted and unfuturistic Southerners to prove its baseless propaganda of ungovernable South. Khartoum is the power behind the thrown in relation to these strings of incidents in Jonglei whereas GOSS is too naive and amateur to pre-emptively and intelligently foil those moves. It has taken long for GOSS to disarm its armed populace and establish robust border security to control illegal flow of firearms aimed at poisoning its peaceful existence.
J.James
A Better approach to peaceful disarmament in South Sudan
Biel that right
Those who refuse your suggestions are failures who want to fail south Sudan and Kiir’s government.
I know there are people here who want to solve the problem in the South by exterminating other ethnic groups for them to take over the whole country but God will not accept that.
Peaceful disarmamnt is the only solution but physical approach will be the end of CPA and GOSS itself becaue there are people out there who want war in SouthSudan to topple GOSS believe me or not it is have to you.
God bless
The writer is watching closely.
Gatkuoth
A Better approach to peaceful disarmament in South Sudan
My friend, when Lou-Nuer is going to change?
Comments less my friend.
H.E has taken the right procedures.
This group are Nuer by nature but they are militia who want to destablise Southern Sudan and we will proof them wrong.
it is not a question of being a Dinka or Nuer but the activities the group is doing tell us who are they.
Secondly, you should condemn this act as Bor was destructed by Lou-Nuer in 1991. Lou-Nuer shouldn’t repeating attacking Bor again.
Dr. Riak machar should advise his friends of 1991.
Enjoy your day but your friend Lou-Nuer need a lot of change.
Akol Liai Mager
A Better approach to peaceful disarmament in South Sudan
Before commenting on Mr Chuol Biel 10 Criteria for fixing insecurity in South Sudan, let rehighlight this point “who fuels Civilian killing themselves in the South and who will benefit from it”?
I hate throwing blames here and there with no good reasons, but I love doing so when there are fresh evidences as basis to blaming others. The above point that I would like to rehighlight has many evidences to hold Northern Sudan’s Arab and Islamic Sectarian Parties responsible for what is happening in the South for these reasons; revenge, window for reoccupation and attempts to burry their genocides and massacres they have committed in the South for centuries in collaborations with foreign invaders and alone in many cases. Let’s briefly investigate the above reasons, together let us examine these reaons and you will find some evidences.
Revenge; Northern Sectarian parties has been saying every now and then that, they will create hatred in the South as British did by telling southerners to wage war against northerners in the south and 1955 Torit’s Popular Uprsing (Feel free to call it rebellion if you are a northerner) was a British make according to northern sectarian oppressors. For a history to repeat itself in different form and time; northern sectarian parties are making a Torit’s like situation in the south after they have been forced to leave the south for six years entrime period and may be for ever as southerners majority seemed to be backing independence.
A window for reoccupation of the South, it has never absent in northern sectarian official and non-offical councils that southerners will not be able to govern themselves and therefore, should remain to be governed by us. I will leave it open to my fellow readers to find out some ways or forms of which northerners can make their dreams, that southerners cannot govern themselves come true. One of the things that tells there are attempts to reoccupy southern Sudan is that NIF leaders are now preparing for a military action in the south undetr the cover of humanitarian intervention. I am not hoping for it, it is their reactions to Jonglei incidents that suggest.
Attempts to burry genocides and massacres committed by northerners in the south. Is it not true that northern sectarian parties are trying to divert New Sudan’s future move to investigate those genocides and massacres to a dictated direction? Why not should I see Jonglei incidents with my own sense that NIF and its allies are implementing their promises to create unresolvable hatred in the South.
A message to the so-called Awallad Al Belled; not only southerners are able to govern themselves, they are capable of governing the whole Sudan. It is the northern separatists before southern separatists that have separated north from rest of the country. Someone said the truth in his comment on this web that; “Ali Othman Mohd. Taha would have been a SPLM member by now, only six years entrime period would have been the one separating us from a new Secular United Sudan if the northern separatists did not kill Garang Mabior.” That’s true, but a New secular United Sudan is still possible and it will just come to an end when northerners endorse the division of the country by re-electing NIF and its northern separatist allies.
Let’s come back to Mr Biel’s ten criteria: I disagree with some criteria and with a sequence of others.
I already bored the readers by making long comment and for this reason I will not address those criteria one at a time. So, my own criteria are as follows:
1. SSLA must make laws for disarment and put heavy penalties and fine against the perpetrators.
2. Interior affairs minister must draft a bill for the creation of Prompt Riot Intervention Polic Force (RIPF) and forawrd it to SSLA to endorse it at an emergency sitting.
3. The RIPF must be equiped with necessary and modern arms and equipments to enable it implement the law and protect unarmed civilians.
4. The RIPF must then be ordered by GOSS to carry out a quick and force disarment through out ten states and from here I will add Mr Biel’s criteria list and make it 14 criteria with more room for others to add any items they may want added onto the list.