Talking differently about peace and reconciliation

By Tut Daub Jiah

September 27, 2009 — The principal audiences of this piece are: Southern Sudan Peace Commission, Jonglei State Authorities, and all the warring communities Southern Sudan wide.

To begin with, one would wonder as of whether the so-called Peace and Reconciliations conferences being held under the guardianship of the above mentioned Southern Sudan Government Agency, otherwise acronyms as (SSPC), mean the intended objectives (Peace and Reconciliation), or just a matter of down-to-earth public relations drill

In a very small way, this author would not; in any way, attempt to pinpoint a blaming finger to any body or group, but rather share his opinions on what he thinks would be the way forward, no more no less.

Following the establishment of GoSS in 2005, some drastic measures were taken to restore law and order after the civil war. Out of many, civilian’s disarmament featured the first in the list. However, the methodologies to carry out those measures became questionable, at least in the part of outside circles. Some outspoken Southerners did not wait longer in criticizing what they thought as a wrongfully designed disarmament Mission. The unsighted cohorts of the move were bitterly defensive and predestined those who questioned the wisdom of implantation of a National Project in a very small segment of the land in a very reckless manner.

It did not take that long for the supporters of Lou Nuer Community’s disarmament to realize that all of them were not on the same page. Each group had its own reason attached to the goodness of that community’s disarmament.

It’s worth mentioning that the post 91’ era has been marked by the wave of violent across the entire region, which in turned left mistrust among all different communities that can not be ignored. For many, if not all, disarmament approach should have been chauvinistic and not based on passion Revenge and counter revenge should have been minimized if the government strategically drew a plan that aimed at tranquilization of the whole region after the upheaval brought about by the protracted civil strive

The unfruitful talks about peace and reconciliations that have been conducted since 2005, some of which were chaired by the very people in charge of the Southern Region and second in the whole Nation, are proven to be good only for mere public relations. However, one thing we the leaders should be aware of is that no matter what plans we have in back of our mind about the looming insecurity in our region, we will never run away with it. In other words, we would not be able to justify our negligent to our disgruntle mass

Let’s stop a bit and give some account on what happened some years ago in Southern Sudan after the 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Agreement (AAPA). The deep-rooted mistrust between the North and South had created some level of insecurity only one (1) year after the peace and establishment of the Regional Government in the South. The so-called “Left Turned” had to regroup and formed what became known latter as Anya II in 1975, which is in fact the Nucleus of the current well known SPLA/M. Between 1975 and 1983, the Anya II elements were being accused of being “Anti Development” and given all the hideous names by our then Regional Government. Latter on, they became a formidable force to reckon with.

Go to Darfur conflict, we know what did the successive governments in Khartoum used to call what had been happening up there until it became a serious matter that shall or had eventually cost the first man of the country and his Associates some hours of their peaceful nights. Giving a wrong name for the sake of denying the truth on ground always is costly. As such, we need to be realistic when we face some challenges.

Considering the above mentioned political developments in our own country, what are we going to make out of what we call “Unconfirmed” groups of the SPLA today? Could some one possibly predict that a “Liberation Movement” has already been started some years before the “South Sudan independence”, if at all it happens?

We term the current wave of violent either as “Cattle Wrestling”, or “Tribal Conflicts/dispute”. These terms are not strange to all of us, for we have been hearing them time and time again, especially from Khartoum government to deny what had been happening in Darfur and branding it as “Armed Rubbery”. To rebound the same behavior from the North would not save us from our frustrated communities. For some of us in the lower caliber of the system, we take the inability of our government to disarm the civil population as a hidden agenda that is only known to our top decision-makers, because it is virtually impossible for an established government like ours to be over-smart by its own citizenry.

Many people would agree with this author in some of the following points of weakness in our exercise of leadership:

1. Our communities are being represented in the government(Executive, Judiciary and Legislature) as well as the parties leadership by individuals who have lost touch with them;

2. Our decision-makers are not operating the government as a team; each one of them is waiting to be the President, Chairman and C-In-C or a Governor of the State or a Commissioner of the County to constructively contribute his/her ideas that could turn things around;

3. The Heads of our states might not be entertaining some inputs from their areas’ intellectuals and the likes; as a result, their opponents embark on such activities as blackmailing, sabotaging, undermining and conspiracy;

4. As the civil populations are heavily armed, the Commissioners end up being led instead of them leading their respective counties; failure to comply with what the villagers wanted to do, means losing their supports, and eventually unseated the Commissioner through a massive crusade;

5. Checks and Balance system in our region is either bridged or ignored (Those who are in the executive organ of the ruling party, the SPLM, are the ones also leading the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary Branches of the government at all levels, giving no room for the party to check the government’s programmes as of whether or not they are strategic.)

These and some unlisted factors play a good deal in our government’s weakness. This manifested itself when our President orders an investigation to an incident, the result never come back. This is simply because the leads are touching some of these executives It is nevertheless not too late to curb the current state of affairs in our country, if we genuinely reassess our current stance towards our scrawny nation building mechanisms, which continue to exasperate, even our neighboring and friendly countries.

Disarming our civil population shouldn’t have been difficult as it is today if a correct contour was mapped out by the concerned authority within our leadership. As part and parcel of this nation, one would not be shilly-shally to put forth these few points as food for thought for the benefit of those who may share the same concerns:

1. Let the disarmament be carried out by local Chiefs in conjunction with their sons and daughters representing them in all levels of the government (GoNU, GoSS, Sates)

2. The President should declare a disarmament Week throughout Southern Sudan, when each and every community surrender its weapons to the local authority.

3. SPLA should only serve as a monitoring agent and not the main participant to the disarmament as some circles want it to be.

4. President should give all-out directives that any community that will attack its disarmed community after this must face the government fittingly.

5. Let the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) be use for Projects that involve the disarmed Youth to deter them from reacquiring new armaments.

Conclusively, I sincerely pass my condolence to families, relatives, and love ones of those communities who are affected, directly or indirectly by unwarranted fights in Akobo, Fibor, Tuich East and Duk Counties. May the Almighty rest their souls in Internal Peace, Amen!

The author can be reached at [email protected]