NCP-SPLM blame game and civilians protection

By Paul Achot

November 10, 2009 — The last attack on Duk Padiet in Jonglei State was not the first of its kind. The state has been a battleground for similar attacks for quite some time now, pitting different groups that reside in the state against each other. It is a scenario echoed in Lakes State, Upper Nile, Warrap, Central, Western and Eastern Equatoria states. With exception of only three states – Unity State (prior to the recent army standoff), Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal states – the semi-autonomous southern Sudan in its entirety is in a deadlock of tribal conflicts. The two partners to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the National Congress Party (NCP), and Sudan’s People Liberation Movement (SPLM) constantly trade accusations on the causes of violence. While Juba ruling party speaks of militias supported by NCP, Khartoum maintains that the tribal fighting is a demonstration of the failure of SPLM ruling. My article, therefore, examines the rampant intra-and inter-tribal conflicts in southern Sudan in the light of the two ruling parties’ blame game.

Against all laws of war and international conventions prohibiting the targeting of children, women, and non-combatants, innocent civilians are viciously being slaughtered at the watch of the two governing parties. As we march towards what is increasingly becoming a “war of all against all,” I am forced, like many of the masses in south Sudan to pose this very important question: upon who rests the responsibility to protect innocent civilians in southern Sudan?

One of the fundamental objects of sovereign responsibility has been recognized, as responsibility to its citizens. Central to this responsibility is the nation-state guaranteeing that the necessities and basic needs of its people are met and that the conflicts arising in their midst are adequately addressed. Khartoum’s records in that respect, under successive governments, both the military juntas and the democratically elected alike, have been very disappointing to say the least. From Dhein and al-Jabalayn massacres in the 1980s, to the current genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, civilians’ lives, and in particular, civilians from certain corners of the country are often deemed worthless. Autocratic states such as Sudan have successfully fended off international criticism of their dirty human rights record under the claim of sovereignty. It should be emphasized here that we are no longer in such a world in which the international community turns a blind eye from gross crimes that violate every precept of our common humanity. Sovereignty can no longer be an excuse for human rights violations. It entails responsibilities that nation-states and even semi-autonomous governments, such as the current one in southern Sudan, must answer to their peoples and the international community at large.

The National Congress Party and SPLM share power in the Government of National Unity (GONU) and the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) respectively, as mandated by the 2005 peace agreement between the two parties. As the two parties “claim to be the custodians of the identity and pride of the country, [both in Khartoum and Juba, they] must also assume the concomitant responsibilities.” Protecting civilians is one of these responsibilities. However, since the start of ever-worsening intra-and inter-tribal conflicts in southern Sudan, the two governing parties offered no plan to address the issue. Instead, they resorted to trading accusations on who is fuelling the conflict. Al-Bashir’s NCP is notoriously well known for its lethal tactics of supporting certain groups against others to advance its own agenda; and I am convinced that it may very much be behind the intra-and inter-tribal escalation in southern Sudan. The conflict in Darfur has proved beyond any doubt the extent to which this group could go in order to preserve its control of power in the country. The assertion by numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the most powerful nation on earth, the USA, regarding the existence of genocide, war crimes and other gross crimes against humanity in Darfur have not led the regime to any sort of cooperation that would put to rest the crimes of which it is accused of committing. Moreover, the indictment of al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not resulted in collaboration either. But, hold on. Before blaming it all on the NCP there is an argument to be made with respect to the role of the southern governing party, the SPLM, in the southern intra-and inter-tribal conflicts as well.

Despite the fact that the National Congress Party enjoys the lion’s share in the GONU, its partner, the SPLM, holds a reasonable share that cannot necessarily bring down the government, but can influence its direction significantly if used effectively. At least that was the hope the Sudanese masses bought into during the signing of the CPA. Five years since the signing of the agreement and its implementation and the role-played by SPLM amounted to nothing more than a guerilla movement role, not a mature political party with a serious stake in power-sharing. The party still very much suffers from what I call the bush symptoms of protest politics and scape-goating. Time and time again, the party proves it is lacking pragmatism necessary to deal with NCP’s destructive tactics to affect democratic reforms and the implementation of the CPA.

It should not come as a surprise that the NCP is doing everything possible to undermine the CPA and specifically the referendum in southern Sudan. This should serve as a reminder to those who were under the illusion that the NCP was going to hand over the South on a golden plate. The struggle’s most difficult and imperative part, in the fulfillment of the masses’ aspirations in all of the country’s marginalized regions, is yet to come; and SPLM appears beyond any shadow of a doubt, unprepared, impotent and above all visionless and unworthy of representing the marginalized peoples’ aspirations.

As a proponent of the CPA, the claim by the SPLM of its partner in the agreement and power-sharing, the NCP inflaming the ever growing intra-and inter-tribal conflicts in the south, deserves to be investigated and must not be allowed to go unquestioned. If the claim happens to be true, further action must be taken. In my view, nothing can be more important than preserving the lives of citizens and that should be the prime objective of the SPLM. Not the CPA or even the referendum that will determine the fate of southern Sudan should transcend that. What good would an independent south do if it were cleansed of its inhabitants?

It is mind-boggling that these tribal insanities have been targeting the vulnerable such as children and women, and simply claiming that they are instigated by the NCP raises eyebrows. Blaming Jalaba for our intra-and inter-tribal wars makes good politics, but when these wars involved indiscriminate killings of children and women, Nuer against Nuer like the last fighting in Unity State, or Dinka clans slaughtering themselves such as what is taking place in Rumbek area of Lakes State, blaming it on the National Congress Party makes no sense whatsoever. Against the repeated claim of the officials, there is more to intra-and inter-tribal madness in southern Sudan than the accusation of al-Bashir’s ruling NCP Party. “There has been very, very little evidence presented to basically prove that these allegations are true,” according to EJ Hogendoorn, International Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa project director. I say that not in defense of a well-known genocidal regime, but in order to unmask the actual reasons behind the unprecedented intra-and inter-tribal fighting that the south has never known before, and I precisely mean the killing of non-combatants. Not even the long civil war between the north and the south had ever targeted children and women.

Some have already named a few reasons for intra-and inter-tribal conflicts, such as, the historic cattle rustling and disputes over natural resources, disputes over land and even power struggles and so forth. These examples demonstrate the seriousness of the situation in the south and ironically, they reveal the absence of a responsible government. In a region awash with automatic weapons left over from one of the most devastating conflicts on the continent, citizens expect more from their government. Instead, what they get is blame after blame. What is currently taking place in southern Sudan, as David Gressly, regional coordinator for the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in charge of monitoring the CPA between north and south aptly points out, “is a significant law and order problem and one that the government of southern Sudan needs to stand up and address.”

Let me round off this by reiterating that given the grotesqueness of the current intra-and inter-tribal conflicts in southern Sudan, the SPLM’s repeated accusations of its partner, the National Congress Party, to be the prime instigator of the ever-growing intra-and inter-tribal conflicts must be investigated. If proven behind any reasonable doubt, it should be brought to the attention of the parties responsible for the implementation of the CPA or even take it to Hague if necessary. However, waiting until another wild attack to just blame the NCP for what appears to be the absence of a responsible government that would step up to the plate and tackle the real issue igniting the intra-and inter-tribal fighting will further demonstrate that civilians’ lives in southern Sudan are worthless to both Juba and Khartoum.

Paul A. Achobek is a political science student at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He can be reached at [email protected]