Pigi belongs to Shilluk in Upper Nile not Dinka of Jonglei

By James Okuk

November 15, 2009 — A Dinka reporter in Bor town wrote this misleading statement: “Group of armed men reportedly identified as members of Shilluk tribe from Upper Nile State attacked a Dinka village of Pigi county in the extreme east of Malakal town on Wednesday on the other side of Jonglei.” This is misleading report because Pigi is not and will never be a Dinka village of Jonglei state because it has been and it will always be a Shilluk area according to 1956 administrative territorial maps.

The Canal Area has been known as “Wig Pigi” in Shilluk language; meaning the meeting and mixing place of waters of the White Nile and Sobat River where it looks like a “whirling point – Pigi”. This area has been one of the major fishing points for the Shilluk before the Dinka of Padang in Jonglei state came to discover what a river is and how delicious the fish that are caught there are. Part of what ignited the fight that took place on Wednesday in Canal area (Pigi) was the brutal abuse of a Shilluk fisherman by some Dinka elements in police uniform stationed in a post there. They stopped his boat and tried to take his fish by force without pay. When he protested, they shot him dead at the spot. This evil action sent a sad signal to the Shilluk people in the area.

But the Major General Kuol Diem Kuol, the Spokesman of SPLA ignores the root cause of the fight and instead said shallowly: “A teacher was killed and two policemen and two SPLA were wounded — one seriously.” He added that “Eight attackers were also killed, and from the tribal marks on their heads they were identified as being Shilluk people.”

Yes! Mr. SPLA spokesman, know it from today that the Shilluk people are set to fight and die for their ancestral lands. They are not doing this in hiding but in the open so that it is known worldwide that some wrong Dinka group with the backing from tribalists in the GoSS and SPLA (like yourself and others) have occupied unjustly the Shilluk land of Pigi. Where was your big-mouth when some Dinka attacked Anakdiar last month and three who got killed from the side of attackers were identified with Dinka marks on their faces, and were using AKs-47 from SPLA and GoSS police? Their bodies were brought to Malakal town and buried shamelessly there in the cemetery. Please don’t be bias. Know that you are not SPLA spokesman for Dinka tribe!!!!

The so-called Pigi Commissioner, Santino Riak Athian, says a new brand RPG-7 has being captured and two AKs-47 riffles from the attackers. “There has being campaigns over the internet mobilizing Shilluk to control our areas. We thought these were not true.” Really! So the occupied Shilluk lands are the Dinka areas and the Padang community of Jonglei state thinks it is an easy ride to confiscate Shilluk lands without troubles and mobilization for defense from the owners! What a terrible mistake from this wrong Jonglei state commissioner! Please know it from now (if it has never rung in your senseless head and nerves) that you have been a commissioner of a wrong county!!

It is said a source in Pigi County told the Sudan Tribune by phone Friday that the situation is calm but tense. “You can not guarantee stability at the moment…because when they attacked, they never informed us first.” Look at the stupid Dinka land occupants in the Shilluk Kingdom; they want those whose land they have stolen (through GoSS permission) to inform them that the original owners are unhappy for the injustice done to them and are determined to defend their ancestral rights. They think they can enjoy peace and stability in occupied Shilluk lands. What a false thinking from these wrong Dinka elements!!! Now they are testing bitterness of occupying Shilluk lands; and this shall continue till they pack and go back to their villages in the bush; far from rivers side!

Speaking to reporters on Thursday in Bor Town, Jonglei Governor. Kuol Manyng Juuk argued the GOSS to intervene in calming the situation in Canal Area, which he wrongly claims to be part of his state. But weren’t the same governor who senselessly witnessed the signing of the agreement of confiscating the Shilluk land of Pigi and giving it to the Padang Dinka who have been quarreling and killing themselves because they don’t want to be united in a one Dinka county called Atar? Any way, this call is welcome if it is a sincere call to return the Pigi (Canal area) to their real original owners, the Shilluk of Obango, which is the village of the wife of H.E, Comrade Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba and others in SPLM/A. Otherwise, the Jonglei governor should know that there will never be peace in this area, which his people have wrongly occupied.

Let the Padang Dinka in Jonglei state and their mentors in the GoSS get it pretty well into their dull and senseless heads that the Shilluk people will do whatever they can to defend their land from shameless occupiers. The Shilluk liberators shall never inform the occupants of the Kingdom territory for any eventuality as long as the Dinka don’t pack and go back to their original villages!!!! The Shilluk people may even use tanks and other heavy defense weapons for this noble cause as long as the Dinka elements who have occupied that precious part of Shilluk kingdom don’t go back to their areas in the forests where they use to live in the past without borders problem with the Shilluk fishermen!!!

I think the time of talking with some shameless Dinka from Jonglei state who want to confiscate the Shilluk lands on the West bank of Sobat river is over. It is time to show by action these senseless human creatures in Southern Sudan that they will not enjoy their occupation of Shilluk lands as long as Shilluk people are there alive and kicking.

The Shilluk will treat them like the Jellaba from the North who attempted in the past to occupy the Shilluk lands. Injustice of occupation is still injustice whether it is practiced by a Southern brother or Northern enemy. The brother who occupies his other brother‘s land by force becomes an enemy like any other enemy, even if using government powers like what the GoSS President, Minister of Interior, Minister of SPLA Affairs, Governor of Jonglei and the former Governor of Upper Nile (Gatlwak Deng) did when they witnessed the signing out of part of the historical Shilluk Kingdom to become a wrong county in Jonglei State named Pigi with headquarters in Canal at the confluence of the White Nile and Sobat River. The land is the life; no compromise!!!

Even if some Dinka reporters, journalists, and GoSS or SPLA spokesman say the Piegi (Canal) belongs to Dinka of Jonglei state, the fact on the ground and the Shilluk people themselves are going to teach them lessons until they come back to their proper senses (starting from their Chief in the GoSS) to leave the Shilluk lands to the Shilluk people. Pigi (Canal) will never be a Dinka of Jonglei property even if they bring all the SPLA and police forces from the GoSS with all the heavy weapons to fight the Shilluk over that precious area of Nyikango Kingdom. Heaven will turn into hell and it will be over the Shilluk dead bodies for that Pigi to be occupied by Dinka of Jonglei from the so-called Padang Community.

Let the Dinka Padang in Jonglei state find a compromise to their own differences and quarrels (e.g., of GoSS SPLA George Athor and GoSS Police Gier Chwang) somewhere else not on the Shilluk land. There is no joke over this land issue any more!!! Enough is enough for the injustice being done to the Shilluk by the SPLM-Dinka controlled GoSS and SPLA forces from some wrong Dinka elements. The Shilluk patience is exhausted and nothing is left except actions for the targets.

May God, not human punish the Shilluk if they have gone wrong on the Dinka Padang of Jonglei State in defense of lands of the Shilluk Kingdom. May the spirit of Nyikango be on the side of Shilluk people against some unjust Dinka tribalists who want to displace the original Shilluk inhabitants from their ancestral original villages!! There is no Jellaba or NCP or Khartoum behind this self-defense right; it is the Shilluk people themselves taking their rights by their own hands.

Dr. James Okuk can be reaches at [email protected].