Between the CPA and the notorious LRA
By Justin Ambago Ramba
January 4, 2010 — The Western Equatoria State (WES) of south Sudan has a very unique geographical location which makes it both isolated and thus far from the attention of both the government of south Sudan (GoSS) in Juba and the government of national unity (GoSS) in Khartoum, the capital. This very remote location that played well for the SPLM/A during the protracted civil war enabling it to have an advantage over the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) of the northern National Islamic Front of Turabi – al Bashir, is now on the contrary proving to be an obstacle for GoSS in its bid to rid the area of the notorious Ugandan rebels of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA).
The citizens of this semi- abandoned region have never experienced any peace since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA and they can rightly now sum up the entire exercise as a mere change of actors, because practically there still exist a great deal of insecurity with sporadic fighting going on, however this time it is between the local population and the LRA replacing the traditional SPLM/A Vs the northern SAF wars of the past. .
The sufferings of the people in these remote regions of Africa’s interior is a case well known and documented by the International Community and as high as the UN Security Council. Locally the governments of Uganda (original home to the LRA), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Government of South Sudan (GoSS), and the Central African Republic (CAR), are reported also to be doing their best ( anything from complete indifference to hunting down) trying to uproot this radical terrorists from their hideouts. However the absence of proper coordination overridden with the lack of trusts over issues of sovereignty has been slowing down the mission.
Currently there are reports that the Ugandan army has registered some progress inside the remote parts of CAR. The Ugandan Army Spokesperson Lt Col Felix Kulayigye was reported to have confirmed the killing of “a so-called General Buk Abudema during an offensive in the southeast of the country, in Nd’Jema few kilometres from Obo.” Obo is 200 miles from southern Sudan.
In spite of all these hear and say, the security situation on the ground remains extremely dire and so much so is the food and the health concerns. The people can wait for heavenly salvation when the Day and the Hour come, but how do we expect them to survive till then? Or have we all condemned them to live in a permanent state of fear and terror?
The story is far from over as the GoSS , many people from the different parts of the Sudan and foreign guests are expected to converge in Yambio, the capital of WES, to celebrate the 4tth anniversary of the CPA that was signed on 9th January 2005 in Nairobi.
Should logical thinking be practised by any of our countless so-called liberators or emergency political leaders, the celebration of the CPA in Yambio should have been preceded by first restoring a reasonable degree of security to the vast areas of the WES, by eradicating this nuisance called the LRA from the state. For these celebrations to really stand as a symbol of “PEACE”, WES should have been taken back to its historical days’ of peace, beauty and abundance, before embarking on any fake celebrations in the midst of an overwhelming insecurity. However, as if a part of our political tradition, people now have no choice but to dance both for the CPA (peace) and the LRA (insecurity).
Celebrating the CPA in WES at this particular time is nothing but a political show off, otherwise it is no different than carrying gifts to a mourning family and asking them to rather dance to the birthday of the chief while they are actually in the middle of a funeral and overwhelmed with the loss of their loved ones who fell preys to a wild monster that still remains a threat and can attack again anytime.
Whether it is a last minute attempt in preparing the innocent citizens for these celebrations, the GoSS Minister for Presidential Affairs has now, and only now, come to the official realization that there indeed exists a problem in WES. Not ruling out the possibility that, H.E the President of South Sudan and his distinguished guests may be flocking to the state for this important occasion, the Government of Southern Sudan has chosen this particular time to declare its intension that it will be resorting to the use of military force in its fight against the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), due to the failure of peaceful means. Doesn’t this sound like a delayed decision if not a delayed announcement?
It is everybody’s’ knowledge that years of misery, displacement, mass killings, abductions, mutilations and utter devastation of the state have passed by before the Minister of Presidential Affairs Honourable Dr. Luka Biong finally decided to openly acknowledge that the peaceful negotiations which in fact broke down ages ago, is only now being officially recognised by the GoSS to have reached a dead-end (Miraya FM 2/1/2010). As if the whole system is just recovery from a deep coma, if we didn’t know what occupies their time in Juba?
What are we then expected to say, when it took H. E Dr. Biong ages to finally arrive at this conviction which was already obvious to the whole world two years from now? Should we call this, better late than never, when our senior minister goes on media declaring that, “The LRA activities in the South constitute a major security concern for the government and citizens”. Yes sir, it had always been so for the last couple of years and not only when your government is about to subdue the people of WES to dance to the CPA that have long been replaced by the LRA in their everyday lives.
And the LRA rebels on the other hand as if to say to the world that while they have been creating a real hell on earth for the people of DRC, South Sudan and the CAR, they also deserve due respect as if all that they did could be justified in a peace conference, when they reiterated their position for a peaceful settlement with south Sudan.
What can any civilized person do of the official position of the LRA as announced by its leading delegate, David Matsanga, who claims that his terroristic group is committed to negotiate as part of a plan to end its activities in Sudan’s southern region, which is nothing but in fact a tactful way of buying time.
LRA has no place in south Sudan, and GoSS isn’t in any way entitled to negotiate with them. They are foreign rebels and must stop creating havoc to our citizens and the only way we can scare these bandits off is to fight them. If they have any political rights, they are better off getting that from the Ugandan government and not through messing around in western Equatoria. Kony needs to be physically told that the way from his home town of Gulu in northern Uganda to their seat of government in Kampala doesn’t pass through Ezo .or Nagero.
I hope that the people of WES should have learned their lessons very well within these five years of the CPA. And it’s not the CPA celebration that will solve their insecurity concerns and the other issues as they will be gathered there to be lectured and bombarded by visionless self styled cheap political partisans. They will promise you quick victory over LRA and “all for free” tickets for the entire population to the Disneyland, yet you already heard those ones several times before.
All that you get in the name of the CPA celebration is already what you deserve. It is yours and nobody is doing you any favours thus leaving you completely not indebted to any one to start with. However the CPA you are about to celebrate remains tasteless, shapeless, and colourless unless you citizens can be free to tell what you want and want you don’t want.
The up coming celebrations should not be allowed to over shadow the elections in any way. It is very common for opportunistic politicians to resort to buying votes using public money which in fact is your own money. However my personal trust in your judgement is very great.
This WES must recover its original and dignified status as a place inhabited by a free people, if the people can final elect into office their sons and daughters who will never be made to “shut up” neither in Yambio nor Juba nor Khartoum. The state’s top priority must be to guarantee its citizens’ safety, a duty to be shouldered by all, and should not be left all for the few ill-armed arrow boys alone.
Should the status of WES and in fact the whole of south Sudan be left in the hands of people who even after half a decade, cannot fully discern the gravity of our collective insecurity as a region. Unless you as a people can exercise the power of your voted by voting in office your strong candidates to replace the few hand picked figures who have outlived their usefulness and are now bent to worship their godfathers in Juba, your collective future remains gloomy and so is it with the whole of south Sudan.
Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba, M.B, B.Ch, D.R.H, MD, is the Secretary General of the United South Sudan Party (USSP). He can be reached at either [email protected] or [email protected]. All the articles of the author are available at www.nilebuffalo.com and blog http//ussp-news.blogspot.com