Lam Akol’s political suicide

By Justin Ambago Ramba

January 20, 2010 — In places like south Sudan where the quest for an Independence statehood is seen as a political religion, statements as the one made by the SPLM-DC leader, Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin simulating the predominant tendency to vote for secession come 2011 as a “ Suicide”, does not go well at all.

“Under the present weak government in the south, calling for secession would be suicide,” Lam Akol told reporters late Sunday (17/01/2010) in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

“At the moment, with the state of hostility in the South, with the state of tribal conflicts, intra-tribal conflicts, any call for secession at this moment will be a call for the ‘Somalization’ of southern Sudan,” said Akol, who heads the breakaway SPLM-Democratic Change.

The reasons stated by this outspoken politician to justify what otherwise can be taken for granted in as far as south Sudan is concerned is that, the existing tribal conflicts and poor SPLM led governance would serve as a nucleus for a major destabilization.

Before passing any final judgements on this aspiring Presidential candidate who is expected to run against the incumbent corrupted leadership of the SPLM chairman (Retired) Lt. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, it would be worth while analysing the bomb shell that he has just dropped.

South Sudan without any exaggerations is typical of the African setting and not really too far from today’s Somalia, where loyalties to the tribes and the clans supersede that for the nation. It is ones tribal and military followings that determine the political positions while other merits are hardly considered for appointments especially so to the top positions.

Survival has been only for the warlords who command huge respect amongst tribal army units or tribal militias; otherwise can any one explain how those of Clement Wani Konga and Paulino Matip are able to stand their grounds in the tribally oriented south Sudan?

As for the security position, south Sudan currently is only second to Somalia. The population is also engulfed by a huge threat of famine and fatal diseases and other health hazards.

The SPLM that banned Akol’s group from political activities in the south, charging the splinter group of harbouring an armed militia, has still to come into terms with the Sudanese constitutional court’s ruling that came repealing the ban.

As usual we would expect the SPLM led GoSS to abide by the courts ruling and never again to interfere with Dr. Lam and his group. They maintain the right to openly campaign in all the states of south Sudan, and they are free to preach for the unity of the Sudan which is an integral part of the CPA as well as accepted by our Interim Constitution, once his candidacy is approved by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

With no any intention of taking his statement out of the context, however it can be said that, Dr. Lam has committed a political suicide by referring to south Sudan’s secession as suicidal! Southerners would rather vote to become another Somalia than stay in bondage with the northern Arabs.

These unionists can only be defeated once and for all in the self-determination referendum scheduled for January 09/01/2011, where the people of South would decide in an internationally monitored plebiscite either to remain as a part of a united Sudan or opt for its independent state.

After everything that he has said, Lam is still free to run for the Presidency of south Sudan even if on the unity ticket and all the true southern nationalists should better plan to defeat him and his alliance at the ballot box since they have chosen to go in that direction.

This group can again be defeated at the referendum provided that the nationalists are doing their bit to not only make our secession attractive but even second to nature. However people must refrain from the use of any illegal methods as much as possible if we are to remain respectable in the eyes of our friends, supporters and sympathizers worldwide.

Given our present state of affairs we can not say for sure that we are going to have a smooth secession, and no one should expect milk and honey in the immediate Independent South Sudan nation, should we still continue to be under the current leadership.

The above issue has already been discussed in greater depths in previous articles and our daily news headlines continue to testify to that.

However the naked truth is that we remain determined and committed to the “independent South Sudan” scheme even if that is to take us through Somalia. South Sudan can be better off once we are detached from the evil influence of Khartoum.

While we struggle day and night to promote awareness amongst our masses, we have also come to discover that there is currently a trend in which some of us who call themselves the “Liberators” are on record for establishing a club that enjoys all the political, economic, and social powers `which parasitizes on the public resources.

This newly founded club only promotes the interest of a few who share special backgrounds. This has even led to the gross alienation of those whose participation in the bush war was viewed with scepticism from getting the nominations for some of the top positions in the forth coming elections. The resentments are all over the ten states and can no longer be ignored.

This new fascists consider expansionism as a necessity. For them, the growth of their dream empire, that is to say the expansion of their sphere of influence, is an essential manifestation of vitality, and anything opposite to it is a sign of decadence.

The “Liberators”, are now on record for promoting territorial expansionism to provide “living space” to the “Liberators Families”. These new fascists are opposed to pacifism and believe that a nation must have a warrior mentality. For them war idealistically represents a source of masculine pride, and as such pacifism is viewed with negativity.

What do we think we are currently passing through? Is it not that we are glorifying war and promoting the widespread inter-tribal fights as the only way that brings up to their highest tension all our human energies and wrongly put the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the false courage to engage in it?

Don’t we think under a rational leadership such wrongly directed energies would have been wisely diverted into nation building since we are just emerging from the rubbles of war?
Otherwise how do you explain all the widespread insecurities and the devastating inter-tribal fights currently taking place?

It has become now that , these camouflaging fascists who pose as Liberators display their anti-pacifist struggle very clearly in almost everything that they do and on a daily basis.

The aggressive life style and lack of respect for the law always keeps them ready for combat… it is their belief that a man is born to wage wars. War is to man what maternity is to the woman.

These so-called Liberators seem not to believe in perpetual peace; not only do they not believe in it but they find it depressing and in disagreement with all their fundamental virtues.

Otherwise, why should a whole country almost be brought at the brink of a constitutional crisis simply because the First Vice President is finding it uncomfortable to adapt to the Election Laws?

In such a situation, South Sudan is already on its way towards Somalization, whether it becomes an independent state or remains part of a united Sudan.

In other wards our Somalization is not related to our political status, because though some of our ills are indeed direct consequences of our association with the Arab and Islamic north, yet the biggest chunk are typical of our own making.

Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin should have rather done his home work on how to build the needed alliance that can guarantee the Independence of South Sudan from the north and at the same time plan the needed strategy to alienate the growing sense of fascism amongst some of our ethnicities as a way to prevent the prophesied doom.

We are already sick of talking about the North. Southerners are at large the primary causes of their problems. If South Sudan is to become another Somalia, it can only be so through our own actions.

And should we want an otherwise civilized country whereby both the rulers and the ruled are to abide by the law, and then it can only come about through our own efforts.

In a previous article by the author, “Too many awkward alliances”, there was already an attempt to draw our people’s attention to the mushrooming of these questionable alliances.

We did pose a question as to: “Where does the Independent South Sudan come into all these confusions”? And we continue to insist that this should be the question for each and every south Sudanese nationalist.

Though the SPLM party has championed many of the confrontational battles recently, however it still represents a risky choice in certain parts of the country.

What would be a true secessionist’s stand, should all the SPLM nominees in northern Sudan win the elections including the big two, Yasser Saied Arman (Sudanese President) , and Edward Lino (governorship of Khartoum State)?

Will any major SPLM victories in the northern parts of the Sudan seduce the party into the temptation of reviving its old dream of the controversial New Sudan Vision since the party still remains on record for its unionist slogans?

Again concerning his position on the future of South Sudan, Dr. Lam Akol didn’t surprise us much when he said that his group’s position on independence “is determined by conditions on the ground.”

Do we still need to hear from any prominent SPLM leader whether they are for Unity or separation before we decide to vote for or against them?

Is it not an open secret that those southerners who participated in the CPA will tactfully prefer to stand on the fence until they are sure of which way the situation goes on the ground?

Otherwise do we still want to argue as to why these politicians signed the referendum bill which contains the two possible options without accepting the fact they are willing to lead us in both scenarios?

Nevertheless those of us who have nothing to loose but everything to gain in an independent South Sudan, we remain confident that our independence is an urgent matter.

We can not be struggling for over five decades just to back off at the last moments when the whole world is convinced that we deserve what we fought for, and will get it immediately once we vote for it come the 2011 referendum.

Also in the town of Yambio where allegedly the first strongest pro united Sudan statement, (Mangu Zambiri!), was coined in the eve of the Sudanese independence in 1956, has seen the most dramatic and historical shift in the north’s stand when President Omer al Bashir clearly declared his support for an independent state in the South should that be the people’s choice.

While Dr. Lam Akol insists that, “At the moment, with the state of hostility in the South, with the state of tribal conflicts, intra-tribal conflicts, any call for secession at this moment will be a call for the ‘Somalization’ of southern Sudan,” we on our side strongly believe that an Independent South Sudan is the ONLY way forward.

Our collective struggle is to promote the long lived determination of our people for the immediate realization of the much anticipated Independence as well as establish a civilian democratic system in South Sudan.

Only a few can disagree with the fact that the conditions under which we have to undertake the coming elections are not the best by all means. Many candidates are finding it uncomfortable to run freely for what should have been a fair, free and transparent election in two decades time.

So since we wouldn’t really want to land into another Somalia, then amongst the several post referendum arrangements, south Sudan must be governed by a care taker government, in the immediate post Independence period that is to be formed from all the existing political forces.

The care taker government should prepare the “South Sudan Nation”, for a new Census and new real democratic national elections which will be able to produce fairer representations of our people and according to our aspirations, since the current allocations of the constituencies were all done against the realities on the ground.

With due respect to the views that were expressed in the media by concerned citizens, I quote:

“Don’t quote Dr. Lam out of context; his message is prophetic to be ignored; otherwise many Southerners could cry in future saying: Oh if only we could listen to Dr. Lam’s warning and heeded to his wise advice not to rush for independence of South Sudan”, in other wards not under the current leadership, Said a concerned citizen.

Meanwhile the threat is real, but should we fail to vote the current corrupted government out of office, are the concerned citizens not signalling that we rather commit the other suicide of voting for unity come the referendum?

However as we are still to commit our group suicide come 2011, should Dr. Akol’s forecast come to pass(the Somalization……….etc), unfortunately the SPLM-DC leader has already committed the biggest “Political Suicide”, by his statement that can never be forgiven at these crucial moments when the South Sudanese’s public mindset is already geared towards secession.

For all reasons it should be stressed that we must stand our grounds as free and independent south Sudanese and face all forces that would otherwise want to relegate us into second class citizenry. And should fairness only be achieved through Somalization where we all become the looser, then be it.

Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba, M.B, B.Ch, D.R.H, MD. He can be reached at either [email protected] or [email protected]