Where WES and other States of Southern Sudan differ

By Philip Thon Aleu

March 6, 2010 (BOR) – It was my first time to see Yambio, the capital of Western Equatoria State (WES), on January 14, 2010. I was on a mission to cover CPA celebrations there. A beautiful town, I told myself. However, in a season of political campaigns like this in our country, it will be an egoism for me to keep it private why Yambio is different from other towns of Southern Sudan; both negative and positive perspectives.

Many things could differentiate Yambio from Bor, the capital of Jonglei state where I lives. From a simple outlook, Bor roads are covered with black mud while Yambio roads are red. A few minutes’ drive from Yambio airstrip where we landed, another strange dissimilarity surfaced; WES Secretariat General, the office of Governor. Surrounded with a permanent wall, the U-shaped building reminded me of the English saying that ‘those who never travelled think their mothers are best cooks.’ Indeed, before I went to Yambio, I thought Bor was the fastest growing town in Southern Sudan.

Dusty as the roads are, there are no holes on the roads within the town, to the stadium that hosted the 5th Anniversary of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and roads leading to Anzara airstrips where President Omar Bashir and his Vice President Salva Kiir landed on 19 January. Elsewhere in the town, there is a presidential villa and a number of modern State houses – not the grass-thatched or rushed-iron sheets type. Of the town in southern Sudan that I traveled to, government officials work in offices built by the British colonial administration over 60 years ago.

Business in Yambio is smooth. Local produces like pineapple (popularly known as ananath), lemon and cassava flour are cheap and were my favorite. Motorist for hiring in the towns where also cheap compared to Juba, Yei or Bor an indication that living expenses, traffic fares and fuel are also sold at lower prices.

As a reporter, I glanced at a corner of my interest; the State Ministry of information and was able to witness a functioning system. Unlike Bor where there is no local radio, Yambio FM entertains town and citizens from close villages. For local reporters in Yambio to look-down on a journalist in a ‘huge name and thin body’ as they put it, it carries some weight. One of my new friends told me: “I have read about you Philip in papers and I thought you are huge guy moreover you are thin in huge names.” I just pat him at the back and told him ‘never mind brother’.

Among others, peaceful coexistence in the town was imminent. For the seven days I spent there and walking to my accommodation after 9pm local time daily, I never met harassment from police or an outlaw. All government employees and business community in Yambio freely enjoy the town because they make it and own it.

But a few kilometers outside Yambio on Anzara road is different. The gap between the poor and rich is clear. A group people, probably a family, admire and wave to the presidential convoy with naked chest ridded with protruding ribs. A police officer pushed them off cameras sight.

There are some anticipations requiring one to count his notes, including pet cash, properly before attending another future national function in Yambio. Generally, there was discrimination of visitors. Independent Media houses affiliated to government organs, for example, were given a different hospitality compared to ‘totally’ independent scribes. For that matter, a Sudan Tribune reporter like me had to struggle to attend the CPA celebration before one’s pocket dries up. To make the matters even difficult, after collecting some news in Yambio, another headache is internet for sending news article — meaning that the government’s funding for CPA does not care the significance of information.

So, when I left in the night of January 19/20, I still wonder why my friends in Yambio questioned my ‘quick exit?’ Brother, if I were to meet the governor Juma Nunu, I would have asked her to explain the meaning of that 5th Anniversary, CPA information committee? All independent journalists littered in Yambio as if there are not Sudanese and part of CPA event. In one of the most remarkable horrors of Yambio peace hosting failures, local reporters were denied security-prepared Identification cards making taking photos a close range to VIP a crime. So, you were not in Yambio and never got quick update for 5th CPA celebration, the media was failed.

Above all, it was a marvelous travelling to Yambio and gets the differences before elections. Yambio, under Gov. Juma Nunu is an icon to southern Sudanese’s dare for independence. And if the GoSS have something to convince southerners on opting for separation in January 2011 referendum, it won’t do without mention progress in Yambio. Since women are granted 25% representation in the Sudan, I am wishing the female leaders the best and that they follow strategies laid in Yambio by Nunu that brought a sharp change in two years.

But the fact that April elections are at in the corner and Gov. Juma Nunu is contesting against other great sons of WES, and the citizens of that State will decide their leaders’ fate. In one of Dinka Bor saying; ‘ran aye leec ke piir’ – literally meaning ‘congratulates the person while still alive’ I take this opportunity to thanks Juma Nunu for work well done.

(ST)