How do you bring Gen. Athor to justice?

By James Monyluak Majok

May 9, 2010 — First of all, I do sympathize with those families who have lost their love ones killed in Dolieb Hill when forces loyal to Gen. Athor carried out would-be counterattack against SPLA forces had they attacked Athor position according to the original plan of SPLA HQs in Dolieb Hill. I personally regret for such precious lives to be lost in unnecessarily conflicts like this one. We already have paid enough and we should not be paying unnecessarily prices again over conflicts like this. But, the blame should be directed toward those who planned to attack Gen. Athor position in the first place, and not Athor. He was acting in a self-defend to save his life and this is how it should be viewed.

I am prompted to response to those who are calling for “administrative justice” against Gen. Athor because they failed to explain how to bring him to justice. Yes, they might be right calling for justice to be done against him just because he has attacked and killed SPLA soldiers and wounded others. Sources on the ground confirmed that Gen. Athor was about to be attacked the same day he carried out the attack in Dolieb Hill. Those captured by Athor forces also confessed this and those who ran away saving their lives, too admitted that they had planned to go and attack Athor’s position.

The question is why planned would-be an attack on Gen. Athor position in the first place, was it as a last resort after many initiatives by the Southern authority, or simply because the authorities opted to silent him militarily.

Comrade Juach Deng Juach suggested that “administrative justice” be done to him. It would have been good for Juach to have expanded on this suggestion. I assumed that he meant to say Gen. Athor must be hunted down by SPLA forces and be captured dead or alive. Well, if that what he meant, I am afraid that such approach or alternative would even cost more lives and complicated the matter. I was hoping to see the authorities to use force against him after exhausting all options and avenues to contain this situation. This is how the authorities in the South ought to do in handling situations like this one. They must always use every necessary option to solve problems should similar one like this occurs in the near future.

I also disagree with Mr. Juach when he said “due to author’s failure to see the issue at hand from a national perspective, I will assume the article was rushed in sympathy with Athor not based on any tangible facts but on clannish affiliation. It has nothing to do with realities in the country.” Gen. Athor was a hero before the elections and before carrying out the attack on Dolieb Hill. He contributed like many others during the liberation and still has a conviction to serve.

When I said that he is not the only person who needs political accommodation after just concluded general elections in Southern Sudan, but also those prominent politicians and former SPLA generals who took part in the contest against the SPLM party nominees and lose the election in favor of the SPLM party nominees. I meant to say that whoever ran as a candidate and lost the election might have the ability and skill required in the South and people in the South need their skills and participation as well. They should be accommodated through different channels at all level of governments in the South to seal off the tension and as a symbolic move of assuring unity. We have seen these examples in other countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Israeli, and United States. I know the South has not reached that standard of Israeli and United States to talk about, but Kenya and Zimbabwe are good living examples to benefit from. And so I was not sympathizing with Athor on clannish as Juach have suggested, but was emphasizing the potential danger of ignoring prominent individuals like Athor, Dau, and others who have lost the elections and have the skills we still require today in the South. Equally important, I am not from Jonglei state nor from the same section which Athor belongs to, but stating out how the losers in general and Athor in particular should be dealt with after they lost elections.

Juach also mentioned the supreme law of South Sudan. I don’t think that the Supreme law is functioning now in the South Sudan; it has not been applied when some elements in the government positions went above the law, even to the extent of running away with millions of dollars that could have been used toward the development. I don’t need to mention names here or going into details; there are millions examples out there and I recommend you to evaluate if the supreme law of the South Sudan, you are referring to has been fully applied when it was badly needed to be applied.

Dhieu Dok also recommended that he is arrested and taken to a military court to answer charges against him. Taking Athor to military court is not going to be easy; it will be a bit difficult and will cost us a price. I am afraid to say that those involved in the hunt will be victims again. The only solution is the dialogue between him and the authority. To do this, the authorities in the South must assign some elders, traditional chiefs, and UNMIS [United Nations Mission in Sudan] as I suggested earlier to bring him to the table, resolve the problem, and then be tried if he is found guilty of the act he committed. That what Garang did in 2004 when Kiir differed with Garang. He opted for mediation by using the third parties, not confrontation and this is how they got reconciled. That is the better approach to get justice done against Athor, otherwise arresting him mean declaring war between him and the authority in charge.

In conclusion, problems like this always need peaceful approach by using sociological approach: the cause, impact, and possible solution. We therefore need to be neutral and not rush to conclusion that Athor is guilty and should be brought to justice without finding out the breaking point of why he attacked Dolieb Hill army barrack in the first place. Losing election alone is not solemn reason of his rebellion, but was used by different forces as a pretext to achieve their political objectives…. Most Southerners know these forces very well and I will be coming back shortly to explain that if need be.

James Monyluak Majok is living in Windsor, Canada and reachable at [email protected], 519-988-6399