SPLA: no tribalism in south Sudan just resource wars

By Ngor Arol Garang

August 12, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Conflict in southern Sudan, that has killed over 700 people this year according to the UN, is over access to resources not tribalism the Chief of General Staff of the southern Sudanese army, James Hoth Mai, said Wednesday.

Hoth told AFP, “we don’t have tribalism in south Sudan […] What we have is a war of resources. People just want more cows.”

Hoth was speaking at the launch of a book his new book, “Liberation Struggle in South Sudan,” co-authored by the director of the south’s security and intelligence agency Kuol Deng Abot, which looks into how to resolve conflicts in the south.

In 2005, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), to which Hoth and Abot both belong, became the official army of south Sudan and the region granted autonomous status after a peace deal with central government.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, that ended two decade-long north-south civil war, is due to end in January 2011, when the south is due to vote in a referendum on whether it wants to chose independence or remain united with the north.

Despite the deal more people were killed in southern Sudan last year than the troubled western Darfur region. Unlike civil war which was fought over political marginalization, religion, ethnicity and latterly oil the current clashes in southern Sudan are simply people fighting over meager resources according to Hoth.

“Armed civilians are killing people for a small gain, not because they have a political vision,” AFP reported him as saying.

The UN estimates that, so far this year violence in the south has forced 152,000 people to leave their homes and killed at least 700 people.

Hoth said that some politicians had a habit of meddling in and triggering conflicts in order to further their political careers.

“Here in Juba, because someone wants to be minister, sometimes they throw a war to their clan,” Hoth told AFP.

As well as politicians being accused of stirring up conflict for their own benefit, Hoth also admitted that military figures had been accused of dabbling in politics.

Addressing the audience at the book launch at Juba University on Wednesday he said the movement is guided by rules and military doctrines that bar them from taking part in politics.

In 2009, the regional parliament of the Government of Southern Sudan passed an act stating that the SPLA were the only legal armed force in the region; responsible for protection of civil population and their properties against external aggression.

Under the law the SPLA are supposed to be a non-partisan force.

“As members of the armed forces, policy dictates that we serve the general public unwaveringly,” Hoth said adding the existing regulations in the SPLA do not allow for people in uniform to participate in politics.

“This is the line that central command council expects all military personnel to toe,” he said.

Hoth called for cooperation from the public:

“The road ahead will not be easy and will require a lot of hard work and commitment from all of us. This necessitates that we work together for betterment of our people and the region. The success and failures ahead of us requires coming together, because it is not the responsibility of one person or one command but all ranks and files. That is, officers, non commissioned officers, politicians and ordinary civilians alike. The key to success is, therefore, collective, meaning the interest of the people of southern Sudan can only served with our concerted efforts.”

(ST)