Nuer Youth detest South Sudan Ministry of Regional Cooperation appointments

January 5, 2011 — First and foremost, the Nuer Youth in South Sudan and East Africa are deeply disturbed by the appointments of nine diplomats in the Ministry of Regional Cooperation. On December 1st, 2010, our community learnt that the Ministry of Regional Cooperation (MRC) appointed nine diplomats most of whom hailed from a single ethnic group in South Sudan. The Ministry is under the guidance of H.E. Deng Alor Kuol, a man who fought against successive Khartoum regimes to achieve equality, justice and freedom for the marginalized people of Sudan. CDR Deng Alor Kuol, as he was known back then in the bush, was seen as a reserved fellow who could not fail to uphold the principles of justice and equality. Freedom fighters who served under his command testified that he was a quiet man who could not harm any human being and were delighted with the way he treated men under his command. Unfortunately, the current appointments in his ministry shed a different light of his character and people in South Sudan are wondering whether the humble and fair commander they knew in the bush had caught the prevailing fever of Gogrialization of South Sudan which has become the dominant public policy recruitment of the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, who hailed from Gogrial County of Warrap State.

It goes without mentioning that the MRC has been infected with practices which tainted the images of war heroes of the SPLM/A. The people of South Sudan are seriously wondering whether there is no psychological disease in that ministry which affects any newly appointed minister. When Lt. Gen. Oyai Deng Ajak, a war hero, was appointed in 2009 as a Minster of the Regional Cooperation, the entire world was shocked when he appointed twenty three people who hailed from his ethnic group. Such a tribally motivated appointment was received with anger and most Ministers in the Government of South Sudan were disappointed to the point where some of them went to press to express their concerns.

Among the nine newly appointed diplomats within MRC, eight hailed from Greater Bhar el Ghazal and three out of eight who hailed from that region are from the constituency of President Salva Kiir Mayardit. What worsens public anger further from these tribal appointments is the fact that Mr. John Majak, Mr. Deng Ayir and Mr. Lual Akol Akol, who were appointed as head of missions to Japan; China and India respectively, were not employees of the MRC. But they were serving in different Ministries and the sole reason for their appointment, as revealed recently, was to ensure that the people of Greater Bhar el Ghazal dominate and control Missions in key countries such as India, China, Japan and South Korea. It is revealed to people of South Sudan that President Salva Kiir Myardit wanted to ensure the presence of his kinsmen in countries that will have vital relations with the future state of South Sudan that will be born after the referendum. It is also reported that President Kiir Mayardit does not trust diplomats who do not hail from his ethnic group as he is preparing himself to stay in office until 2016. Thus, the appointments of eight diplomats from Greater Bhar el Ghazal will assist him in the long run to persuade the governments of Japan, China, South Korea and India to prioritize trade rather than democracy in their relations with future state of South Sudan.
What actually caught the people of South Sudan by surprise is the known fact that President Salva Kiir refused to listen to the advice of his Vice-president Riek Machar who warned him about the negative reaction of the public regarding the appointments of eight diplomats who hailed from one ethnic group. We have learnt that President Salva Kiir told Vice-president Riek Machar that the only ethnic group that suffered during the liberation struggle is a Dinka ethnic group and therefore the Dinka of Bhar el Ghazal in particular deserved the lion share of government appointments due to their number within the SPLA/M army.

With the advent of the referendum, the people of South Sudan had hope that President Salva Kiir Mayardit would work towards equalizing sixty three ethnic groups of South Sudan rather than telling his Vice-president that the people who should always have the lion share of his government must come from Dinka ethnic group. When the people of South Sudan took up arms in 1983, all ethnic groups of South Sudan, including marginalized Sudanese from Nuba and Engessina Hills, joined the Movement.

As Dr. John Garang narrated in his first interview with Sudan TV in July, 2005, the SPLA/M Movement was largely dominated by the Nuer from 1983—85 until Dinka Bhar El Ghazal flocked to the Movement in large numbers beginning from 1985. It should be born in mind that when it comes to ethnic representations within the Movement, the SPLM/A was largely dominated by Nuer, Equatoria tribes, Dinka Bor, Dinka Padang, and the Shilluk. Before Dinka Bhar el Ghazal joined the Movement in big numbers, the first Dinka who supplemented the number of the Nuer in the Movement were Dinka Bor and Dinka Padang. If contribution of the people is to be taken into account in the appointments of the GOSS, there is no way that Dinka Bhar el Ghazal should have a lion share more than all Southern ethnic groups combined because the number of Nuer, Shilluk, Equatorians, Dinka Bor and Padang in the SPLM/A Movement outnumbered the number of Dinka Bhar el Ghazal. If President Salva Kiir doesn’t know this, perhaps he should consult the records of SPLM/A battalions from 1983—2005.

With such a negative attitude President Kiir Mayardit had shown towards the need for equality among the people of South Sudan, we may begin to wonder whether the future state of South Sudan would be viable given the indifference of Lt. Gen. Kiir Mayardit to uphold the principles of justice. It is our firm belief that in order for a newly independent state of South Sudan to survive, full ethnic equality in all government appointments needs to be enforced. If the people of the South are to avoid ethnic conflicts similar to ethnic power struggle that wreaked havoc in Ivory Coast, Lt. Gen. Salva Kiir has to start taking courses in ethnic equality. History has taught the people of Africa that in any nation state where there is ethnic domination, violence does always prevail. The symptoms of ethnic violence in South Sudan had already manifested themselves with the rebellions of Lt. Gen. George Athor, Col. Gatluak Gai and Maj. Gen. David Yau Yau. Should President Salva Kiir continue to pay no regard to ethnic equality in all positions of the government of South Sudan, the world should not be caught by surprise if more conflicts emerge in the near future.

For contact:
Ngundeng Wiyual Deang,
Secretary of Information
Email: [email protected]