They have done it again

By Zechariah Manyok Biar

There is always something comical in the way that Sudanese leaders behave. They can tell you that something does not exist and expect you to believe it without further questions. I think that is how dictators behave everywhere.

Yesterday night, I almost believed the Sudanese version of events when they said they captured Heglig by force and were sending in journalists to see for themselves.

I got up this Saturday morning, April 21, 2012, and started phoning our people from within Juba and in Unity State to find out whether our army was defeated by Sudan Armed Forces contrary to what I know as the compliance with the international community for the withdrawal from Heglig, and the answer was the same. No Sudanese army attacked our forces yesterday in Heglig. Our forces are withdrawing orderly and peacefully based on our President’s orders.

That was not enough for me. I checked every major news website to see what they have to say, and was convinced by France International News which reported this:

“The government (Sudan) on Friday night said it had organised a trip to Heglig for journalists. But an AFP correspondent who went to the airport in Khartoum early Saturday was told the trip was cancelled because Heglig’s airport could not yet receive planes.” This amused me. Why do Sudanese leaders think they can lie and not be discovered?

I think the reason why they do this is that they find their people accepting lies without further questions. They have somehow been lying to the international community and succeeded. They, for example, often bomb our territories and deny it. Recently, they bombed Bentiu, killing five people and they denied it even though UNMISS is present in the area. They bombed UNMISS compound at Mayom County in Unity State and denied it. All this, unfortunately, is accepted as truth by some countries in the international community.

Now Sudanese leaders are turning our respect for international law into weakness and some countries are about to believe them. This disturbs most of us here in South Sudan. It looks like those who respect international laws are the ones who suffer.

How many times have we told a story that could easily be verified and nobody took us seriously? How many times have we complained to the international community about the violation of our sovereignty by the Sudanese government and nobody paid attention to that? How many times have we told the international community with evidence that Sudan was supporting rebels against us and nobody cared? Is it because we are seen as weak so peace should be kept in the region at our expenses? Is that what justice is in the international community?

The UN Secretary General recently called our presence at Heglig as “an infringement on the sovereignty of Sudan and a clearly illegal act,” but he never did the same for the occupation of Jau by Sudanese army some months ago. He did not say anything stronger against the Sudanese army’s occupation of Abyei and the removal of its administration even though the act has led to the displacement of many civilians in the area, placing their lives in danger.

I do not know if I have answers to these questions and do not think the Secretary General can give us better answers too. What I know is that we are seen as a sacrificial lamb that is used to calm Sudan down. Are we cursed because we are trying to be a free people living in a free country?

The selective nature of UN morality is disturbing to me. It always disturbs me to see that some leaders commit atrocities like what happened in Libya and they pay for it, while some other leaders commit similar atrocities like in Syria and they get away with it. That is double standard morality.

The same double standard morality is being applied to us here where Sudanese violate international laws several times and a blind eye is turned against them by the UN, while less than one percent of what Sudanese do causes uproar around the world if we do it. Is that the morality we can rely on in the international community? Should we in South Sudan learn to be liars so that we survive like the Sudanese?

Zechariah Manyok Biar lives in Juba, Republic of South Sudan, where he serves in the government. He can be reached at [email protected]