Massive-conflict and misuse of resources in South-Sudan
By Manyok Mabiei
March 22, 2014 – Massive-conflict and misuse of resources in Southern-Sudan is beyond repairs. South Sudan is a well-known as a country that ranks in the oil production countries in the world as well as one of the more productive countries. It is a diverse country with differences in religious beliefs including Christians, Muslims and others. Even though the country’s main language is English – a remainder of British colonial rule including 64 tribes with different dialects.
In fact, 64-tribes were not a root cause of massive conflict in South Sudan. There are even hundreds of hundreds of tribes from the neighboring countries like Kenya, Uganda, North Sudan, and Ethiopia had multiple tribes more than South Sudan, but there is a less conflict in their backyards.
The problem was enrooted from President Kiir leadership style the way he handling the nation through the absence of law in South Sudan as the root causes of this mass-conflict in the nation. It is a good idea to tell the facts, rather than foretells or admits them, when we are not alive.
This refers to those who think upside-down that the root cause of mass-conflict was fueled through tribal theory rather than blame current leadership style.
As well as some of us know that South-Sudan is divided between three major regions includes Great Upper Nile, Great Bhar-el-Ghazel, and Great Equatoria regions hosting the indigenous people of Republic of South Sudan. This mean a nation is well diverse with difference lifestyle of cultural rice in all three regions where people live in. But this mass-conflict forces thousands of thousands of the Great Upper Nile civilians to leave South Sudan to the neighboring countries.
More importantly, what cause the challenges most people talks, as an issue is corruption and power struggle, which is caused an ever growing massive-conflict beyond unrepaired and unrecovered in the nation in three months.
Well, some of the citizens judge things through their tribal perspectives rather than think deeply what will be the future of South Sudan, while we know that there is no anyone will come from nowhere to turn the system of South Sudan. This means same citizens who destroy it will do it again.
Massive-conflict is disappointed some of the citizens without considered themselves as they were not part of the nation identity. As well some of the citizens considered themselves as tribe identity, which is another root cause of mass conflict. Well, the rights and freedoms of individuals and groups enshrined as their rights should be respected, which can promote dignity for all in the nation.
However, my concern on this challenging is to remark the problems faced by the citizens of the South-Sudan. For sure, there are things affecting this nation including corruption, violence, and misuse of resources in South-Sudan. All these factors cause hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese with pride of hopeless to recovering from mass conflict in the nation they were fought for in two decades.
Some of the problems facing the nation, like bad policies in the country, have resulted in mass conflict among the citizens and government officials without deliver the good systems.
The vast majority of the citizens from the South-Sudan are poor and neglected from current leadership, while they are suffering from internal security and external security. This inequality and mishandle the root cause why the citizens react violently against those in charge – which shows the weakness inherent in the leadership style in the government.
More to the points, the citizens are struggle to gear an uphill battle for themselves – violently and politically through government – with poor system. The citizens and leadership are facing beyond unrepair, while it will take many years to build the confidents in this mass-conflict.
Specifically, citizens of this nation are suffering from misguide leadership that misuse the resources and abuse of power, which is dynamic towards the ongoing violence in the nation. This massive conflict, which is ongoing in South Sudan, was over fueled for those who struggle for powers, who misconstrue the nation in toward the unsafe direction.
I believe it will took the Republic of South Sudan some months and years to rebuild the truth among citizens from such kind of massive violence to get normal life. Nothing like you have a nation even though you’re alive in foreign countries, then you still have a sense of the nation to be proud that means you have a land.
But, what we recognized in current leadership style leading the nation behind sense of hopeless like they think they will leave nation tomorrow and others will come to rebuild the nation.
Since referendum and independence of South Sudan nearly 10years from now there was ongoing corruption and mismanagement of resources in the South-Sudan has existed for a long period of time and it has never ended. The leaderships have more benefits privately, while the rest of the citizens are facing uncovering system that led the nation toward the massive violence at the moment.
These dark days of this current leadership as the root cause to promote violence and misuse of revenues in South Sudan. The main issue in the South-Sudan is ignorance through mismanagement of the resources through government system – which remains as apart of massive conflict, in need of great attention to community’s leaders and world leaders to take action.
This is a big challenge, which exemplifies the corruption rampant in the government that leading the nation beyond unrepair’s. For example, the nation has remained poor nearly decade, since oil money and have become increasingly, while the nation never built some of important government properties.
The suffering from South Sudanese due to mishandle the nation issues, which forced the nation to massive violence. There are lack of several things – education, roads, bridges, jobs, and other necessities.
President Kiir and his administration controls over all subsurface of the resources, as well as they seem they are masters of land nearly decade, without shows the direct to connect between the citizens and the economic well-being of the civilians in the nation. This means (or should) that all issues in South-Sudan will/should inevitably become national mass beyond unrepair.
More importantly, the mass-conflict in the South-Sudan stems from the top such as the problems with the current leadership style without end the conflict. The tensions that have developed in the nation were caused by leadership in South Sudan and the misappropriation of revenues in the country – which have no interests for the people of South Sudan.
Broadly, leadership regime government has failed to resolve this massive crisis in country. There is a deep distrust in the leadership without concerning the government system and they feel less among local populations. So, from Juba leaderships cares little toward the venerable civilians who were displaced in their living homes.
In this massive conflict related to leadership control powers in the South, and the economy in general, is the intense competition for political gain. For example, politicians use their communities as the tools of political gain and that cause the massive conflict in nation.
This implies that massive conflicts and aggressive violence’s in the South Sudan is exert any negative effect on the national economy and local compasses of all South Sudan, and means that the government is turning a blind eye to massive violence in some of the states, especially the Great Upper Nile simply because they can gain what they needed.
This massive conflict affected the Great Upper Nile than other regions in South Sudan, while the Upper Nile region is most supplies of resource to support the South Sudan to survive through the oil revenues, but without that region the nation couldn’t survive.
The exploitation of leadership in the South-Sudan as a power struggle shows how deprivation, injustice and massive conflict will still continue in months and years to come. If the government can’t accept the peaceful dialogues and rejects military solution as wining point. There will be long process toward peace if the government from Juba Government and Rebel Forces will not agree in one point on time.
I believe if the government implement the good system there will be a chance to resort to mass violence and vandalism on time. The citizens of the South Sudan are an oppressed and exploited people, but it is hard for them to win the battle of good leadership.
How, to resolve the South Sudan mass conflicts that require far greater commitment on the part of the citizens and leaders who led the country. This means that the leadership from Juba and Rebel must operate fairly and transparently in the South-Sudan, with visible benefits to the local population within the areas.
Without serious and sustainable reforms to the country, the massive violence in the South Sudan will not end in short period of time. It will only increase more than we expected from now onward, before we reach an election in 2015, there will be more violence in even in oilfield as the rebel interest target point to weaken the government.
If President Kiir has a good heart he should avoid not listen to those who advise him through the negative agendas of winning a mass conflict through military solution. And he can make a good decision to step down if he loves his nation to recover from mas- conflict. I believe that it almost time to run out of possibility options like some others concern citizens’ concerns in this mass conflict in the South Sudan.
The government of South-Sudan needs to implement a better system to run the nation and avoid a massive crisis that affect the normal civilians who have nothing do with government system.
There are some of ordinary citizen’s needs only a good security from government like civilians who were chased away in recently crisis from their living places in Jonglei, Upper Nile, and Unity State.
It is very rare from some of the citizens to trust governmental system that shows less care towards their rights – in other words, their leaders in the Juba system as self-profits. The citizens will trust the government when a genuine system is enabled that treats the whole nation with better system to all compasses of South Sudan.
Finally, this require the citizens and active leaders of Southern-Sudan to work together to solve this massive conflict on time and to prevent dynamic corruption and mass violent toward beyond unrepair’s and recover.
I don’t believe in a theory your right should be negotiates by countries, while the South Sudan citizens were casted their votes for separation against North through the oppressor and limit of their rights.
Manyok Mabiei is a one of the SPLA-Chapter Founders in Chicagoland as a leader and former Red-Army of South Sudan in 1987. He can be reached at [email protected].