A critique of the IGAD protocol for peace in S Sudan
“A critique of the IGAD protocol on agreed principles on transitional arrangements towards resolution of the crisis in South Sudan”
By David de Chand
August 29, 2014 – First and foremost of all, it gives me the pleasure, the opportunity and the privilege to a make a brief critique on the IGAD Protocol on Agreed Principles on Transitional Arrangements towards Resolution on the Crisis in South Sudan. I would focus on the main points of the Protocol signed by six (6) heads of state and governments, namely, Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia), witnessed by Special Envoys for South Sudan, and the illegitimate President of South Sudan, minus the leader of the SPLM-in Opposition (SPLM-in-Op) Dr. Riek Macchar on 25 August 2014 in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
Realistically, the IGAD has failed its duties, responsibilities and obligations entrusted to it by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the Office of the UN Secretary-General, H.E. Binky Moon to address professionally, effectively and efficiently the root causes of the ongoing acutely and the aggravating situation in South Sudan. This critical and escalating civil war that has already involved genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, atrocities and other heinous crimes committed against humanity has not fully, honestly and legitimately tackled reasonably and more effectively in the course of the past eight (8) months of war and bloodshed and massive human suffering in South Sudan. The IGAD mediators have tried their best in dealing with the problem before us in South Sudan. Nevertheless, I think that they could have done much better in South Sudan crisis. It is now about time that African leaders must and ought to deal and to find durable, just and permanent solutions to African problems rather than looking externally to solutions on African problems. It is now about time to cut off “dependency syndrome” and the bureaucratic red tape to become more creative, assertive and critical in seeking solutions to pending African politico-military and socio-economic problems by African leaders.
There were demands presented a few months ago before the IGAD mediators as the roadmap to peace and conflict resolution and none of them remained unimplemented or unexecuted, unfortunately. These demands were as follows that:-
(1) The Dinka dictator Salva Kiir must and ought to step down from power and to turn over all the state powers to the governed as the final authority that all powers emanated from in any given nation-states. If and when Salva Kiir could do the aforesaid demand, the roadmap to peace would be clearer and smoother than ever before. Nevertheless, as long as Salva Kiir’s resists this demand, the roadmap to peace remains murky, grim and with no light in the tunnel.
(2) Immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces from South Sudan-mainly- Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), mercenaries and Soldiers of Fortune, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) (Tarabora), South Revolutionary Front (SRF) and the SPLM/A-North (SPLM/A-N) and any other hired foreign forces and witchcraft men by Salva Kiir to commit genocide, massacres, mass killings, resulting in senseless lost of life, mass internal displacement and destruction of the socio-economic infrastructure. Reckoning, the gravity of the situation in South Sudan, the war cannot be permitted to continue amid the threats of war-induced-famine and further devastation, to end the war and to restore peace and political stability in Africa’s youngest failed state in South Sudan.
(3) Full explanation on the targeted Nuer ethnicity or nationality for genocide… as the gravest and the greatest crimes against humanity as declared by the UN Convention on Genocide adopted as the United Nations resolution 260 (III) A on 9 December 1948 and came to effect on 12 January 1951, and
(4) Formation of a Transitional Administration without the participation of the Dinka dictator and the murderer of child and woman Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar leader of the SPLM-in-Opposition.
(5) Unless the aforementioned have been diligently, effectively and efficiently discussed and concluded, the roadmap to peaceful and political conflict resolution in South Sudan looks grim, doomed and gloomed. There would be, of course, no peace in South Sudan if any of the preceded conditions have not been fully met as pre-requisites sin-qua-non to peace in South Sudan.
We would also demand from the Dinka dictator to provide as material evident of the alleged coup d’état attempt, which Uganda dictator Yuri Museveni stated loud and clear for the first time that “No coup attempt has occurred in Juba, saying what caused the crisis in mid-December 2013 was simply fighting between the Presidential Guards”. President Museveni further added that “Fighting erupted when Salva Kiir ordered the Presidential Guards Commander to disarm Machar’s Nuer ethnicity or nationality in Juba” that triggered the genocide against thousands of the Nuer nationality as a “final solution” in whole or in part. We would like to know in details from Salva Kiir the root causes of the probable cause of genocide against the targeted Nuer nationality as a “final solution” in whole or in part.
Based on my analysis, the IGAD mediators have failed their social responsibility in resolving the crisis in South Sudan. The Protocol signed encourages the escalation of the war rather than de-escalating it. Furthermore, the IGAD mediators have failed to discuss in full genocide that targeted against the Nuer nationality or ethnicity for extermination as a “final solution” in whole or in part on 16-17 December 2013 that shall be known hereinafter as the 2013 Juba Genocide.
Cognizant, that the IGAD has failed to adequately provide appropriate explanation, it has failed its duties, obligations and responsibilities as a regional organization significantly empowered under the UN Charter Article 52 to deal with regional matters for the preservation of international peace and security and the prevention of genocide. As consequence, the IGAD mediators give the Nuer nationality the green light to undertake committing the same genocide that targeted against more than 20,000 Nuer ethnicity or nationality in Juba alone as a “final solution” in whole or in part against the Dinka in the same pattern that it occurred on 16-17 December 2013 in Juba. Further genocide, senseless mass killings and massacres have been committed in Jonglei, Unity, Upper Nile and Bahr-el-Ghazel States. The Uganda Air Force (UAF) has used salvos or sorties internationally banned bombs such as cluster bombs, Napalm bombs, and the White Phosphorous bombs with side effects to human life and environment and the ecosystem in South Sudan.
Presently, the IGAD has given the Nuer people the green light to commit the same genocide against the Dinka as a “final solution” in whole or in part because the IGAD mediators have completely and totally avoided any discussions on this gravest and the greatest crimes against humanity. The IGAD should know that in the past we [the Nuers] have given peace a second chance to resolve the crisis in South Sudan through peaceful and political means. The UN Security Council and the Office of the UN Secretary-General that appointed the IGAD to mediate or to deal with this acutely and aggravating situation in South Sudan, should not be exonerated, but should be considered as part and parcel of the problem rather part of the solution. Let the world and the IGAD know that because it has failed to address the issues at hand, the Nuer nation and its resilient people shall pretty soon declare war on the Dinka in Bahr-el-Ghazel or wherever we can find them on the five Continents of the world at large. The IGAD mediators have failed to talk seriously about the root causes of genocide committed in South Sudan.
Assuredly, nothing would deter us to declare war against the Dinka nationality at any time, at any place and at anywhere until Salva Kiir would be defeated sooner rather than later is defeated whether he likes it or not, he would be defeated. The Dinka power elite if they wanted really to live, they must and ought to toss over the tables or to undergo social revolution or social renaissance against Salva Kiir Now and not tomorrow.
We have discovered that the IGAD countries because of vested special interests they have been directly or indirectly involved fighting in South Sudan war because the evident that we have gathered at the war front minus three (3) countries, viz., Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan have been overwhelmingly fighting the SPLM-in-Opposition and its affiliates united as two bodies, but one, fighting against the SPLM under the wing of Salva Kiir in Juba.
We have collected many military personnel identification cards from the foreign dead soldiers from the IGAD countries, vis-à-vis, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Rwanda-Uganda-M-23 recently flashed out of the mineral rich Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Congolese National Armed Forces (CNAF), including Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) ( El-Adala wa Masawa) (Tarabora) led by Jibril Khalil, Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) (Nuba Mountains) led by Abdul Aziz El-Helou and the SPLM/A-North (SPLM/A-N) led by Malik Aggar in Southern Blue Nile (Ingessena). How could the IGAD countries less Ethiopia, Djibouti and Sudan be fair, honest and impartial in their decision-making as if they have been part of the problem rather than part of the solution?
We considered all these forces as well as everything that they used in the war against the Nuer have been as if they were been useless, hopeless, stupid, ignoramus, weak link and wicked Dinka. All of these forces would be fought by the ferocious and gallant White Army or the Naadth (Nuer) Defense Forces (NNDF) and the regulars rebel forces. In addition, we (the Nuer) would not hire any foreigner to come fight for us like the Slava Kiir and his tribal henchmen have done in this war. We shall and we will prevail in this war.
I shall conclude with a quote from the UK PM Sir Winston Churchill, said, he that “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender”. In the same vein, we [the Nuer] shall defend the Nuerland and the Greater Upper Nile region, whatever the cost may be, we shall on the swamps, the grazing lands, we shall fight in the kraals; we shall fight in and around our villages, we shall fight in our bushes, we shall never surrender.
Firstly, the Protocol although given forty-five (45) days for the formation of a Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) has been rushed, smuggled to be drafted outside of the IGAD premises, it offers no best progress and no chance for peace, tranquility, national unity and national integration and reconciliation as the way forward. Unless the IGAD mediators spin or turn the clock backward to adequately and sufficiently address the root causes of genocide against the targeted Nuer nationality or ethnicity, the roadmap to peace and the TGONU would be imperatively impractical, if not impossible, to attain in South Sudan.
Secondly, failure on Salva Kiir to step down from the helm of power and to turn all the state powers apparatus to the governed, it would be unlikelihood that we could move forward, but we could move as if in a vicious cycle and in a snail speed to achieve peaceful and political conflict resolution in South Sudan crisis.
Thirdly, the lack or the absence thereof of withdrawal of foreign forces from South Sudan soil without any preconditions or quid-pro-quos as sin-qua-non to peace, reconciliation, cooperation and the way forward.
Fourthly, even if peace returns, South Sudan would be the same. It would always remain unstable, disintegrated and disunited. It has already become a failed state and unsecured state that is moving from being ungovernable, lawlessness, and rampant corruption and the unsecured state is now moving from being stateless to statelessness.
Therefore, I highly suggest or recommend that South Sudan should be disintegrated because it has already been disintegrated compared to the Island nation-state of Cyprus that has divided itself into two (2), viz., the Greco-Cypriots on the Westside of the tiny Island nation of Cyprus and the Turkish-Cypriots on eastside of the Island nation of Cyprus and the case of the former Yugoslavia Federation that disintegrated into seven (7) nation-states in the Balkans. The Greater Upper Nile region would not return to Juba, but would govern itself as an autonomous region like Kurdistan-Iraq in northern Iraq and would eventually seek a political divorce from South Sudan. We shall utilize our resources for the great reconstruction awaiting us at the end or before the end of this long and protracted civil war in South Sudan.
Finally, Salva Kiir has failed the state and its people. Naturally, “He who cannot govern himself cannot be able to governed others or “Do not orders that cannot be obeyed” Therefore, he (Salva Kiir) should not continue to become the leader. He has to go, to follow or get the hell out of the way”. I shall conclude that “Unity”, per se, cannot be superimposed by force; it can only be achieved by understanding, consensus and consent”. This is raison d’être for the national disintegration of South Sudan that has been already disintegrated and started life in chaos like a child born with all the childhood diseases on the planet-Earth.
We shall and we will resist all forms of Dinka hegemony or anyone hegemony, ethnocentrism (tribalism), domination, oppression and exploitation in South Sudan. The US President J. Fitzgerald Kennedy, said, he that “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission”. In the same vein, based on the preceded quote from one of the world leaders and a Harvard University Graduate, we the Nuer nation and its people know that the cost of freedom is always high, but the Nuer people have always paid it. And one path we shall and will never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. Alexander the Great, said he that “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion”. It would be Salva Kiir and Paul Malong Awan to interpret the preceded quote.
Professor/Ambassador David de Chand, Chairman, South Sudan Democratic Front Party (SSDFP (member of the Opposition)