South Sudanese around the globe commemorate conflict victims
December 15, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – The first anniversary of the South Sudan conflict, which has resulted in horrific atrocities against thousands of civilians, was commemorated on Monday around the world.
Thousands of people gathered in halls and open spaces, lighting candles and holding placards and banners. Many mourners also wore black t-shirts with different messages condemning what has been described as an ethnically motivated “genocide” administered by South Sudanese president Salva Kiir Mayardit.
Conflict erupted in South Sudan on 15 December 2013 after a political dispute within the leadership of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) turned violent, triggering tribal tensions across the country.
The fighting has pitted troops loyal to Kiir, who hails from the Dinka tribe, against rebel forces aligned with former vice-president Riek Machar, a Nuer.
The conflict initially flared in the capital, Juba, when Dinka members of the presidential guards allegedly attempted to disarm their Nuer colleagues in the unit.
The United Nations and international human rights bodies have confirmed that a massacre of unarmed civilians took place in the early days of the conflict when Kiir’s regular forces and tribal militias conducted door-to-door searches, killing an unconfirmed number of Nuer tribesmen.
MOURNERS SPEAK OUT
Peter Marial, one of the survivors who continues to reside at a UN protection site in Juba, described 15 December as the country’s darkest day since gaining independence from Sudan in July 2011.
Marial, who lost two members of his family, called on Kiir to step down, saying he had lost his legitimacy after turning his gun against the very people who elected him in 2010.
“I voted for him (Kiir) in the 2010 elections, but from 15 December I have withdrawn my vote after his guards killed my relatives and nearly killed me,” he told Sudan Tribune on Monday.
“I have casted a vote of no confidence against him. He is no longer my president and therefore he is no longer legitimate. He is a murderer of his own people and voters and should step down,” he added.
However, according to another victim who gave his name as Mading, government-allied militias also targeted members of the Dinka community, particularly those from Lakes state who bear the same facial identity markings as the Nuer.
He said that although his people might not have been intentionally targeted like the Nuer, they have equally suffered.
“So many people from my community in Lakes state were killed by the same militias of president Salva Kiir in Juba. They killed a lot of them, telling them that they were also Nuer. When they spoke in Dinka they were told that they [had] only learnt the Dinka language,” he said.
He accused Kiir of allegedly inciting hatred towards the people of Lakes state, saying militia fighters who were responsible for carrying out targeted massacres were exclusively recruited from Warrap and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states as because he distrusted Dinka from Lakes state.
UGANDA, AUSTRALIA MARK ANNIVERSARY
At commemorations in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, thousands of mourners attended a prayer service on Monday organised by the Saint Francis Catholic Church located at Makerere University.
In an address to mourners, Samuel Gai Kuiynin, a Nuer community chairman, said the international community needs to take a clear stand against the “Juba massacre”.
He said remaining silent over such disturbing atrocities will not grant a lasting peace within the communities of South Sudan.
“Kiir is a real perpetrator on killing civilians in Juba. He trained [a] private army who ended up killing our beloved brothers and sisters because they are Nuer, and we don’t understand why [the] international community is beating around the bush without laying responsibility on the South Sudan leader,” said Kuiynin.
Stephen Waat Bipal, chairman of the Phow community in Jonglei’s Greater Fangak counties, also blamed the Kiir administration for fuelling the unrest, which resulted in the killing of innocent civilians across the country.
“The Juba regime does not want peace; look what is happening now in Fangak, Ayod and other areas,” he said.
“They do not want peace because they knew they have committed crimes against humanity and this is why they keep on fighting rebels to cover up the ill-killing of civilians,” he added.
Buay Keke, deputy chairman of the Kampala-based rebel chapter, advised mourners against laying sole blame on the Dinka tribe, saying only a certain section of the tribe were responsible for carrying out atrocities during the 12-month-long conflict.
“Never put blames on all Dinka who have killed Nuer, but it is president Kiir who instigated the genesis of the crisis with his gastronome ministers and his clan,” said Keke.
He told Sudan Tribune the rebel SPLM/A in Opposition faction is fighting for the objectives of a democratic state to install rule of law and justice for all.
He urged the South Sudanese people to support peace efforts, calling on them to work towards ousting Kiir from power given he had failed to unite the country after independence.
In Australia, Nuer youth leader and organiser of the Melbourne memorial service Thalage Wal commended the unity shown by South Sudanese in commemorating the day.
“I also appreciate all South Sudanese who stood side by side and acknowledged the massacre and killings of innocent Nuer civilians in Juba by [the] dictator, Salva Kiir,” he said on Monday.
“We are stronger when we are together and we prove our unity in this first anniversary,” he added.
MEMORIALS PLANNED IN US
Meanwhile, US-based pastor James Rut, chairperson of the Nuer Christian Mission Network of North America, said South Sudanese communities there were also preparing to conduct memorial services in their adopted home.
On 20 December, a prayer service will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska, with a candlelit vigil to be held later the same day following the service. The events will be held between 11am and 6pm (local time).
Rut has called on South Sudanese communities in the US to attend the memorial service as a sign of respect to those who lost their lives in the past 12 months.
15 DECEMBER SADDEST DAY
A senior official from the armed opposition movement has described 15 December as the saddest day for South Sudan post-independence.
In an article published on Monday, Professor Peter Adwok Nyaba, who heads the reorganisation committee in rebel-controlled areas, said the day “triggered the worst animal instincts” in those that perpetrated the killings.
“Today, 15 December 2014, marks the first anniversary of the Juba massacre of ethnic Nuers ordered by president Salva Kiir Mayardit. It remains the saddest day in the history of South Sudan for it triggered the worst animal instincts, dehumanised us; that in a matter of moments we began to discriminate and decimate ourselves on the basis of ethnicity,” he wrote.
He said South Sudanese “must invariably lower our heads in shame” for the events that have unfolded in the young nation, saying 15 December 2013 exposed a five-decade-long pretence and “collective self-deception that we were one people fighting for liberation, equality, freedom and justice”.
Nyaba, a senior member of the ruling party and former minister of higher education, hails from the Shilluk tribe.
OTHER TRIBES TARGETED
He also acknowledged that it was not only Nuer who suffered at the hands of government militia, known as ‘dutku beny’ in Dinka language, saying other ethnic groups were also not spared.
“Initially, the Nuers alone were marked for death at the hands of ‘dutku beny’ or the auxiliary presidential guards recruited specifically for that purpose at the behest of president Kiir by Paul Malong Awan,” he said.
Nevertheless, any Dinka with [the same] facial marks as the Nuers suffered the same brutal fate. The village boys from Warrap and Aweil did not know that other Dinka people existed in Upper Nile or Jonglei,” he added, citing the killing of a Chollo judge murdered for his Toyota V8.
According to Nyaba, other tribes began turning on one another after the conflict spread from Juba to other regions across the country.
He accused Kiir of inviting foreign troops such as the Ugandan army (UPDF) and Khartoum rebel groups, including the Darfuri rebels of Tora Bora and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), to fight against rebel forces alongside the national army (SPLA).
He also pointed out the need to address the root causes of the conflict to prevent conflicts reoccurring.
Machar earlier blamed the crisis on historical unresolved “contradictions and structural causes” within the ruling party since its inception in 1983.
He criticised president Kiir for refusing to learn from past mistakes and deliberately frustrating reforms for the past eight years instead of been working as a team.
The current conflict broke out after a constitutional debate within the SPLM over Machar’s proposed reforms, during which he also expressed his desire to contest for party chairmanship in a national convention which was due to take place in May 2013 in accordance with the constituted five-year plan.
The last party convention which confirmed Kiir as the incumbent chairman was conducted in May 2008.
Following the outbreak of violence, Kiir accused Machar of allegedly attempting to stage a military coup, an accusation the latter denied, describing it as a baseless ploy by the president to eradicate reformists and stymie democratic reform in the country.
(ST)