South Sudanese Diaspora (USA) Community’s position on the current ongoing Peace Talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: An Open Letter to IGAD heads of States, and Peace talks mediators. __________________________________________________________ By: Bior K. Bior, PhD., Benjamin A. Machar, M.A., Angelo M. Maker, B.A., and Kiir Akol, B.A. We, the South Sudanese Community in Diaspora (USA), would like to wholeheartedly thank you and the people of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) for the commitment of your esteemed leadership in trying to facilitate, mediate and negotiate an amicable solution to the current devastating war being viciously fought between the government of the Republic of South Sudan led by H.E.Gen. President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the rebels’ movement led by the renegade former Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar Teny. Historically, the great peoples of Ethiopia and South Sudan are inextricably bound to each other by a shared history of struggle for freedom, equality and the pursuit of justice. We are acutely aware of this shared history between our people, and although this acknowledgement has never been explicitly and strongly made in the past, we find it imperative that moments like this warrant explicit expression of owed gratitude. We’re not unmindful that it was under the Ethiopian leadership of His Majesty Haile Selassie (I) that the 1972 peace pact between the Sudanese government and the Anya Anya Movement was amicably brought forth in your capital, Addis Ababa. This peace agreement brought about a transient atmosphere of peace in the Republic of the Sudan until the marauding forces of religious fundamentalism, and ethnic hegemony brought it down and thrust the country once more into a deadly abyss, characterized sadly by ethnic mistrust, military adventurism, and a protracted civil unrest. Although this peace did not hold as highly desired by the peace-loving Sudanese people, our people still owe to the people Ethiopia a debt of gratitude. At the height of the second Sudanese civil war, which pitted the various Islamic Governments in the Sudan against the Sudan’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the government of Ethiopia and other regional governments again became instrumental in a frantic search for a just and peaceful settlement to the conflict which had the potentials of dragging the whole region of the horn of Africa into a militarized mayhem. Under the auspice of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) peace initiative, which was launched in 1994, your predecessor, H.E., the former President of Ethiopia (5/28th, ’91 – 8/22nd,’95) and the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia (’95– 12), Mr. Meles Zenawi, became a driving force behind the formulations of the Declaration of Principles (DoPs) between the SPLM and the NIF government in Khartoum. This document later served as the basis on which the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was negotiated in the Republic of Kenya. This shows that the Republic of Ethiopia, and the whole region, stood with the people of South Sudan in the past during their various moments of peril. We are again expecting this impartial approach from your leadership to our current problem, just as your country has shown in the past. During the implementation phases of the CPA, an endeavor which was intricate, tiresome, and mired by controversies and reckless brinkmanship on the part of the National Congress Party (NCP), the regional bodies again stood resolute and urged the parties to the agreement to implement the agreement in good faith. We believe that the pressures which were brought to bear on the NCP government by the IGAD members made it possible for the people of South Sudan to exercise their inalienable right to Self-determination, and the subsequent declaration of their independence. We’re again indebted to the IGAD countries and we are grateful. Your Excellency, we are reaching out to you regarding the ongoing peace talks between the Government of the Republic of South Sudan, and the rebels, which are currently being facilitated under your leadership in your capital. We are saddened and rightly alarmed by the plight of our people who have been forced to live inhumanely in the various refugees’ camps throughout the Horn of Africa, and internally in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps. We are deeply aggrieved by the inter-and-intra-ethnic polarizations which have been bred by pitiful differences within the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). These pitiful differences were hyped and taken up a notch unreasonably on the 6th of December, 2013, in that infamous conference. Instead of employing the readily available instruments of democracy to settle those differences, they were shamefully allowed to metamorphose into a deadly monster which busted asunder all the shackles and fetters of reasons on the 15th of December, 2013. The resultant conflict has sadly shredded the entire ethnic and social fabric of our country, and has become an existential threat to the sovereignty of our nascent republic. Your Excellency, our individual ties to our country are strong, and as we have been following the turns of events in our country with heightened attentions and concerns, we would like to bring to your esteemed attention a few of our nagging concerns. As you frantically scramble to find a just and amicable solution to this unjustifiable war, we believe that you ought to be mindful of the political, ethnic and social intrigues that prevail in our country. Overlooking these intrigues and paradoxes, which are not often apparent to the outsiders, will make your efforts futile, or ineffective in trying to bring about the highly coveted peace in our country. In all of our deliberative meetings, which are geared at brainstorming on the possible solutions to the current unrest in our country, a number of concerns keep popping up from our members. A few of these concerns are as follows: (I) South Sudan is aching for a long lasting and sustainable peace that neither rewards nor appeases rebellion. This unfortunate armed skirmish should not be naively allowed to derail our collective quest for democracy by setting as precedent armed rebellion as a mean to ascend to power. The mediators ought to make this unequivocally and crystal clear to Riek Machar and other prospective political and military adventurers in our country. Also, ethnic nationalism and overarching tribal pride ought to be discouraged as a mean to bring about desired political changes in the country. The marvelous militancy which has overwhelmed the psychic of our Nuer community should not be allowed to pass unchecked, for that threatens the peace and security of the whole region, especially the sisterly republics of South Sudan and the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. These budding dangerous claws of ethnocentrism and quest for unreasonable tribal hegemony must be trimmed while they are still malleable and containable. (II) The IGAD mediating team ought to include the traditional South Sudanese civil society as part of the effort to bring about a peaceful settlement to the crisis. This civil society includes the traditional chiefs, organized youth such as the White Army, Gelweng, and other armed youth organizations with loosely command structures. These are the real stakeholders who should not be left out of any form of settlement if the peace is to hold. A political settlement arrived at by the political elite leaves these groups out, and this sets the country up for another unrest. A comprehensive approach is warranted instead of a piecemeal approach, which rewards a few renegades with psychopathic tendencies. I: Armed Rebellion shouldn’t be rewarded A just and sustainable peace is a collective aspiration and yearning for all South Sudanese, either in the Diaspora or at home. The ongoing suffering of our people, the sweltering heat of tribal hatred, and the potentiality of our country spiraling into the deepest recess of abyss, fill our collective heart with sorrow and ache. To save our country from disintegrating into pitiful fractious tribal enclaves, there is a need to expeditiously speed up the talks that keep stalling in Addis Ababa. These talks must bring about a just and sustainable peace that does not insult our collective intelligence and the lessons of history. Your Excellency, the current crisis could be amicably resolved if the mediating team allows itself to be guided by the extensive history of our struggle. This history is a twisted mass of paradoxes, mistakes, and brilliant political steps and actions. Throughout the stormy days of our liberation struggle, the SPLM/A made some tactical political decisions in which the former comrades who rebelled and joined the enemy were allowed back into the political folds of the movement without any attempt to hold them accountable for their past crimes. This tradeoff in favor of peace and unity of our people was made to deny the various governments in Khartoum the luxury of using our people to fight their misogynistic proxy religious war. Like other altruistic gestures throughout the history of human civilization, this brotherly gesture in part of the people’s movement, the SPLM, was abused by numerous warlords since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. Many rebellious warlords, without clear causes and objectives, have been popping into existence in our country, only to be persuaded and brought into the SPLM’s political folds through appeasement agreements in which they were given humongous government positions and immunity from prosecution in the court of law. Oftentimes, the victims of those unjustifiable wars led by those warlords are left to nurse their wounds in utter humiliation and silence. We have learned, through hard way, that rewarding rebellion has made it a lucrative business for many opportunistic and power hungry South Sudanese military adventurers. The very people who are now engaged in the current unjustifiable war are not amateurs in the enterprise of warlordism. During the war of liberation, Dr. Riek Machar and his tribal affiliates rebelled against the SPLM/A-led movement between the periods of (1983-2005); (2005-2011); and (2011-present). Despite the hideous crimes that they committed against the South Sudanese people, the people’s movement looked the other way and forgave them. The people of South Sudan have also wholeheartedly forgiven them for their numerous crimes. For instance, the SPLM leadership under the late Dr. John Garang in 2002 welcomed and forgave Dr. Riek Machar and his allies for the crimes which they had committed against the people of South Sudan when they rebelled and sided with the South’s arch-enemy in 1991. This rebellion, which was ill-advised, compromised the people’s movement in four fundamental ways. 1. It split our people’s internal front since Dr. Riek’s Nuer tribesmen disserted en mass with him, leaving the movement dangerously starved of manpower and ethnic base to wage the protracted war of liberation. 2. It took the scarce movement’s military hardware and surrendered them to the enemy. These military hardware were later used by the enemy against the SPLM/A. The enemy’s decisive victories over the people’s movement in the next couple of years almost brought the movement to its knees. 3. It compromised the political position of the people’s movement internationally and regionally because our internal front was viewed as fractious and unconsolidated. This gave our ardent allies internationally and regionally a reason to pause and have a second thought on whether or not our cause was worth supporting. 4. It divided our people along ethnic lines and shredded our highly interwoven inter-tribal social fabric as relatives from both sides of the tribal divides were forced to slaughter each other viciously and mercilessly. Notwithstanding these unforgivable treasonous crimes against our people and the state, the movement’s leadership looked at the bigger picture and exercised a rare show of leadership by welcoming Dr. Riek Machar back into the movement’s political folds without any stringent political strings attached. Other warlords who took up arms against our people were equally forgiven and were never held accountable for the many lives they had destroyed either physically or emotionally. For instance, Peter Gatdet Yaka, Dr. Riek’s right-hand man in the current squabble, has rebelled against the state almost twelve times, and during those rebellions, he made it his business to destroy numerous villages with innocent souls in them. However, Mr. Yaka has never been prosecuted for those crimes. We believe that this has taken the biblical “turning-of-the-other-cheek” philosophy to a whole new dangerous level. To arrive at a peaceful settlement that will be just and long-lasting, we urge the mediators to steer clear of a settlement that will be viewed as another attempt to reward bad behaviors. It is dangerous for our nascent democracy and the region as a whole. II. Inclusion of Civil Societies Organizations (COSs) in the ongoing Peace Talks Your Excellency, recently, the word “stakeholders” has emerged in the halls of the hotels where the talks are being conducted in your capital as a new “buzz word.” This buzz word has been dripping effortlessly from the lips of organizations and individuals whose intentions are anything but “good” inasmuch as the welfare of our people is concerned. We have seen some self-appointed bands of political opportunists trying to position themselves as the stakeholders who speak on the behalf of our people at the grassroots. Widening the peace talks to include many stakeholders in the country is not a bad thing per se. In fact, a comprehensive approach to the problem is what is needed since any agreement crafted by the political elites will only put a patchwork on the simmering problem without necessarily addressing its root causes. We therefore applaud your leadership and the mediating team for taking such a giant leap forward by trying to bring the voice of the unheard to bear on the final outcome of those talks. However, the effort to identify the real stakeholders with appreciable powers to alter the course of events in our country leaves so much to be desired, and we would like to suggest who the acceptable stakeholders are. 1. Traditional Chiefs and Heads of Clans: A big chunk of our population is governed customarily by these traditional leaders. They are closely in touch with their subjects, and know the pain of the people under their traditional jurisdictions, unlike the political elite who plot how to mess up our people in the foreign capitals, while remaining oblivious to their pain suffering. By bringing these people in as a civil society, you are essentially crafting and molding a people-driven solution to the problem, instead of an abstract solution whose applicability will prove troublesome especially when the locales will have hard times buying into it. For instance, in 1999, the Dinka and Nuer traditional leaders where convened in Wunlit, South Sudan, to iron out their differences. The solution which eventually came out of that conference united the Nuer and Dinka tribes after years of intermittent inter- and intra-tribal fighting. This was because the political marriage which was consummated between Dr. Riek and Dr. Garang found difficulty in applicability at the grassroots levels. 2. Loosely Commanded Armed Youth (LCAY): Although the etiology of the current problem could be traced to a messy child-like squabble for the control of the SPLM power apparatus, it has now degenerated into a tribal skirmish that threatens to drag the whole country into the deepest recesses of tribal war. The ongoing fighting in the countryside against the national army is led by bands of armed youth with a loose command structures, which makes it difficult to get them to respect any Cessation of Hostilities (CoHA) Agreement, just like the one which was recently violated by the White Army in a spectacular and shameful manner. To avoid the recurrence of this sort of behaviors, these armed youth ought to be engaged separately so that their particular grievances should be addressed adequately. All the fancy political posturing which portrays them as somehow dancing to Dr. Riek’s tune ought to be thrown to the winds. 3. Opposition Parties and other Civil Organizations Societies, (COSs): The SPLM may be a ruling party, but it does not own the country. The efforts to bring about a lasting solution to the current conflict must involve other political forces and civil society organizations in the country. Any attempt to curve up the country’s power between Riek’s rebels, the government, and the “disgruntled” sacked ministers, all of which are essentially SPLM, is self-defeating. It leaves the rest of the country’s political players in the cold, which is a recipe for the next political disaster. Your Excellency, the suffering of our people must be brought to an expeditious end. All the political posturing and maneuverings must be objected to, and your leadership must increasingly become intolerance to any behavior that seeks to prolong our people’s suffering by letting the offending party know that the stakes are high. Any attempt to smuggle in extracurricular exercises which are meant to politically restructure our country without a clear calculations of what will come about as a result of those restructurings ought to be discouraged. Recently, there have been numerous talks of federalism and other fruitless proposals whose aim is to derail the talks indefinitely so that those ambitious military commanders will continue to wreck havocs on the lives of our people. This is not acceptable, and your leadership should make it clear that your main task is to bring about an end to the raging conflict. Federalism and other fancy proposals can wait until some degree of normalcy has returned to our country. They should not be used as psychological tools to steer the hearts of the least informed toward violence and other fruitless endeavors. Your Excellency, the following political control valves must be built into the final solution to the current conflict: 1. Our emerging institution of democracy must not be compromised. The current sitting government was democratically elected overwhelmingly by the people of South Sudan, and any attempt to unseat it by military means or otherwise should be discouraged, for that sets a dangerous precedence for our budding democracy. This should be nonnegotiable. 2. Military coup should be demonized as an instrument of political power acquisition. The days of military coups on the African continent have come to pass; it is barbaric to try to resurrect them. 3. The current crimes being committed in the country against our people must be investigated and anybody found culpable must be brought to justice. These should include those hideous crimes which were committed during the 1990s to present. Your Excellency, in conclusion, we would like to register our gratitude to the IGAD and the mediating team for their tireless efforts to bring about a peaceful settlement to the current conflict which is tearing our country asunder. We are hopeful that the ongoing talks will bear fruits that will return our country to the glorious days of post-CPA era. May God bless you and the people of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. CC: H.E. General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda CC: H.E. Uhuru Mugai Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya CC: H.E. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan Mini-biographical information on the drafters: Mr. Benjamin Aciek Machar, B.S., M.A., (International Relations and Comparative Politics). Mr. Machar is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Howard University, Washington, DC (USA). Dr. Bior Kwer Bior, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., (Cell and Molecular Biology/Neuroscience). Dr. Bior is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Vermont, School of Medicines. His research focuses on human blood coagulation and coagula-pathology. He resides in Burlington, VT (USA). Mr. Angelo Mangar Maker, B.A. Mr. Maker is now pursuing a master’s degree (MA) in Organizational Leadership at Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia (USA). Mr. Kiir Akol, B.A. Mr. Akol is currently pursuing a master’s degree (M.A.) in Organizational Leadership at Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia (USA).
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 14:39:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015