Only Idiots can't see the darkest point in our history!

Only idiots can’t see the darkest point in our history!

Part two

London, 17 April 2020

By Gwado J. Ador

Sons of South Sudan were bracing for the challenges ahead, they were prepared to take responsibility following successful negotiations of the peace agreement at Naivasha in Kenya, 2005.

The SPLM elites were finally warming up to take control and rule South Sudan at least for some years into the future.

In the beginning, it was rumoured that Dr John Garang, the Chairman of SPLM/A was put under pressure by a certain group within his ranks to concede power in some sort of a military showdown!

Perhaps, Garang was aware of the simmering plots against his authority, which was subsequently redirected against the entire SPLM establishment.

It was a secret, but it was known almost by everybody within his movement and across South Sudan.

However, Garang refusal to pay any attention to the conspirators’ bubbles was met with an extreme show of fist by Salva Kiir and his group at Yei in 2004.

But, he ignored this as he was too busy putting the last touches on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with his counterparts in Khartoum.

An agreement that would give the people of South Sudan to choose whether to succeed or opt for unity with the North.

This right of self-determination, however, would be exercised by the people of South Sudan through an internationally recognized referendum.

Though, Dr Garang was unprepared to give up to the pressure of the renegades who were pushing hard to undermine his authority.

But, he was somehow ready to entertain them and listen to some of their arguments and demands.

In fact, the departing hero, Edward Lino Abyei was among the people dismayed by the ensuing crisis within the SPLM/A at that time.

As chief of the intelligence, Chairman, Dr John Garang, dispatched him among other high profile SPLM members to Yei with the aim to investigate the root causes and to find solutions to the crisis.

Cdr. Edward Lino, however, managed to deploy tactics using his skills in intelligence to soothe and calm down imminent confrontation between Garang and his opponents in what was known as Yei incident at that time.

However, political observers predicted that South Sudan was about to enter a new phase full of contradictions and quarrels among its elites.

The SPLM/A leaders were showing strain in relations. It was obvious that something wasn’t right somehow.

Kiir Mayardit, however, assumed SPLM/A leadership following the demise of Dr John Garang, who got killed instantly in a fateful helicopter crash after his immediate return from Kampala on the 30th, July 2005.

Following the independence of South Sudan on 09 July 2011, SPLM/A elites emerged disunited with Kiir on top of affairs. Thus, South Sudan was seen entering a dark tunnel without any doubt.

After consolidating his powers effectively, Kiir showed an aptitude to rule as a tyrant. His group had to change the colour of their skins.

Though, their tactics and the way of behaviour against innocent people were reminiscences to the behaviour of the former oppressors in vigour and test. It was an absolute tyranny.

Of course, our oppressors won’t necessarily come from the known traditional quarters in the North. This time, they have emerged from the ranks of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. They were our own!

Some among them were ready to turn their backs against the very people they claimed to have liberated from the yoke of Arabs. Overnight, they have become oppressors in their own right!

After taking over the reins of power, Salva Kiir and his followers started to crack down on the fundamental freedom of our people and denying others, the right to abode or resettle in their ancestral lands.

Subsequently, a bitter disagreement and fighting flared up first among the elites, then later, it engulfed the entire people of South Sudan as we could follow nervously the unfolding events at home.

Firmly, Kiir and his group managed to control and suppress all aspects of our people’s lives. Workers’ salaries were denied for months long, they were abused and some were made to confront one another over food and lust for power.

Thus, our people were effectively put under another spate of subjugation and hegemony by a group of individuals calling themselves our liberators.

Then shortly, the whole country was caught up in a wildfire of inter-communal conflicts that claimed so many innocent lives.

The worst that we have ever experienced since the beginning of the struggle for the liberation of South Sudan in 1950th.

Various communities who were peacefully living side by side for decades were instigated to confront one another over land rights and other natural resources.

The clique went as far as arming some clans in Greater Junglei, Rumbek, Warap, Awiel Tonj and Bul areas to butcher themselves…As a result, significant scores of lives were lost because of such deliberate policies.

Occasionally, savagery tactics were deployed against certain communities to force them to abandon their ancestral land and to resettle in their places other competing tribes as we might have seen in Malakal, Wau, Bentiu, Raja, Nimule and Yambio.

Nevertheless, in order to reinforce these tactics further, weapons of mass rape were deliberately deployed too. Young women and minor girls were defiled leaving a trail of victims resigning to their fate and misery.

When the international community saw that it was outrageous and intolerable; then, the clique started to back down blaming everything on their opponents in the opposition.

Often, they blamed the traditional cattle wrestling practices, which were described by some of them as the evil behind all the crisis in certain communities.

Therefore, the overriding question is, was Kiir and his group fought really for our liberation?

The answer was certainly no because Kiir and his group had no South Sudan at hearts.

The reason being, he wanted to wreck and sink the SPLM boat in the middle of nowhere!

Secondly, the following realities on the ground would support this claim that Kiir and his group weren’t really for South Sudan:

If they were truly our liberators as they had claimed, they wouldn’t have committed all the stated heinous crimes and violations in the first place.

They would have, instead worked to create a conducive atmosphere for our people to reconcile and encourage the spirit of unity and togetherness for the better future and peaceful South Sudan.

But, instead, they were bent and determined to destroy and change the demographic map in the country by denying others the opportunity to resettle peacefully in their ancestral lands.

If they were truly our liberators as they had claimed, they would have invested more money to improve our roads and to connect urban centres with our rural areas.

In addition, they would have worked to exploit various natural resources for the benefit of the entire people of South Sudan.

More importantly, they would have build proper schools, but not the dubious ones and improved on the quality of our teachers.

But instead, they were busy embezzling money and seeking better lives for themselves and their loved ones in the neighbouring countries.

If they were truly our liberators as they had claimed, they would have built more hospitals and invested in clean water and better sanitation.

But instead, they chose to seek medical care for themselves and their family members abroad, leaving the rest of our innocent people to fend for themselves at home.

‘There was no salvation for the people of South Sudan’

Dedicated to the honest and fearless of South Sudan

Please follow part three only on Media Projection Ltd coming next…