What the people of Equatoria need to understand about the current war
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Elisabeth Janaina
Feb 22, 2017, 11:35:55 AM2/22/17
to southsudankob
What the people of Equatoria need to understand about the current war
Feb. 21 Politics, Uncategorized 2 comments
By: David Deng Chapath, Kampala, Uganda, FEB/21/2017, SSN;
The present civil war broke in 2013 in Juba. The war began within the
SPLM party and later spread like a wild fire to the Upper Nile Region.
After several attempts to end the war, the peace was signed in 2015
which led to the coming back of Riek Machar in April 2015.
When Riek came there was a lot of hope that at last peace was at all
the corners of South Sudan. However, due to the reckless and chaotic
character of Riek Machar the conflict was resumed from where it was
left and continued up to date.
As pointed out in the above paragraph, after the war broke out in Juba
in July 2016, it spread over all South Sudan and ended killing more
people. The war at this point has become complicated as it has taken
tribal dimension.
For instance, the people of Equatoria have pushed the conflict to a
greater height as they target members of Dinka Community along the
major roads in Equatoria Region. Such targeted killings have led to
the death of hundreds of Dinka people, which included children, women
and elders.
However, Dinka community has been ignoring the action of the people of
Equatoria not because they are scared or afraid but because they
wanted the people of Equatoria to understand one thing about the
present war.
What the people from Equatoria need to understand the current war is
that the war is not about tribes but between the government and those
who are planning to remove the government by force. Therefore, the
people from Equatoria need to understand this fact.
In addition, why the Dinka people ignore the actions of the people of
Equatoria though they keep on targeting their members is because they
are interested in peace and national unity and to avoid creating more
refugees and displaced persons from Equatoria region as many have
already fled the conflict.
As I have pointed out above, the Dinka people deliberately ignore the
actions of some people from Equatoria because what they are concerned
with is how to maintain stability in South Sudan.
However, many youth from Equatoria including the former governor of
former Western Equatoria, Hon. Bakasoro, have declared the war on
Dinka. This declaration took place on Tuesday 12, January, 2017 as
reported by the Dawn Newspaper on 24 January, 2017.
According to that declaration, all Dinkas are to leave Equatoria land,
Kiir Mayardit should resign from being the president of South Sudan,
overhaul of the constitution, reform of the army and security system
and many demands contained in that declaration.
Nonetheless, what I wanted to tell the people who made the above
declaration is that they are unrealistic specially the point that all
Dinka must leave Equatoria. Whereas it is important that the
government returns the land to the people of Equatoria as matter of
their right, the demand that Dinka people should leave Equatoria is
unrealistic and unattainable.
It is unrealistic because we are in one country which means one
people. At the same time, Dinka people will never be forced to leave
Equatoria by force unless they decide to do so voluntarily. Thus,
those who are making noises that Dinka people must leave Equatoria are
dreaming unrealistic dream.
When it comes to the other allegations as to who fought the liberation
war, we cannot argue about it as God and the land of Equatoria know it
as to whose blood was poured down there. Because of that there is no
point of argument since we do not argue facts which are capable of
proving themselves.
In summary, what I wanted to tell brothers and sisters from Equatoria
is that the issues of South Sudan will never be finished through
conflict but only through dialogue. This is because those who live by
the sword will die of sword.
I am concluding this article by appealing to the people of Equatoria
that let us embrace peace and sit down to discuss our issues in peace
because conflict does not provide way forward.
NB//: the author is the South Sudanese student residing in Kampala and
can be reached through dengch...@gmail.com
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2 Comments
John yugu modi
February 22, 2017 at 5:09 am
Mr Deng,
By the way ! What peace are you talking about? Riak came to Juba
for peace. Implantation unfortunately your president and.the mathiang
anyoors tribal militias destroyed and buried the signed peace
You can’t lecture the people of Equatoria about this current war!
I for one don’t buy into an idea of having peace with this current
Dinka led goverment..
How do you’ expect a ttibe which has never known peacefully
coexistence with other tribes to embrace pearce.?
Dinka as a tribe is violent to itself… See.the daily revenge
killing taking places in Dinka states you can’t hear about this
brutality and cruelty in none dinka states.before Kiir and his
people.imposed this current war on none dinka…
please this war is not only in Equatoria as you Dinka would like
to belittled,,. Upper nile is burning, tWestern Bahr Bahr Ghazal is on
fire…
The economy has collapsed… What next..???Famine.is now all over.?
John Yugu
Reply
Steve John
February 22, 2017 at 5:42 am
David D. Chapath,
If anything to go by, one thing comes out very clear from your
authored article; namely jaangs will NOT leave Equatoria voluntarily
unless compelled to do so, because they literally “poured” their blood
during the liberation struggle. It is incumbent upon any jaang to
rightly think so, suggesting that Equatoria is more or less a war
booty and should be possesed. Let me also voluntarily take upon myself
the role of the spokeperson for the “Equatorian People” just as you
have done for the jaangs. I am not going to be very analytical,
because much on the issue has already been exhausted in other similar
internet fora.
Your attitude follows a simple hunter´s logic; the one who kills
the antelope just takes the lion´s share.or the winner takes it all.
Going by that, the you could arguably say, the jaang should and must
“own” the South Sudan because they “got it” reducing the significance
and roles of other ethnicities during the struggle to that of “food
and bullet carriers” or purely to that of spectators and onlookers.
Such therefore, is a dysfunctional relationship. Your logic tells me,
Equatoria will attain or be given peace at the mercy of jaang because
they own it, Furthermore, you allude if the jaang choose to be forced
out of Equatoria, then it is a choice the Equatorians have to pay
because honestly, jaangs will “voluntarily” not quit. Even Brothers of
the same father and mother once as grown ups go separate ways with
each founding a family of his own. What is it that is difficult to
understand that jaangs cant live in their states without necessarily
being in Equatoria? What innately drives them to the point of vagrancy
and obssession to live and die in Equatoria? Why have Equatorians not
madly felt to move and live in jaangstates? I live it to you.
It is therefore clear, that the jaang obssession not to leave
Equatoria voluntarily leaves the Equatorians with a choice of one;
fight for their ancestral lands and this is ongoing. Today, we´ve
reached a point of no-return and no jaangs can freely live among most
Equatorian communities and visa-vis, given the current political
impasse and that will not change soon either. You will admit, that you
may have no Equatorian friends rather more Ugandan ones, that is sad
but real.
As a final remark, Equatoria wants peace but not at the behest of
the jaangs. It must be real peace were each retreats to his place and
political cards mixed a new. Equatorians did not brag themselves
because the Equatorian Corps in 1955 started Anyanya 1 in Torit when
most jaangs where either oblivious or sided with the jellaba to the
point Abel Alier was sent to negotiate the Addis Abeba Agreement on
their behalf. No Equatorian ever told jaangs, look “we fought while
you nakedly went after your cows in the luak”. So why would jaangs
tell Equatorians that now?
So Mr. David D. Chapath, the choice is yours; choose to live side
by side with Equatorians as equals or expect a fight. This time around
it is not going to be “business as usual”. Moreover, your insistence
to live in Equatoria at all cost will not make you an Equatorian
either, like in our old saying; “a lizard that soaks itself in water
for ages cant turn into a crocodile”. I remain here.
Reply
Leave a Reply
Feb. 21 Politics, Uncategorized 2 comments
By: David Deng Chapath, Kampala, Uganda, FEB/21/2017, SSN;
The present civil war broke in 2013 in Juba. The war began within the
SPLM party and later spread like a wild fire to the Upper Nile Region.
After several attempts to end the war, the peace was signed in 2015
which led to the coming back of Riek Machar in April 2015.
When Riek came there was a lot of hope that at last peace was at all
the corners of South Sudan. However, due to the reckless and chaotic
character of Riek Machar the conflict was resumed from where it was
left and continued up to date.
As pointed out in the above paragraph, after the war broke out in Juba
in July 2016, it spread over all South Sudan and ended killing more
people. The war at this point has become complicated as it has taken
tribal dimension.
For instance, the people of Equatoria have pushed the conflict to a
greater height as they target members of Dinka Community along the
major roads in Equatoria Region. Such targeted killings have led to
the death of hundreds of Dinka people, which included children, women
and elders.
However, Dinka community has been ignoring the action of the people of
Equatoria not because they are scared or afraid but because they
wanted the people of Equatoria to understand one thing about the
present war.
What the people from Equatoria need to understand the current war is
that the war is not about tribes but between the government and those
who are planning to remove the government by force. Therefore, the
people from Equatoria need to understand this fact.
In addition, why the Dinka people ignore the actions of the people of
Equatoria though they keep on targeting their members is because they
are interested in peace and national unity and to avoid creating more
refugees and displaced persons from Equatoria region as many have
already fled the conflict.
As I have pointed out above, the Dinka people deliberately ignore the
actions of some people from Equatoria because what they are concerned
with is how to maintain stability in South Sudan.
However, many youth from Equatoria including the former governor of
former Western Equatoria, Hon. Bakasoro, have declared the war on
Dinka. This declaration took place on Tuesday 12, January, 2017 as
reported by the Dawn Newspaper on 24 January, 2017.
According to that declaration, all Dinkas are to leave Equatoria land,
Kiir Mayardit should resign from being the president of South Sudan,
overhaul of the constitution, reform of the army and security system
and many demands contained in that declaration.
Nonetheless, what I wanted to tell the people who made the above
declaration is that they are unrealistic specially the point that all
Dinka must leave Equatoria. Whereas it is important that the
government returns the land to the people of Equatoria as matter of
their right, the demand that Dinka people should leave Equatoria is
unrealistic and unattainable.
It is unrealistic because we are in one country which means one
people. At the same time, Dinka people will never be forced to leave
Equatoria by force unless they decide to do so voluntarily. Thus,
those who are making noises that Dinka people must leave Equatoria are
dreaming unrealistic dream.
When it comes to the other allegations as to who fought the liberation
war, we cannot argue about it as God and the land of Equatoria know it
as to whose blood was poured down there. Because of that there is no
point of argument since we do not argue facts which are capable of
proving themselves.
In summary, what I wanted to tell brothers and sisters from Equatoria
is that the issues of South Sudan will never be finished through
conflict but only through dialogue. This is because those who live by
the sword will die of sword.
I am concluding this article by appealing to the people of Equatoria
that let us embrace peace and sit down to discuss our issues in peace
because conflict does not provide way forward.
NB//: the author is the South Sudanese student residing in Kampala and
can be reached through dengch...@gmail.com
<< Older
Newer >>
2 Comments
John yugu modi
February 22, 2017 at 5:09 am
Mr Deng,
By the way ! What peace are you talking about? Riak came to Juba
for peace. Implantation unfortunately your president and.the mathiang
anyoors tribal militias destroyed and buried the signed peace
You can’t lecture the people of Equatoria about this current war!
I for one don’t buy into an idea of having peace with this current
Dinka led goverment..
How do you’ expect a ttibe which has never known peacefully
coexistence with other tribes to embrace pearce.?
Dinka as a tribe is violent to itself… See.the daily revenge
killing taking places in Dinka states you can’t hear about this
brutality and cruelty in none dinka states.before Kiir and his
people.imposed this current war on none dinka…
please this war is not only in Equatoria as you Dinka would like
to belittled,,. Upper nile is burning, tWestern Bahr Bahr Ghazal is on
fire…
The economy has collapsed… What next..???Famine.is now all over.?
John Yugu
Reply
Steve John
February 22, 2017 at 5:42 am
David D. Chapath,
If anything to go by, one thing comes out very clear from your
authored article; namely jaangs will NOT leave Equatoria voluntarily
unless compelled to do so, because they literally “poured” their blood
during the liberation struggle. It is incumbent upon any jaang to
rightly think so, suggesting that Equatoria is more or less a war
booty and should be possesed. Let me also voluntarily take upon myself
the role of the spokeperson for the “Equatorian People” just as you
have done for the jaangs. I am not going to be very analytical,
because much on the issue has already been exhausted in other similar
internet fora.
Your attitude follows a simple hunter´s logic; the one who kills
the antelope just takes the lion´s share.or the winner takes it all.
Going by that, the you could arguably say, the jaang should and must
“own” the South Sudan because they “got it” reducing the significance
and roles of other ethnicities during the struggle to that of “food
and bullet carriers” or purely to that of spectators and onlookers.
Such therefore, is a dysfunctional relationship. Your logic tells me,
Equatoria will attain or be given peace at the mercy of jaang because
they own it, Furthermore, you allude if the jaang choose to be forced
out of Equatoria, then it is a choice the Equatorians have to pay
because honestly, jaangs will “voluntarily” not quit. Even Brothers of
the same father and mother once as grown ups go separate ways with
each founding a family of his own. What is it that is difficult to
understand that jaangs cant live in their states without necessarily
being in Equatoria? What innately drives them to the point of vagrancy
and obssession to live and die in Equatoria? Why have Equatorians not
madly felt to move and live in jaangstates? I live it to you.
It is therefore clear, that the jaang obssession not to leave
Equatoria voluntarily leaves the Equatorians with a choice of one;
fight for their ancestral lands and this is ongoing. Today, we´ve
reached a point of no-return and no jaangs can freely live among most
Equatorian communities and visa-vis, given the current political
impasse and that will not change soon either. You will admit, that you
may have no Equatorian friends rather more Ugandan ones, that is sad
but real.
As a final remark, Equatoria wants peace but not at the behest of
the jaangs. It must be real peace were each retreats to his place and
political cards mixed a new. Equatorians did not brag themselves
because the Equatorian Corps in 1955 started Anyanya 1 in Torit when
most jaangs where either oblivious or sided with the jellaba to the
point Abel Alier was sent to negotiate the Addis Abeba Agreement on
their behalf. No Equatorian ever told jaangs, look “we fought while
you nakedly went after your cows in the luak”. So why would jaangs
tell Equatorians that now?
So Mr. David D. Chapath, the choice is yours; choose to live side
by side with Equatorians as equals or expect a fight. This time around
it is not going to be “business as usual”. Moreover, your insistence
to live in Equatoria at all cost will not make you an Equatorian
either, like in our old saying; “a lizard that soaks itself in water
for ages cant turn into a crocodile”. I remain here.
Reply
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