Message of unity and hope to all the Opposition political movements in South Sudan

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Message of unity and hope to all the Opposition political movements in
South Sudan
Jan. 15 National, Uncategorized 2 comments
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BY: David Lokosang, JAN/14/2017, SSN;

My 2017 message to all opposition movements in South Sudan is, you
have to unite and you must unite to bring to an end the suffering of
our people sooner than later.

Operating separately doesn’t only prolong the current criminal
dictatorial regime in Juba but it prolongs the suffering of our people
who deserve the rights for equal opportunities as equal citizens of
our nation.

Let us learn from our contemporary history. We have endured more
suffering in our quest for freedom than any other citizens in the
world. Let us revisit our history in order to correct ourselves and
devise a way forward how to put concrete democratic institutions that
will bound us together for common good.

When we were divided in 1991 the result was catastrophic but when we
united our ranks we were able to defeat our enemies militarily,
politically and diplomatically. And it is only then we were able to
force the regime in Khartoum for a genuine political negotiation which
resulted to CPA agreement.

The recent fighting that took place in Upper Nile which resulted in
the death of two generals from Lam Akol’s movement, reminded us of
1991 split which won’t help our endeavour for social justice,
equality, freedom of speech, equal opportunities and socio-economic
development. Let it not repeat in other places in the greater Upper
Nile, nor Equatoria nor Bahr El Ghazal.

What is it that each group wants? If the objective is to change the
current rotten system and put in place a robust system of governance,
then you must all unite for common objectives acceptable for all.

Believe me or not, operating separately gives a wrong signal to the
international community, to our friends and more division among our
people. They will look at us as fragmented tribes and power hungry
people. It is not about individuals rather the system. Individuals
come and go but a good system of governance and the solid democratic
institutions will remain.

Every day I see the suffering of our people, the killing of innocent
people orchestrated by JCE and the war lord elite in Juba and by
unknown gunmen in the name of Transitional Government of National
unity or National Dialogue or whatever name they give, make me sick
and make me feel I have wasted my time in the last 36 years
proclaiming the vision of SPLM which proved to be difficult to achieve
under the shallow minded leadership of Salva Kiir.

Kiir and all those war lords around him have failed us and have
retarded us 200 years back in human history.

My advice to all political movements in South Sudan, I believe it is
reasonable enough to urge all of you to initiate a forum in order to
create a South Sudan Democratic Alliance with common objective.

The objective is to remove the current rotten system of government and
put in place an interim system that will create solid democratic
institutions that recognise freedom of speech, justice and equality,
Socio-economic opportunities, rule of law, international human rights
and accountability.

The region and the international community will reckon you as the
genuine alternative if you are united but if you are fragmented,
believe me or not, you are indirectly prolonging the regime and the
suffering of our innocent people.

Logically, how are you going to unite the country if you are fighting
along tribal lines? You must propagate unity among the fighting force
and civilians under your control areas which will then be reflected in
the activities of the day when you become the legitimate government.

There is a Chinese saying that ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step.’ Therefore you must unite your ranks now with one
objective that is easily to be sold to the general public and the
international community.

If you are not united, if you cannot inform, persuade and remind your
supporters, international community and regional key players, how then
would you succeed to achieve your objectives?

In business, no matter how good your products and service are, if you
don’t inform and persuade the potential and current buyers about their
features and benefits they will never buy from you. Instead they buy
from someone who has invested in major promotional activities.

The reason why East African countries are closing doors for the
opposition is because since the events of July 8th 2016, the
opposition group has not consolidated itself to mobilise its human
resources to counteract the lies being played by the regime propaganda
machinery.

I hope 2017 will be a year of change. God bless all of you and God
bless South Sudan

David Lokosang
lokosa...@yahoo.com.au
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2 Comments

Abel Magok
January 15, 2017 at 4:31 am

Mr. David Lokosang,

Yes, President Kiir has his own problems with governing,
corruptions and laws not respected but if you think that our issues in
South Sudan would be solves by two Drs, Riek or Lam Akol, then you are
on wrong side brother and nothing good can come out from these people,
rather they may re-unite us back with Sudan if they get a chance in
South Sudan.
You have asked them good question, how are you going to unite the
country if you are fighting along tribal line? to be reminded, their
fighting along tribal line dose not started with the killings of two
generals from Lam side, they have been doing this since 1991, and that
is in part they should not given a chance to do more damage than they
have already done when they stabbed from behind by joined Khartoum
government, formed tribal militias to fight their fellow Southern
citizens.
I have quoted this from you, ‘When we were divided in 1991, the
result was catastrophic but when united our ranks we were able to
defeat our enemies military, politically and diplomatically. And it is
only then we were able to force the regime in Khartoum for a genuine
political negotiation which resulted to CPA agreement”.
You are wrong brother in such argument, we do not united to
achieve CPA, it was negotiated while two Drs Riek and Lam with their
militias still fighting along side Khartoum government and when they
have seen peace was imminent and the train of peace was leaving them
nowhere, they ran boarding it and they were welcomed back by the
SPLA/M.
You talks about war lords around president Kirr, I can’t get it,
what about those of Lam, Machar, Oleny, Gadate and the rest in the
bush, what description you give them? Our problems will not finish
unless we get rid of these splitters who have nothing to offer other
than deaths and chaos in the country.
Reply
info@southsudannation
January 15, 2017 at 4:18 pm

Abel Magok,
In your response to Mr. Lokosang, you concluded by saying, I
quote: “Our problems will not finish unless we get rid of these
splitters who have nothing to offer other than deaths and chaos in the
country.”
Those ‘splitters’ were created as the by-product of the
principle of the “preponderance of the majority” which was
oppressively so obvious and so pervasive in the SPLM/A under its
founding leader Dr. John Garang.
Thus, since the highest commands of the SPLM/A were dominated
by the one so-called ‘majority tribe,’ the likes of Drs Lam and Machar
had to fall back to their own particular tribal support for survival
and political significance in the then prevailing circumstances
following the creation of the SPLM/A under Garang and the blatant
aggression of Garang against the already existing Nuer movement in
Upper Nile.
Ironically, if you care to recognize, it was John Garang
himself who started the first fight against fellow South Sudanese by
attacking those of Gai Tut, creating the never-ending tribal animosity
and mistrust that has continued till today under Kiir and his
duplicitous JCE.
Also, in all frankness, then and even today, there was no need
for the jieng to became dissident generals because they already had
the advantage of preponderance in the mainstream Garang’s SPLM/A and
they could misbehave belligerently as freely as they want or can. It’s
just like what is happening today under president Kiir who has
deliberating expedited the same majority-tribal domination that
consequently forced the other tribes to rise up again against the very
palpably oppressive majority jieng domination in all aspects of the
political system in the new nation.
Finally, brother Abel, our problems won’t end by “getting rid
of these splitters who’ve nothing to offer other than deaths and chaos
in the country,” as you asserted above. Instead, let us sit down like
equals and peacefully agree on a modality or modalities of how we can
all accept to run the nation and avert the catastrophic ideology of
tribal domination.
Abel, what many jieng adherents of the now prevailing tribal
domination system in Juba don’t understand is that those South
Sudanese freedom fighters who’re contemporaries of John Garang, like
Machar, Lam Akol, Peter Adwok, Peter Sule, for example, like those a
generation earlier, like Aggrey Jaden, Luigi Adok, Joseph Oduho, are
or were devout and dedicated freedom fighters for the South Sudan and
most of them were the real originators of the liberation struggle.
They deservedly earned the right to be recognized as true
fighters for the liberation of South Sudan but due to this thing call
tribe, they could not garner the same or similar preponderance of
fighting men like what their jieng compatriots like Garang could
achieve.
In brief, that’s what the Jomo Kenyatta’s dominant Kikuyu Mau
Mau movement or the Robert Mugabe’s dominant Shona ZANU have
disastrously done in their respective countries.
South Sudan is big enough to be divided into very effective
and efficient, self-reliant nation-states that will surely live and
co-exit in peace and harmony amongst themselves—-minus the phobia of
oppression by another ‘tribe.’
Editor