By Tor Madira Machier,
Opinion.
Sept 14, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — The former representative of the UN secretary general in South Sudan Heldi Johnson has called the country’s first ever witnessed ethnic cleansing as brutal act of violent against the people of South Sudan in the first week of the Juba massacre. President Barrack Obama has condemned the atrocities, which have killed more than 20 thousands in the first three days of the violent and displaced more than a million of civilians. Other South Sudanese have already called it a genocide against the Nuer community. Whatever name you want to call it, is what is going on today in South Sudan. Since it came to power, the failed Juba government has been engaged in rampant corruptions practices, widespread human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings. In the past three years prior to the December Juba massacre it (government) have been planning and arming, a private Dinka youth group of three thousands men to terrorise and kills the people of South Sudan which resulted to the massacre of the Nuer people on the night of 15,16,17 and 18th December as well in the pretext of supporting Dr. Riek Machar.
Backed by the Dinka dominated national security, Kiir’s militia men when on to succeed in killing more than 20 thousand Nuer people including, men , women , and mostly children under 13 years of age within three days from the beginning of the massacre. Nowadays mass destruction of villages, targeted and deliberate confiscation of resources, and food in particular became usual against the civil populations particularly In the Nuer land whom the government accuses of supporting the rebellion.
Recently humanitarian aid organisations reported that if the current chaos and law disorders in the country continue 500,000 children will die from acute malnutrition at the end of 2014 beginning from august and this will inflict an acute humanitarian catastrophe in the country. Currently those people who are in squalid UN camps across the country which president kiir accuses of being politicized by Dr. Riek Machar are the most affected victims of the conflict suffering and dying from diseases and malnutrition. And therefore thousands of life remains at great risk. Meanwhile the government assaults continue, with the government blocking aids agencies from reaching the displaced in the remotest parts of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity respectively. During the first week of august, government forces raided one of the fields used for aid distribution in Nhialdiu Payam of Unity State’s Rubkona county. While all these are going on, the international community remain quiet while the killing and the suffering of the people of South Sudan remain in active. At this critical point, South Sudan qualifies and is subject to military intervention from the western powers because citing the current failure of the government in term of governance, lack of strong leadership ethics and widespread rampant corruption which resulted into widespread desertion by military service personnel. If the West understands the current humanitarian crisis, within the next three years, South Sudan should be put under United Nations protectorate before the current political turmoil in the country became too late to be resolved.
Military intervention and putting a country under UN mandate is not a easy call nor is it easy to justify standing by when an action is possible in practice and defensible in principle. The primary responsibility for the protection of a state’s own people must lie with the state itself. But where a population is suffering serious harm, as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of non-intervention should lead to a larger principle, that of the international responsibility to protect the civil population.
Apart from bringing a country under a protectorate of UN or any other country, intervention for humanitarian purposes is justifiable. Acknowledging, however, in relation to South Sudan citing the failure by its government a coercive military action should always be an exceptional with extra-ordinary measures should be taken against the government of South Sudan. For today, the call for military intervention in South Sudan presents impossible obstacles. Some important members of the United Nation Security Council have been opposing military action, china and Russia in particular exerted a lot of effort to make sure that the seat of Salva Kiir is protected for the sack of their interests in South Sudan. China in particular protects her oil interest fearing the West could use that opportunity to sabotage her oil business in South Sudan. But there still international indignations at the atrocities in South Sudan which will one day take action against the government of South Sudan.
The United States and the European Union already have general sanctions in place against the warring parties, but much of this, is needed, targeted sanctions like freezing the overseas assets and imposing travel bans on key South Sudanese leaders may change the current way through which South Sudan government negotiates in Addis Ababa. The US, EU and the UN should first condemn what have been happening since December last year; the violations of international humanitarian law in South Sudan particularly the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and the obstruction of humanitarian assistance by the government and its continued recruitment of child soldiers they must secondly demand that the South Sudan government stop and disarm all the irregular forces fighting on her behave, thirdly all the foreign forces fighting under the South Sudanese government should be immediately withdrawn. Fourthly, the resolution must call for the safe return of displaced persons to their villages of origin, and reversing the ethnic cleansing in the Country.
Finally, it should authorise a high level committee to investigate the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the country between December and till now.
Therefore if the international community recognises and put to action whether military action should be taken or South Sudan could be brought under the UN protectorate before a reasonable government and governance system is set up in the country, I hope the continued humanitarian crackdown should be eased.
Tor Madira Machier is a South Sudanese student living in Cairo, Egypt, he can be reached at; tormadira2013@gmail.com or +201024930577
