GEN. SALVA KIIR IS THE ONE WHO DECLARED WAR GAINST HIS OWN GOVERNMENT NOT THE REBEL
Written by Peter Khor Malual
Pres. Salva Kiir Mayardiit.
Attention: South Sudanese Compatriots Worldwide,
January 9, 2014 (…) — If there is someone who still hesitated that Kiir Mayardit’s regime still a government, let me inform you that it has already collapsed. During the SPLM Convention of 2008, when there was an overheated tension among the senior party members for who to hold which position in the party, there was a Nuer businessman who warned the convention wisely. He asked the convened crowd in the hall that “If the groom wants to cause a conflict in his wedding ceremony, would he blame the people who take part in the fighting?” The answer was no to everyone in the meeting hall. He meant it on the then Vice President of the Republic of Sudan and the President of the government of Southern Sudan; Gen. Salva Kiir, who wanted to instigate the conflict while he was the one in power.
On the night of December 15, 2013 in our Nation’s capital Juba, the groom provoked war and cracked down his own wedding party. However, the most dim-witted thing he is doing is that he blames it on others and using baseless allegations that it was a Coup d’état while he was the one ordered the partial disarmament against the commando military unit with half of the aisle having guns while the other group were subjected to disarmament for unexplained reason. In other words the Nuers were disarmed while the Dinka were not. Seen in the light, it is no wonder that the President and Marial Chinuong were the trouble makers who ignited the December 15, incidence in Juba. The worse scenario for the complication is that the President did not act responsibly to control the situation peacefully. He then went ahead and blamed it on his potential party rivals who are threatening his dictatorial chair in the party by telling the South Sudanese Public that the SPLM need a political reform so that it could maintain the leadership of the national interest.
Next, the President Kiir and his loyalists who misled him to hell twisted the case from the political point of view and turned it to a tribal conflict which drew the glorious South Sudan and the world to see the first genocide of the 21st century on the African soil. The President fitted his illiterate guards who are purely Dinka tribe men from his home state against any Nuer they see in Juba. The killing is broad-spectrum and they were not targeting the suspected Nuers who were falsely accused of coup attempt, but against anyone who is Nuer in Juba. How shameful is it for a Nuer soldiers who think he was protecting the interest of the government in the Bilpam and Giade (Military barracks) but when they come and visit their families at their homes they could find everyone shot dead by Dinka extremists just because they are Nuers?
I have a message to those who are still reluctant that they should not be neutral anymore because there is no interest of the government to be protected. From December 15, and thereafter, the government has collapsed. No more government existing until the Freedom Fighters liberated the people of South Sudan from the yoke of Kiir and Kuol Manyang‘s totalitarian and bloodthirsty regime. For those who believe they sympathize with the government because their relatives are still supporting the government or high rank officials who are part of the same government, I appeal to all of you that you should refrain from that thinking.
When it comes into social interaction, my experience of being in Juba for the past four years depicted that the harmony I saw is for sure a national standard. The South Sudanese have built trust among themselves to the extent that people were preparing to move beyond the tribal lines. For example, in work place and the neighborhood where people are interacting intimately in no regard to their origin makes me feel a real South Sudanese because I have friends apart from my own tribe or people that I am sharing the language with. Today, this trust has been betrayed by the killer government of Kiir Mayardiit, Malong Awan, Salva Mathok, Kuol Manyang, Makuei Lueth and their likes. Their genocidal scheme to sweep off the Nuers has taken the young nation back by far to square one. How to gain back the harmony and a trust of a Nuer people to trust a Dinka led government in the modern era is undefined to me. I know that it is not every Dinka that like the atrocities carried out against Nuers in Juba but I question the Dinka judgment especially the West of the Nile Dinka (Those of Greater Bahr el gazel) who are the one having the upper hand in the government and mostly the one implementing the genocide which destabilized our nation. Their silence over the incident without prudence outspoken reaction against war crime convinced me to believe that they unanimously agreed to carry out that mass killing with no moderates. If these were Nuer having the government targeted to kill the Dinka in a nation whose flag is waving in the air like prominent independence flag in front of Dr. John Garang Mausoleum, there could be also moderate Nuers who would be killed together with Dinkas in defense or protection of Dinka because of Nuer natural compassion. To prove my point right, this is the reason we still have Nuer generals and Ministers whose relatives or families’ lives lost in the cold blooded massacre yet they still believe South Sudan is one government. So they are the moderate Nuers by national standard although we the other Nuers consider them as idiots because the genocidal crime has gone beyond their control so they shouldn’t remain loyal to such a government that killed their own people. On the other hand, if the Dinkas were killing other ethnic groups like the Equatorians or Luo tribes, I am sure beyond doubt that the Nuers would never remain silent. The Nuers would confront the Dinkas right away because it is a Nuer nature to protect and defend the disadvantaged or powerless person from any arrogant and abusive power whether by another Nuer or anybody else. Nonetheless, the other part of the nations (other tribes) remained in silence with the exception of Prof. Peter Adwok Nyaba who told the world true story about the conflict as it happened and Mama Rebecca Nyandeng who is fearless to tell the truth and embraces the fact that she is the founding mother of this young nation from its embryo stage until birth. Among all the senior political figures only the two condemned the killing carried out by the government of Kiir Mayardiit and his colleagues.
Another thing which irritated me a lot was seeing a big smile on the face of Vice President of the Republic; James Wani who was mocking the Nuer killing and calling it a failed coup while meeting with his Bari community elders. Are these kinds of people like Wani Igga really cares about the national interest or their own future? The only potential advisor of the President is always his Deputy but Wani surrendered his post to Salva Mathok Gengdit to be in charge likewise Gen. James Hoth gave up his position to Paul Malong Awan of Northern Bar-elgazel State. As a result, the government automatically becomes a Rek Dinka affairs and Bor Dinka with Kuol Manyang, Makuei Lueth and Malaak Ayuen on the flip side of the coin. Then their goal is; kill all Nuers and we will run the South Sudan without obstruction. Will this really work? No, there will never be a South Sudan without Nuer or a Nuer controlled neither South Sudan without Dinka nor both tribes without the Equatorians and other tribes of South Sudan. It needs all of us but these cliques of Dinka murderer mentioned above do not need Nuers they only need themselves. There is no surprise, these men and their fellows are only having two choices; death or to live as forever refugees.
How about Museveni? Ever since the time of the CPA signing, I thought we have our own president until the very recent era. However, I eventually realized that we are puppet government ruled by the Ugandan President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. When Museveni talks in Juba, he talked like a President of the country who is visiting one of the provinces. Museveni is the political, military, and economic advisor of the beloved founding father of our nation and he misled him dearly. The Ugandan president has confused our president to death, and influenced him to get rid of all his comrades, who fought the war together with him. Yes he did it. He first started to send all the strong military high command to reserve and dismissed most of them. So now his plan has been confirmed by the involvement of the Uganda troops in the war for support of Salva government. Good enough our brave warriors taught them a lesson that they will never forget in their life time and I hope those who survived will convey a good message to Uganda people that Nuer are created for war victory. Next, Museveni interfered again and prompted the cabinet reshuffling by the end of July including the Vice President who was Kiir’s running mate in the election before the end of the term. When our President Salva Kiir implemented the orders from his best advisor Museveni, he got a nod.
After all efforts were made and succeeded, Museveni went on to another stage by influencing our president to destroy his own political party, then Gen. Kiir declared the dissolution of the Liberation Council and unilaterally dismissed the Secretary General Pagan Amum from the party post. These are the points that led to the intense political apprehension in Juba. For all these reasons, President Kiir implemented this plans to completely eliminating his comrades that he turned to enemies. Therefore, he conspired to use an absolute power without objection and his intention to order Marial Chinuong to make an illegal disarmament for the fear that there might be counter attack if he uses violence against his political rivals as he terms them. Consequently it resulted to be the war outbreak in Juba and it is the very immediate cause of South Sudan’s three week civil war.
In conclusion, the President of South Sudan and his false friends who are true enemies as said by Dr. Nyaba in his articles of the past few months are the ones responsible for the war. Had they control the situation without Nuer slaughtering like they have been doing in Juba, there would be no war at all. It would take some time for Dr. Riek to mobilize forces to fight the government. But what angers every Nuer person on the planet is the fact that the political struggle is turned as a tribal war against Nuer people. Those who are looking for a quick solution are right but remember that peace will not come until the South Sudan is freed from the bloodiest hands of this regime. It is time for Salva and his loyalist to go because they failed to preserve the peaceful co-existence of South Sudanese people by putting the democratic procedures to garbage in order to rule the nation by iron fist. President Kiir spoil his legacy of uniting the people of South Sudan and leading them into the independence by taking the wrong advice which totally destroy his future and his legacy. I think the President will count his last moment of smiling otherwise the bell is ticking for him to cut off his term and run.
Regards,
Peter Khor Malual