The 25th Anniversary of The Glorious Nassir Declaration

NASSIR, SOUTH SUDAN,

August 28, 2016(Nyamilepedia) —– On this day, 25 years ago, a history that changed the discourse of SPLM/SPLA rebellion and led to South Sudan Independent, 20 years later, was made in Nasir of Upper Nile state.

The 28^th of August, as would later be enshrined in the national constitution, marks the Silver Jubilee of the glorious Nasir Declaration. On this auspicious occasion, his press statement, hereby paraphrased in this article as it was sent out five years ago to mark the 20th anniversary of the SPLM-Nasir faction that fought for Self-determination and South Sudan Independent.

That message is as relevant today as it was five years ago.

Read:  ‘The Nasir Movement May Have Had Its Ups, Downs, But On Self-Determination It Never Faltered’ – Lam Says

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What is rather new today is the state of disorganization of the SPLM, which has been proven by its series of devastating civil wars that resumed in December 2013. Unlike in 1991 when the internal conflict was based on ideologies coupled with intolerance of a few cliques, who had no competence to represent their ideas to our masses without resorting to the use of guns like it happened again 2013.

On the other note, the December 2013 was sparked by power struggle(status quo) couple with intolerance of those who want to maintain power through the barrels of guns. As dubbed and accepted globally, 20 years later, South Sudan is not fighting over the idea of Self-determination but on who should lead the country and for how long!

A result of fighting a senseless civil war, the country is paying dearly in terms of tens or hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, millions of internally displaced population, nearly one million refugees forced to the neighboring countries, damaged social fabric between and among our communities and enormous destruction of property and economy. These, and counting, are the prices of warlord mentality that does not represent the moral and democratic etiquettes of 21st century.

Barely two years after independence, lack of a focused leadership and proper structures that would have guided the young nation towards prosperity was short lived and pulled the country back to war. Even with the signing of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan(ARCISS), things never changed as President Salva Kiir never owned the Peace Agreement and from day one went about violating it until he eventually abrogated it in July 2016. The country is once more in the grips of renewed civil war amid a tattering economy and social discord.

We should seize this occasion to reflect on the future of our country and how to save it from imminent collapse induced by its myopic leadership. Learning from our very own history, and especially from the Nasir Declaration, South Sudanese must not sit and wait idly for another ten years before accepting reforms, federalism and the necessary changes in the government systems that ought to reflect our nationism and diversity. These fundamental rights, like Self Determination, will never be exchanged for anything be it land, resources or money, and therefore South Sudanese must accept to work together and implement the CPA-II in letter and spirit if we meant to have a place to call home!

Glory to our martyrs whose blood watered our freedom.

Happy 25th Anniversary to you all.