By Peace Amb. Khor Gatkuoth Wer,
Aug 06, 2021 — It’s not only heartbreaking to write this article but a shame that we have to re-open the wounds that we inflicted on our own selves by choice; the poor choices we made and are bound to repeat and recur. This demonstrates that the passing of time and changing of locations, in other words, the transitions from Khartoum to Juba and from 1990s to 2010s and now 2020s, have proven nothing as nothing has changed.
To help you understand, let’s open the tip of an iceberg into the infamous Khartoum Peace Agreement(KPA) and its aftermath. Specifically, we cannot understand what is happening today without revisiting the root causes of the 1997-2005 civil wars and how they destroyed our social fabrics to these days. More than 2/3 of the deadly conflicts that occurred among the Nuer politicians and military generals, and between sub-tribes, did not happen out of the blue, they transpired. They had one root cause – leadership failure!
and within the Nuer military commanders and with their then Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the South Sudan Independent Movement/Army(SSIM/A) allias Sudan People Defense Force(SPDF), Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon, who is currently rewriting the same history that will only amount to more bloodshed among the Nuer.
The Khartoum Peace Accords (KPA) of 1997 was signed by Dr. Riek Machar on behalf of the South Sudan Independent Movement/Army, purportedly to achieve the self-determination for the people of Southern Sudan who were to be accorded their right to self governance in an internationally supervised referendum within the time frame of the KPA which was 4 years. Other signatories to KPA included Dr. Lam Akol, Arok Thok Arok, Kerbino Kwanyin Bol and others. For simplicity, we will focus only on the portion of Dr. Riek Machar that is relevant to what is happening today in Magenis and Juba.
Like he did recently in 2019, when he unilaterally decided to return to the lion’s dent without proper security arrangement, leaving his military forces behind without proper communication, Dr. Riek Machar did exactly the same thing in 1997. He traveled to Khartoum to “implement the Khartoum Peace Agreement” in letter and spirit; however, it did not take him more than 3 years before he started experiencing what he is currently experiencing in Juba – constant harassments within Khartoum and infighting between his forces at the front lines . By 20000, Dr. Riek had to narrowly escape through German on a health ticket after “falling sick” in Khartoum. Instead of returning to Khartoum, where he left his whole leadership, Machar camped in Nairobi, Kenya, and he calls it home to these days; however, will the same strategy work this time? Only God knows!
After he left Khartoum for Germany and settled in Nairobi, Kenya, he tried to command the forces through satellite phones but that strategy was too advance at the time, it did not work. There were no sufficient networks and not many South Sudanese settled in diaspora like today to supply the generals in remote areas with calling cards to keep them in touch with their commander-in-Chief who was sleeping on the duty in Nairobi.
After several attempts by generals to make things work on the ground, but without success as they were being constantly bombarded by the SPLM/A of Dr. John Garang and by militias who were allied to Khartoum, many generals defected in many SSIM/A liberated areas leading to Nuer clans fighting among themselves in support of their sons who were either loyal to Dr. Machar, Dr. Garang or to other independent rebel groups.
These internal conflicts exposed Dr. Riek’s failures even more and made more military generals furious. Unlike Dr. Garang, who was with his forces, Riek had nowhere to be seen. As a result more generals defected and rejoined Dr. John Garang’s SPLM/A mainstream. Among the senior generals who defected were CDR Koang Banypiny, CDR Manyal Kueth, CDR Peter Gatdet Yak plus many others; however, the current Chief of Staff CDR Simon Gatwech Dual remained loyal to Dr. Machar, just like he did again in 2015 when senior generals defected to Pagak.
As a result of those defections, CDR Simon Gatwech Dual, who remained loyal to Machar, fought tooth and nail in self-defense until his forces managed to defeat those generals who tried to impose themselves and SPLM/A ideologies of Dr. Garang on his Lou-nuer community. This did not come without a cost, many senior generals and civilians were killed.
Meanwhile, those of CDR Paulino Matip Nhial, who rejoined Khartoum got military supplies that they used to terrorize the little peace and stability that SSIM tried to restore in Unity State. Just like other parts of Nuerland, the war in Unity State was very intense. A lot of destruction and killing happened.
That destruction and death are all attributed to leadership failure of SSIM/A and Dr. Riek Machar’s negligence. The war in Nuer could have been prevented if Riek demonstrated leadership.
By 2002, many senior generals defected and that forced Riek to renegotiate himself back into SPLM/A; however, that did not happen by mistake. His senior politicians, especially his chief negotiators Gen. Taban Deng Gai, Gen. Thomas Duoth Guet and James Kok Ruea, crossed over to join Dr. John Garang in Nairobi when they realized that their leader, Dr. Riek Machar, was being intransigent for no apparent reason.
Coming to what is happening today in SPLM/A-IO, we must all condemn all the breakaway factions starting with the SPLM/A- IO of Duer Tut Duer, SPLM/A-IO of Dr.Machar in Juba and the SPLM/A-IO of 1st Lt Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual. All these factions are doing exactly what Machar’s SSIM/A factions did between 1997 to 2002 and the results won’t be any different if they are not condemned. The current Nuer generation must act better and wiser than the past generations to avoid bloodshed!
To achieve this, we call upon the SPLM/A-IO leadership and intellectuals, especially from the Nuer community, elders, religious leaders and leaders of the white armies to exercise restraint and to promote peaceful solution and peaceful coexistence among the people and the leadership of the SPLM/A(IO).
Any individual, whether a leader or a scholar, who proposes otherwise contrary to this proposal, especially those who are issuing declarations and advocating for wars, has no long-term vision but only wants to promote suffering of the civil population for individuals’ gains.
Our collective interest, peaceful co-existence and strength are under attack and for us to salvage the remnants of this country, we must advocate for peace and unity. It is time to call a spade a spade and say enough is enough!
The author Khor Gatkuoth Wer is a peace ambassador and can be reached through email at kgatkuoth87@gmail.com. This article was revised by Deng Elijah.
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