By Tor Madira Machier,
December 13, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — At 10:30 pm, on Sunday the 15th of December 2013, messages and statements circulated on twitter and Facebook reported of a fierce fighting in Al Giyiada military barrack (former Sudanese armed forces hospital). And within a matter of more than two hours, the fighting resumed in New Site and continued with the echo of heavy gunfire to the next morning (Dec 16th).
On the morning of 16th December on Monday, Kiir flanked by Nguen Manytuil, Marial Benjamin, Kuol Manyang, Louis Lobong and so on, appeared in a decisive military uniform televising an announcement of a failed coup attempt by Dr. Riek Machar and his colleagues.
At 4pm on the same Monday in which kiir announced a failed and controversial coup, 4000 Nuer men, women and little children were reported massacred at Souk Lualdiit and Gudele. As the killing was systematically and officially ordered, within less than a matter of 72 hours, more than 20 thousands of Nuer men, women, and children were confirmed massacred. The killing continued cruelly till today.
December 15th, 2013, is a big day in Naath history, a bloody day. It was the largest mass killing in South Sudan ever witnessed and also one of the biggest massacres of one ethnic group in the world in a matter of less than 72 hours since the beginning of the 21st century. And yet nobody has been prosecuted. Those responsible have pushed it under the rug, silencing and denouncing any criticism that comes their way. It’s like it never happened. On that Sunday and Monday, South Sudanese security forces and their Gelweng militiamen literally translated to cattle herders raided and rounded up two largely peaceful Nuer dominated residential areas.
In that raid, atleast 4050 people were killed between 1am and 4 pm on the 16th of December in what Human Rights Watch says was an attack orchestrated at the highest levels of the South Sudan government
The death of more than 20,000s Nuer people at the hands of their state is neither a partisan nor a political controversy but instead, It is a national and human tragedy. December 15th is a tragic day in South Sudan’s history and Naath in particular and only when a larger section of the population recognizes it as such will South Sudan be a better, healthier and more peaceful path.
No Justice has been achieved so far since this inhuman massacre was executed. It is as if the identity of killers is a public secret everyone knows exactly who they are. Some of them still roam freely in the area, but they cannot be named, even by an official Inquiry or investigation. I am not saying hang or kill them without a trial. But the people have neither forgiven nor forgotten what happened on December 15th last year nor do the people not know who exactly is responsible for it.
Tor Madira Machier is a South Sudanese student pursuing Law Degree at the University Of Ain Shams in Cairo, Egypt.He can be reached at : tormadira2013@gmail.com or reach him at his twitter account : @TorMadira
