By Mak Banguot Gok (Makjohnson),
Oct 11, 2021 — It has been quite sometime back that an alteration took place within the SPLM/A-IO revolutionary leadership. The following political uncertainties as accusations and counter-accusations have been made between those who enthusiastically embraced the change, and some diehards’ mediocrities that are still supporting Dr Riek Machar. Not to talk about the origin and contributing factors of widening disagreement, we can stick on the intrinsic points which only rationalize the need for the change, and the movement’s need for shifting its support and focus to the Kitgwang Declaration.
It’s perfectly thought-provoking for those of the revolutionaries and reactionary strugglers (IO-members) who have already made up their patriotic pronouncement and forsaken Dr Riek Machar to join up the Declaration. Therefore, their decisions come when the SPLM/A-IO is seriously on the lookout for a proactive method to fight the oppression’s political entrenchments. Indeed, the old formula has failed us, and we need a new format for regrouping, reorganization, and restructuring of the SPLM/A-IO for a new conventional insurgency for the very objective to be achieved.
We are convinced that, under whatever the circumstance might be, the road to the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan that started following the widely known Juba massacre in 2013; it will never be achieved through political negotiation. Meanwhile, Dr. Riek Machar’s relocation to Juba under the disguise of R-ARCSS ‘implementation, is proven to be an indirect lay down of the arms to the enemy in Juba. A political negotiation with Salva Kiir and his tribesmen in Juba is always proven unworthy for the ruling tribe’s entrenched tribalized political rivalry.
The SPLM/A-IO movement was not founded out of a political enthusiasm for an orderly democratic revolution struggle, but, it was a radical revolutionary movement which came to existence for the total change of the genocidal political system in Juba by means of military struggles. Dr. Riek Machar failed on several occasions to organize an effective revolutionary force despite the huge human resources always prevailing behind him in his political endeavor for the last three decades. One of the reasons for the SPLM/A-IO not to achieve its objective militarily was because, under Riek Machar, the army formed for conventional struggle as the Kitgwang Leaders want to do (training and organizing affordable freedom fighters in practicing warfare) has never existed. The movement’s guerrilla combatants has never been trained by Riek Machar in use of military tactics including: ambushes; sabotage; raids; petty warfare; hit-and-run tactics; and mobility to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military
Under the leadership of Dr. Riek Machar, there has never been a doctrine such as Guerrilla Warfare. I.e. forms of irregular Warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as the paramilitary personnel; an armed civilian and irregular force are organized for the fighting forces). Most of the successful revolutions adepts a Guerrilla warfare as a type of asymmetric warfare and a competition between opponents of unequal strength. For the last eight years, Dr. Riek Machar failed to formulate a sounding type of irregular warfare, which aims not simply to defeat an enemy, but to win popular support and political influence, to the enemy’s cost.
Accordingly, there has never been a strategy aimed to magnify the impact of the SPLM/A-IO army even if small, but should be a mobile force capable of striking on a larger and more-unwieldy one. In all the revolutions, the groups that wagged military insurgency (for example SPLA-IO) often depend on the logistical and political support of either the local population or foreign backers who do not engage in an armed struggle but sympathize with the group’s efforts. If successful, guerrillas weaken their enemy by attrition, eventually forcing them to withdraw. Dr. Riek Machar in this regard has never succeeded in coordinating foreign sources of logistics despite how big and widely supported his-led revolution. Despite the fact that, SPL/A-IO followers and freedom fighters were still so enthusiastic and energetic to wage a successful revolution. Their morals and determination have been let down and made defenseless by the movement’s former Chairman Dr Riek Machar. The morale of the movement’s freedom fighters knocked the bottom of stone because it has been being misused by him (Dr. Riek Machar) whose political inactions contradict the doctrine of achieving movement’s objective.
Therefore, we identified the movement’s fails ambition as embodied to Dr Riek Machar’s lack of a revolutionary reputation. And, knowing these realities, Kitgwang Declaration was an alternative option to redeem the movement from total relapse halfway the victory. For those compatriots who have in response to the revolutionary calls from Kitgwang decided to cast off Machar’s always spoil political endeavor, their action to dump such a political hopelessness are indeed the pure revolutionaries.
Nevertheless, I am hereby telling those of the SPLM/A-IO movement’s enthusiasts who are still being caught up in mediocrity, skepticism, and undesirability to embrace the Declaration. This is to inform them that there are no other times to wait for the restraint from such political ignorance and naivety. The more we rely on kismet thoughts of a ready-made solution, the more we are losing lives and morality to fight the good fighting that the movement (SPLM/A-IO) wagged against the oppression.
A politically oriented mind couldn’t find any reason that he/she should continue supporting Dr Riek Machar’s revolutionary quest after many living stories are justifying the failure of Dr Riek Machar. And, the few opportunists who are still sympathetic of Dr Riek Machar while skeptical of the movement’s revolutionary objective as recently reactivated with the Kitgwang Declaration, you/they are someone who missed somewhat an idealistic in your/their own political outlooks. Those of you/them who are both immovable and uninteresting in the movement’s new objective as embodied in Kitgwang Declaration, you/they need to reconsidering your/their own judgment as to whether you/they have a genuine reasons of maintaining loyalty to Dr Riek Machar, or else’s whether you/they are only surrendering to the enemy unknowingly following Riek Machar.
The world has gone ahead of us that political idolizations, personification and identification of the people’s struggle with person (example Dr Riek Machar), is always a collective failure of the apathetic masses. Enough is enough that humiliation and failed ambition shouldn’t be always killing us after Riek Machar, hence today after we read through many others revolutionary strugglers and their Leaders in comparison with Dr Riek Machar’s own revolutionary doctrines. One should be prompted to ask whether there is/or isn’t a genuine reason to continue sticking in illustrations that Riek Machar will somehow make a mysterious political U-turn or coming to an end after his decades of a deadliest and an ambitious political struggle. Dr Riek Machar ended in twine dilemmas as to, “whether he accepted being lured into the hostile environment (Juba) and forced to denounce revolution as long as his own bread is being buttering” or “he (Machar) had that intention when he signed R-ARCSS three years ago to submitted to Juba whilst commercializing the people ‘revolution for his own family enrichments.”
This is the time for every SPLM/A-IO member, being somehow realistic to one’s own self that Riek Machar is only to be redundant, discarding, and moving on the people’s struggles with new political leadership and military command structure; new insurgency doctrine and mobilization projection; renewed moral and energy; new strategy and conduct of the struggle; and so forth.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The author can be reached through his email at johnsonmak61@gmail.com
The statements, comments, or opinions published by Nyamilepedia are solely those of their respective authors, which do not necessarily represent the views held by the moderators of Nyamilepedia. The veracity of any claims made are the responsibility of the writer(s), and not the staff and the management of Nyamilepedia.
Nyamilepdeia reserves the right to moderate, publish or delete a post without warning or consultation with the author(s). To publish your article, contact our editorial team at nyamilepedia@gmail.com or info@nyamile.com.
