South Sudan crisis overlap SPLM re-unification Project

By: Bol Ruach Rom

July 14, 2015 (Nyamilepedia) – The Sudan’s People Liberation Movement (SPLM), currently the ruling party in the Republic of South Sudan had formally been formed as a political wing of Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) to fight against yokes colonialism and agony of arabizations and islamizations in the previous united Sudan in 1983.  When the black African  race of the Sudan felt marginalized from Arab domination, few South Sudanese elites initiated rebellion that later drawn wider participation of people from Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Abyei and some elements in the North also join the movement under ‘proxy objective of secular Sudan’.

Alex De Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundations and a Research Professor at the Fletcher School in his article “When Kleptocracy becomes insolvent: brute causes of the civil war in South Sudan, I quoted six crucial points ‘the movement started with spontaneous rush to arms, and the SPLA’s rank swelled extraordinarily fast. Dr. John Garang in one of his interview once said ‘We did not start as a Movement in the classical way of Latin American Liberation movements with a small group of men. We started as a mob. We have been in a series of reforms, reforming a mob¹.’ The South Sudanese leftist hardliners affiliated to former Ethiopian Communist dictator Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam centralized a military-political movement verged on nihilism, exemplified in their war songs, example Locust Division chanting slogans of ‘even your father, gives him a bullet.² And usual military doctrines that ‘your father and mother is the barrel of your gun, you must live through barrel of your gun to accumulate wealth (food, wife, abducted children, cows, properties, title of respect, etc..)³. Alex De Waal continued; ‘Inverting its original intent, the SPLM/A became a magnet for rent seekers. In reality, however, corruption had permeated the armed struggle from earliest days. Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba cites a shocking case of how food rations for conscripts in Ethiopia – which may in fact have been aid initially destined for refugees – was sold, contributing to the deaths of disease and starvation of many hundreds of young recruits.⁴’ Over the years, SPLA officers became oriented towards an apparently unending supply of international humanitarian aid, which could be stolen with impunity.⁵ ‘Looting food aid was elevated to military strategy in the 1990s, when the contending factions of the SPLA staged hunger camps to attract humanitarian relief, which was then stolen,⁶ Alex De Waal lamented.

“Therefore, the attempt to smashed off the marginalization of the North through communist built-Ideology of SPLM/A did not prosper instead cracked the movement nine years later into 1991 genesis.”

On August 28^th, 1991, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, the current chairman and commander in chief of SPLM/A, Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, the current chairman of SPLM-DC, Late Uncle Joseph Oduho, Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba, John Luk Jock, Richard K. Mulla, Gordon Koang Chol and some other former senior rebel commanders split from SPLM/A Mainstream and formed SPLM/A Nasir Faction under three reform agenda: self determination for the people of South Sudan, democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Late Dr. John Garang led SPLM/A Torit Faction on brute agenda of secular Sudan along with those of late William Nyuon Bany Machar, Salva Kiir Mayardit, James Wani Igga, Kuol Manyang Juuk, Late Yousif Kwo Mekhi, Malik Agar, Syde Yasir Arman and several others but had afterward corrected their past and adopted self determination for the people of South Sudan in their manifesto of 1994 Chukudum National Convention. In early 2002, both factions ceased hostilities and reunified under SPLM/A with self determination as a common objective of the movement in Nairobi, Kenya. Nevertheless with concentration of powers under late Dr. John Garang De Mabior, chairman and commander in chief of SPLM/A, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, the then president of the Republic of South Sudan rebelled in 2004 that smoked out ‘Yei crisis’, this move was drastically extinguished and diffused with the help of Dr. Riek Machar, the facilitator of Rumbek conference of November, 2004.

In Minutes of Rumbek Conference, Dr. John Garang De Mabior made this statement “to begin with I wrote two messages: 1. was on 14/11/004, No. 001/11/004 to address the following accusations/rumors that there was a meeting held in Nairobi under the chairmanship of myself where Cdr. Salva Kiir would be replaced by the Chairman with Cdr. Nhial Deng Nhial, that I went to kampala and met with Cdr. Pieng and ordered him to arrest Cdr. Salva Kiir Mayardit, that Cdr. Malual Majok went to Ramciel to collect forces to go and arrest Cdr. Salva Kiir Mayardit in Yei; they are all lies and big propaganda initiative. The second message was on 23/11/04 calling for this meeting which we are now convening today and where I want to make a general briefing about the signing of peace agreement next month in which each and every one should be informed accordingly”

The ‘Yei crisis’ was a deliberate acts by Cdr. Salva Kiir Mayardit to vocal on corruptions and brute administration of Late Dr. John Garang but eight months latter Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit happened to be the father of corruption and with all his might, he employed state machineries to defense the status quo. In November 2014, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit made a surprising decree dissolving all SPLM Structures except his office contrary to his below critics to late Dr. John Garang De Mabior.

Please read his statement reacting to corruption malpractices and the Chairman’s administrative loopholes in 2004, Cdr. Salva Kiir vocal criticism ‘if we are National Leaders, which I don’t believe we are because we have no cohesion within our leadership structures, let us be sincere with our selves. After meetings are concluded, we run to foreign countries. There is no code of conduct to guide the Movement’s structures. When the Chairman leaves for abroad, no directives are left and no one is left to act on his behalf. I don’t know with whom the Movement is left with; or does he carry it in his own brief case? The Chairman killed the National Executive Council (NEC) by creating the Leadership Council. Does he want to revive the Political Military High Command? The leadership council creates a situation where all are directly reporting to the chairman. Those around the chairman don’t tell him the opinion of the public. The chairman is everything, from a finance officer to one at lowest level. Corruption, as a result of the lack of structures, has created a lack of accountability which has reached a proportion that will be difficult to eradicate.’

In January 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) negotiated settlement had offered a provision of plebiscites to the marginalized people of South Sudan to determine their fate of either form part of Sudan or create a country of their own. Likewise, the CPA had guaranteed a special status for popular consultations to the people of Abyei, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile to either joint South Sudan or remains in united Sudan. In January 2011, South Sudan declared its independent with vote counts of over 98 percent in favor of independent. It is important to mention that popular consultations for other mentioned locations expired with the terms of the comprehensive agreement. Though the people of Abyei in 2013 unilaterally underwent a local referendum claimed to have resulted to join the Republic of South Sudan but it had not involved international observers and funny enough, the puppet government of Salva Kiir Mayardit turned deaf hears to their claim.  The causes of current civil war in South Sudan is summarized into seven by Dr. Riek Machar Teny, historical speech at Maiwut County’s conference in December 2014 as: (a) concentration of powers in the hands of president Salva Kiir Mayardit that produced ‘Yei Crisis’ twelve years ago, (b) Insecurity and ethnicized conflicts in Greater Upper Nile States, Warap, Lakes, Western Equatoria and Western Bhar el Ghazal States (c) Poor Economics Policy where the country depends ninety eight percent entirely on oil revenue. The rich agricultural sector, wildlife conservations and tourism and other non oil revenues are neglected, (d) Rife corruption in the government: the diversion of four billion US by 75 individuals in early 2012, Dura Saga scandal in 2013, according to Alex De Waal “the payroll of SPLA in 2011 hit 240,000 whereas other organize forces (policemen, prison warders, wildlife guards and paramilitary reserves was 90,000 making a total of 330,000. SPLA internal audit suggested minimum of 40,000 “ghost soldiers” salaries were pocketed by their respective commanders. (e) Tribalism and Nepotism: the government of president Salva Kiir employee only relatives and friends for decent jobs which increase theft in his own office of over 18 million USD. Civil servants are not contracted on merit but on whom you know basis. (f) SPLM dysfunction: the government directs and leads the party, i.e. the ruling government moves the SPLM and not vice versa. This proof to South Sudanese that the SPLM/A ruling cliques still believes and lives on its past egos of killing, unlawful detention and torture, arson and loot individuals and nation’s resources to accumulate wealth, (g) Regional and International Isolations: the government of South Sudan has fail IGAD, AU and unable to poke its nose into the membership of East African Community and other Regional and International bodies.

Therefore, the eruption of December 15^th, Salva made crisis was a well calculated move by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the submissive President Salva Kiir Mayardit to threaten national integrity of a young nation in order to loot its resources and wealth in the name of Insecurity. While the wild cats in rubber stamp parliaments and SPLA top commanders clap at the nasty Museveni – Kiir superficial might to raid the oil money forging insecurity; the law implementers’ institutions i.e. Judiciary and Anti corruption refrains from their mandate and remain spectacles of the game at distance fearing dismissal and intimidation. Both Museveni – Kiir oil money raid thwarts premature rebellions in Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Darfur to abandon their quest for secular Sudan and instead managed their forces to turn guns against opposition forces in South Sudan. The oil money went as far as luring in rebels from Chad and Democratic Republic of Congo besides immense Russia, Egypt and Israel military support of the government to crush rebellion.

The Arusha Intraparty Dialogue:

The Arusha SPLM re-unification Initiative is a Museveni’s crook pilot project designated to reduce the scale and magnitude of ongoing crisis back into a small desk of SPLM Leadership to roughly address the root causes, correct their pasts, apologize to one another, reinstate exile leaders to their previous positions in the existing SPLM structure, organize a joint rally to make public apology to the citizens of South Sudan and later on pushes for piecemeal national reconciliation and healing. After President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda realized that IGAD led peace talk progresses in its last thematic discussions to address root causes of the conflict and succumb to the agenda of reforms, he went straight to conspire with Tanzania CCM and ANC parties leadership in order to hijack this noble regional peace initiative by diminishing it into an intra-party dialogue in Arusha, Tanzania. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni lives in dichotomy of pocking in South Sudan’s oil and fears of any constitutional changes may jeopardize his reign in Uganda.

One can predict the outcome of trio intraparty dialogue in Arusha to ends up discussing the SPLM basic documents: manifesto, internal rules and regulations, code of conduct and the constitution as causes of the current crisis forgetting the fact that these four documents elapsed and forfeit their credentials after December 15^th, 2013. Any forum that persists to detail on such documents is prolonging the suffering of South Sudanese citizens. This SPLM house has been set ablaze by its founders spearheaded by totalitarian dictator Salva Kiir Mayardit where each and every one of its member went away with its part. Can you imagine how this party is broken up into eleven factional particles namely: SPLM-IG, SPLM-IO, SPLM-FD, SPLM-DC, SPLM-North, SPLM-Abyei, SPLM peace Forum, SPLM-United, Agwelek forces, SSDM Cobra and SSLM/A. As some of you might be aware that a fish starts rotting from its head downwards, Gen. Puljang of SSLA, Gen. David Yau Yau of SSDM/Cobra faction and Gen. Johnson Olony of Agwelek were all reintegrated into SPLA ranks in early 2013 qualifying the heads as SPLM/A and tails remain SSLA, Cobra and Agwelwek respectively.

The author posts six questions to be answered by viewers as followed: Is it a historical party that should be reunited during this critical time when we have over 100,000 citizens in open spaces at UNMISS camps? Nearly 700,000 crossed borders and took refugees in neighboring Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan and an estimate of 4.5 million displaced in urgent need of humanitarian assistances? Will this SPLM mini forum discusses what killed over 20,000 Nuer innocent citizens in Juba and elsewhere in the country? Will this trio intraparty dialogue consider compensations and reparations of an estimate loss of more than 100,000 south Sudanese and foreign mercenaries who have been perished in this nineteen months old conflict besides unaccountable loss and damages of their property? Does reinstatement of former leaders to their various positions in SPLM structures as done to Pagan Amum Okiech and his cohort resolves current crisis? Is the proposition of public apology by former group of ten or eleven to south Sudanese resolves this cynical tribalise political conflict?

Ways forward:

For permanent settlement of the current Salva made crisis, the writer appeals to IGAD plus led peace process, Troika, African Union and members of UN security council to address root causes of the conflict, seal of the accountability, Justices and human rights abuses in competent court of law outside the Republic of South Sudan, adoption of Federalism during the transitional period and beyond, Introduce institutional reforms, mandate on two separate armies until the end of interim period, avails bill for compensations and reparations of war victims, wider power sharing ratio nation-wide not limited to Greater Upper Nile Region, Urge African union commission of enquiry to release the report of investigation for committed war crimes and crimes against humanity so that Justices in a hybrid court outside South Sudan takes its judgment, Dissolutions of illegitimate Kleptocracy governances: Executive, both Upper and lower parliaments, Judiciary and to install in the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) that could fully implement the agreement until election epoch.

Bol Ruach Rom is a concern South Sudanese citizen residing in bushes of South Sudan and could be reached through: guanchueni@yahoo.com

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