By Chuar Juet Jock,
Jan 21, 2016 (Nyamilepedia) —- Part of finding a permanent solution to South Sudan conflict is that we must unearth what is in the minds of Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), the group that is said to be the architects and political chefs of Gen. Kiir political tribal program. Since 2013, the systematic nature of many controversial drastic events that has made the promising, newly independent state and nation of South Sudan a field of tribal wars, tribal political chaos and the high likelihood of its disintegration has raised serious questions, whether such events were results of inexperienced political leadership represented by mere military generals who have nothing in their leadership storage but the legacy of having fought the liberation war or whether such drastic events where the fruits of a well-planned long-term political program of disguised, underground movement that has approached the then hero of liberation war, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, and succeeded in convincing him and used him as a tool to implement a vision contrary to the one the majority of South Sudanese fought and voted for.
Most of us believe a sudden change to Gen. Kiir political beliefs has occurred at the wake of 2013 and this wasn’t necessarily because of Dr. Machar quest for power rather than the hypothesis that Machar himself and unconsciously was a card in the game in which its real players were behind the scene. The mathematical scenario supposition was that, had Machar stuck with Kiir and never declared his intention to challenge Kiir in both party and the projected election nominations respectively and instead worked to maintain his close ties with Kiir and rejected the rest of SPLM members (G10 later) unproved coalition with him, Machar could be still a trusted Kiir’s political ally not a projected fierce rival and things could have been different by now. However, the hypothesis continue to define the real cause of Mr. Kiir sudden change as a part of the game as well, that’s, Kiir was also a card in the game just like Mr. Machar himself. Well, the questions then are; who were/are the key players of the game and what was their objective?
Had Gen Kiir stayed the course as we have known him or at least as we have believed him to be, a man for South Sudan and all South Sudanese people in the liberation days, then we could have been in the true path of translating and manifestation of the South Sudan that we truly dreamed about and fought for and we could have traveled that great path with a more realistic achievements and landmarks on our socio-economic and political transformation for the last 15 years. If nonsense and bias were put aside, by now we could have much of our grand projects and dreams in place, the billions of $$$ that we have rendered here and there and the international credit that we earned hard during the liberation struggle could have made a country of our dreams comes true. Electricity, clean water, phone lines and other communications system could be mostly everywhere. Our country could have much of itself well connected by paved roads, good bridges and highways and the trade and businesses could be booming between our people in their safe and secure neighboring territories.
Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. The sudden change of the Gen. Kiir of the liberation days, where he was well known as a hero who has given best of his lifetime to the cause of his country and people to the current Kiir guided by JCE, has definitely ruined the dreams of all South Sudanese if not most of the Africans in that region who were waiting eagerly for the independence of this blessed promising country and nation. I bet most of us are looking for the causes and what http://www.ciprobuyonline.org made that drastic change to the man we mostly knew as consistent and faithful to the liberation cause and to the leadership of the late founder father of this nation Dr. John Garang.
Some has argued that it is the influence of Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), which consist of group of influential Dinka elders with aim of establishing a Jieng dominated country and governance ruling system. The JCE has been on the surface and forefront of political events and helms since the Juba massacre of Nuer ethnic group with much of the country accusing them of being behind the tribal program that has positioned this country onto the path of tribal hatred, wars and its possible disintegration. This kind of suspicions and unsupported accusations to JCE were even re-enforced further with the presidential order 36/2015 establishing 28 states in which 12 out of the 28 states are given to Jieng and with claims that some large parts of other communities’ land territories have been annexed to Jieng’s newly created states. Well, to understand what are behind JCE’s motives and intentions, we need to know how the JCE was formed, its structure, who is who analysis of its members which could give us a clue of why did JCE penetrated the SPLM from within, rocked it from within and finally set it apart from within. Are they truly serving Jieng’s interest? What is the nature of their relationship with Kiir and who is using who? I recommend the reader to do his/her own analysis and to get the answers.
However, whether those claims are supported or not, JCE has admitted that only 24 out of the current 28 states were from their original proposal to the president and they are not aware of the other 4 which they said were made up in J1 by the president and maybe with his own immediate political friends. Most South Sudanese believes that the true objective behind the creation of the 28 states has no connection to the claim of taking government to people or any socio-economic development and that this is a part of JCE transformation program of one dominated tribal country. Now, on the other side of the coin, similar questions are being asked and debated about the extent and the role of Machar’s 21 states, their demographic distribution and geographical structure and what political gains did Machar made through that? Did the 21 states helped in any way to pump up the idea of 28 states into JCE or Kiir’s Mind? I leave the answers to the readers
Coming back to the JCE’s master plan and to make the whole scenario short and, if such a claim is true that the JCE is the one running the show with sophisticated plan in place, then such a plan must be a long-term one, that must as well has a powerful enforcement mechanism and tools, a well trained and equipped military, a brutal police/security support, a viable political elites and financial resources support base that is able to lobby for its cause in international capitols. If such a description does really fit what JCE is and about, then Dr. Machar and his SPLM/A-IO must change the way they are dealing with the realities of situation in South Sudan and a better, well thought out approach and strategy may be needed.
The author is a South Sudanese entrepreneur and PhD candidate based in Omaha, Nebraska – United States, he can be reached through chuar.juet@gmail.com.
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1 comment
JCE consists of old cowards who were once enemies of Dr. Garang who decided to start growing balls after the death of Dr Garang.
The 21 states of the Opposition was a mere suggestion waiting a popular consultation with the masses in the non-liberated areas meanwhile it was a popularity applauds suggestion in the liberated areas like Pagaak, the seat of Opposition’s governing HQ. The 21 States of suggested by the Opposition are drawn from old colonial boundaries which were neither controversial then and should not be at the moment unlike the 28 states created by annexing land from its owners without their consent. Further more 28 state creation only benefits Jaang tribes whose territorial gains have increased miraculously over night from annexing other tribes land to theirs. Looking at the 28 state map you will notice that it has separated Nuer land in the middle strategically weakening the Nuers demographic desposition. The chulluks are not quite happy either because of the same reasons Everything can be perfect in South Sudan but if the JCE have no better method of retaking their ancient loss territories war is imminant. On the other hand for Jaang to be recompensating themselves the illegally grabbing other tribes land with out coming to the negotiating table, South Sudan will eventually continue with wars. You don’t have to be a genius to see the activities of Jaang on all corners, sides and those pretending to be neutral the end game is the same for them as benefactors of the grand scheme. Whether other tribes declares war against Jaang or not the Jaang have no intention of declaring a ceasefire since they cant declare war because they have declared war behind closed doors decades gone and have no interest in abandoning their quest for a jaang dominated south Sudan(Jaang Kingdom)