By Makneth Aciek.
July 04, 2017(Nyamilepedia) —— Many woke up on the morning of July 3, 2017 to be appalled at Bor youth association last warning to NGOs, UN agencies and CBOs. To those who might seen the letter not; on June 28, 2017, the Bor youth association gave an ultimatum of 72 hours to international NGOs, UN agencies and CBOs to evacuate all Equatorians working in Bor.
The Bor youth cited three reasons in the letter; Killing of Dinka along Equatorians roads, local jobs being taken by Equatorians and that NGOs are hosting rebels who happened to be from Equatoria.
Through this attitude from young people, it’s not difficult to realize that Bor community is greatly in trouble! Not a single time in history has Bor as a community arrived into a position of collective madness as demonstrated by this group.
The great threat to Bor community is not Equatorians or any community in South Sudan, it’s the lost of her historical character. It has always been the wisdom of Bor people that diversity and openness drive communities forward.
Even in the most primitive time, Bor community has never been a closed off society, they shared Pastures and water with other communities neighboring them.
Bor of today have become a place where self esteem is low and suspicion runs high; where envy thrives and tolerance dies. Asking South Sudan citizen to leave any part of the country base on his/ her ethnicity is anachronism; it is an event that stirs emotions to violence.
Youth are supposed to be tool of truth and mutual understanding among communities, but our youth slink back to their little caves and become preoccupied with smaller things.
The violent crime on Yai- juba road or Numele- juba road can’t be cure by act of local xenophobia; it will only be cured by developing a deep understanding of the forces in South Sudan societies that cause people to become violent criminals, and this should be done through putting into place widely respected demonstrably competent law-enforcement institutions.
There is no natural policy that order the killing of Dinka along the roads; it is the regime in juba that have the policy of turning community against a community.
The Bor youth must note, in this period of political betrayal by our leaders, any system that turns the good people in society into participants in senseless killing must be fought at all cost.
The argument that Equatorians have occupied jobs meant for local is bad and those that nurse such thinking in 2017 are mentally challenged. Job is neither a reward nor is it an inheritance meant for the locals – it’s a mean of production which must be given to the most qualify person. Job is not like the responsibility of cattle keeping; it requires skills and character.
The actions, such as the one of Bor youth , are consequences of the  country being run by champions of ethnicities rather than national leaders. It’s unfortunate that our youth draw political inspirations from ethnic chieftains: those whose leadership have been around their own tribes and families. They engage enthusiastically in making pretend-noises about national dialogue, but their actions suggest otherwise.
In this period of political betrayal, it’s not hidden from anybody that South Sudan has become a place where those who know best how to utilize negative ethnicity to fuel conflicts enjoy, and those who abide by the norms of national unity feel only the pain and risk being painted as rebels.
South Sudan will not move forward until  her citizens, particularly the youth evolve past these medieval, feudal thinkings. The group of youth that wanted Equatorians out of Bor are not bunch of ghettoes that have never understood nationhood; they are educated youth with good knowledge on world current affairs.
Their thoughts are directly from the wisdom of Jieng council of elders(JCE): a system where young people are indoctrinated and conditioned to be preoccupied with a narrow set of enclaves – Monjangism.
The youth at this critical movement should think about NATION – not villages. This is not a time for little minds, and the best thing Bor youth should do is to participate fully in the big issues of our country.
They must place a set of demands on Salva Kiir’s government. If writing evacuation notice is what they are good at; they have to ask the world and IGAD to evacuate from J1 those that encourage tribal hatred and confusion among south Sudanese, not innocent Equatorians helping our people through humanitarian works.
The call to keep Equatorians out of Bor is careless, poorly thought out and is bound to double chances of killings along the roads. Bor youth should think wisely and develop mental faculty that would be capable of demanding big thinkers to lead the nation; those that are capable of forging out a competitive position for South Sudan in the region, not those that encourage ethnic sectarianism.
Makneth Aciek is a south Sudanese and reached via wenmakneth@yahoo.com
