A Call to Celebrate 9th of July South Sudan’s Independence Day

June 15, 2015 (Nyamilepedia) — On Thursday, April 16^th, 2015, Salva Kiir’s regime released an amount of 129 million South Sudanese pounds (SSP) for the celebration to mark the fourth anniversary of South Sudan’s Independence. However, the South Sudanese should be reminded that this anniversary, as it celebrated all over the world, is collectively and wholeheartedly embraced by every citizen to commemorate, mourn and glorify the fallen heroes and heroines, who sacrificed their lives in wars of liberation to free those generations that are left behind; the widows, orphans, disadvantaged and war veterans to enjoy the basket of freedom, equality, unity, justice, peace and liberty. It is on this day that the citizens come out in millions dancing, singing, waving flags and ululating for the great harvests, wonderful products and abundant achievements that they had in the previous years; the day that the South Sudanese would be proud of their cultural diversity and peaceful coexistence.

This is the day we would all be proud of our collective achievement of self-governance, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Unfortunately, as proven in our case, independence may not necessarily mean freedom.

Like a man taken from a group, isolated and locked up on an island or in a tiny prison cell of his own, South Sudanese were detach from the Nubians and Darfurians as an outcome of January 9^th, 2011 referendum when the people of South Sudan voted 98.13% in favor of secession. Before the 9^th of July 2011, South Sudanese were enslaved and marginalized together with the Nubians and Darfurians. The declaration of South Sudan as an independent state extricated the people of South Sudan from Khartoum, however, the trillions dollar question is, are we really free and better off than the Furs and the Nubians?

Gen. George Athor Deng and pastor David Yau Yau rebelled against the unconstitutional government of pre-independent South Sudan after losing the April 2010 election in Jonglei state due to allegations of rigging and unfair treatment in attempt to force the independent candidates to accept their fates. Dr. Lam Akol and Gen. Dau Atorjong, among others, who declined to rebel, went to exile in the enemy cage in Khartoum, Sudan.

Col. Gatluak Gai Kuach also rebelled in Unity State because of nepotism and unfair treatments, and thereafter, Maj. Gen. Johnson Olony rebelled in Upper Nile because of land grabbing and marginalization of his ethnic Shilluk (Chollo) in the state.

South Sudan, and particularly Upper Nile Region, has never witnessed peace, if not the fruits of independent that her sons and daughters laid their blood for during the struggle. The region has been destroyed more than any other single time in the history of both Sudans under the leadership of our “own liberators”.

Notwithstanding the lack of peace, development and prosperity, Salva Kiir administration has diverted our resources from the rightful owners, the citizens of this country, to foreign fighters, self-serving politicians and polygamous military generals, who encroach and dominate both the private and public sectors. The resources that the citizens dreamed to enjoy have all vanished in thin air and Salva Kiir continues to invest every penny that is borrowed at expensive interest rates or returned from the oil in war of destruction, killing, massacres and human rights violations. Are these what the South Sudanese fought for? Are these what the South Sudanese citizens going to celebrate and look up to on July 9^th, 2015 and thereafter?

Due to lack of freedoms, equality, liberty and foreign invasion, the face of South Sudan is slowly vanishing as the country disintegrates along tribal lines, their respective regions, states and counties. The South Sudanese face distinguished challenges to abide by international law of human right. Killing, rapes, forceful recruitment of child soldiers, political intimidation, media censorship, famine and untold gross human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity became the law and order of the day in a country that was selflessly created to serve as an example of a free, rich and happy nation.

After President Salva Kiir and some of his inner circle realized that a popular uprising was building up against his regime for failing to establish the country the citizens all along expected, he engineered a coup against his leadership to silent his political opponents who stood up to restore the country and to deliver services that were promised to the citizens during liberation. To complicate the conflict, Salva Kiir regime massacred thousands of Nuer civilians, the tribe of his main rival Dr. Riek Machar, in Juba. This was done purposely to set off a tribal conflict between the two major tribes, the Nuer and the Dinka, and to divert the conflict from its rightful political origin in order to cover up the regime failures.

 Why the Regime Reallocate Fund to Celebrate Empty Independence Day And Not Peace:

Due to continuous military and civilians’ campaign against Salva Kiir’s dictatorial regime in front lines and also through media; Salva Kiir administration only finds it convenience to convene the citizens and foreign nationals through a historical event like independent day anniversary to forge their support in front of the cameras.

As learned through history, when people come together to commemorate historic days like Independence Day, dancing, singing and presiding poems in respect of the martyrs, the citizens develop bonds, love and loyalty to the country. The more they assemble to recall the painful days of struggle to the achieved Independence and freedom, the more they become closer and patriotic to the nation. But in the case of a country like ours, cruel leaders take this collective efforts out of context for their greed and turn it against the nation, obstructing peace and development.

Salva Kiir administration will take advantage of the good number of citizens who will turnout with hopes to express their gratitude to God who helped them gained their independence and to commemorate the loved ones they lost during the struggle wars. Due to the dishonesty of the regime, this anniversary will be used to market divisive government policies that are likely to worsen the conflict and obstruct peace in the country. The unpatriotic citizens, who support the dictatorial tendencies, will be used to portray a decisive image of the country that is far from the reality to deceive the international community and uninformed populations at the grassroots.

For the above, and many other reasons, allocating 129 millions SSP for this gathering is equivocal to purchasing military equipments to prolong the conflict. Salva Kiir administration should invest this fund in bringing peace or helping the dying populations across the country than to celebrate this particular anniversary as war escalates if he really loves this country and his people.

A patriotic Call for a National, Regional and International Wide Protests For Peace in South Sudan

To help South Sudan restore peace and end this brutal killing and endangering internal conflict that claim mores lives and destroys the little that we built or preserved over the years, South Sudan intellectuals, civil societies, political activities, families of the victims, friends, well-wishers and peace-loving people of South Sudan must turn out in millions to protest the war and collectively call for peace.

When your house is on fire, you do not go to ceremonies, no matter how promising they may seem; you put off the fire before you can celebrate.  This is the time the South Sudanese must be united in diversity to collectively show love, unity and patriotism for their nation by refusing to celebrate or feast in remembrance of their leaders, fathers, brothers, relatives, country men and women who freely sacrificed their lives for peace, self-rule and freedoms. We must not blindly accept to be used to celebrate our own lost to appease a regime that is not willing to restore peace and stability in our country.

As stated, our patriotic citizens of all walks of life must unconditionally mobilize for greater rallies from as far as New York, Geneva, Cairo, Melbourne, across all embassies worldwide and also in all provinces of South Sudan.

Given that Salva Kiir’s deadly term in office ends on this day, the protesters all over the world must loudly call for unconditional resignation of the incumbent President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and his cronies who have destroyed our country than the Arabs regimes. On this day, the protestors all over the world, must lower South Sudan flags in all embassies and mourn the dead of this man-made conflict instead of celebrating.

If this is not done, South Sudan will be dragged to celebrating massacres, grave human rights violations and dictatorship ever other year like any other failed state. This is the time to save our country. You must act and act now by calling for “SALVA KIIR MUST GO TODAY NOT TOMORROW” and unconditional withdrawals of all the foreign forces in the country.

What should we wear and why?

The patriotic enthusiasts of this nation should wear red T-shirt to represent the blood poured since 2005 as result of bad leadership skills. The red color indicates discharge; when a soccer’s player intentionally makes a major offense in the field, the referee pulls out the red card to dismiss the offender.

The Wording of the T-shirt should be:“We’re Independent yet not free from Salva Kiir’s regime. 9^th of July, South Sudan’s Independence Day celebration of 2015 –Salva Kiir Must go today not tomorrow.”

Finally we would like to conclude with the US Former President Ronald Reagan’s quotation from October 27, 1964 speech:

“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”

Long live South Sudan!
Long live citizens and nationals of South Sudan!

The T-shirt design of the Independence Day rally will be Post in Zee Machar’s Facebook.
You can also send us your email if you want the T-shirt design forwarded to you.

This Article is prepared by Zechariah James Machar and Deng Elijah Hon; you can email them via the contact information below for further concerns.

Zee4yo at yahoo dot co dot uk / Dengsimon2000 at yahoo dot com