The Problem with Nuer Extremists
4 min readAmb. Gen. Gordon Buay Malek
The problem with Nuer extremists supporting war in South Sudan is their inability to accept realities. In this conflict, I have realized that the extremist Nuer believe in fiction more than reality.
The first reality the Nuer rebels need to accept is the fact that the positions of Salva Kiir as the President of South Sudan and Chairman of the SPLM are non-negotiable.
What the IGAD and AU are saying is the accommodation of Riek Machar either as the Prime Minister or First Vice-President. The debate now is not about Presidency but the accommodation of Riek Machar.
Therefore, any reasonable Nuer extremist who has no intellectual disability has two options. The first option is to break away from Riek Machar to tell the world his position so that he is included in the negotiations. The second option is to remove Riek Machar from the leadership of the rebels.
I want the Nuer extremists to know that Riek Machar presented two names for the position of Prime Ministerial post should he decline. The first candidate is his wife and the second one is Taban Deng.
If the Nuer rebels do not like the IGAD power-sharing arrangements, they should eliminate Riek Machar because he accepted the executive position proposed as part of the package. You cannot say that you are against the power-sharing arrangements while Riek Machar accepted it. The IGAD only knows the leader of the rebels who is Riek Machar in reality.
If the Nuer rebels don’t want the deal already arranged, they need to jettison Riek Machar to engage the international community before they are branded as international terrorists.
When I look at it, the cows are more reasonable than Nuer extremists who don’t want to accept reality. The Nuer extremists think that they can reject the position of the international community with impunity. That is not true because anybody who will reject the fact that Salva Kiir is the President of South Sudan will be branded as a terrorist.
It is very unfortunate that cows in Nuer land are more intelligent that the Nuer tribalists in accepting realities.
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THE FACTS THE NUER EXTREMISTS NEED TO KNOW
1. If Riek Machar comes to Juba as the Prime Minister, his powers are equivalent to those of the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro. The Prime Minister post he would hold is not the Prime Minister position of Parliamentary Systems of Ethiopia, Canada, UK, and other West Minister systems.
2. President Kiir would remain as the head of state and government and will be the one directing the policy of the central government.
3. If Riek Machar refuses to take the position of the Prime Minister, Angelina Teny or Taban Deng Gai will occupy the post.
4. President Kiir will be the one to appoint the Prime Minister. Therefore, he will choose between Angelina Teny and Taban Deng Gai if Riek Machar rejects to hold the post.
5. The forces loyal to Riek Machar will be screened before they are integrated into the SPLA. Warlords who have no academic backgrounds will not be integrated into the national army. However, there will be exceptions depending on whether the warlords distance themselves from Riek Machar.
6. After peace, the Government of South Sudan will disarm the Nuer White Army so that they don’t pose a security threat to civilians in Nuer land. Since the White Army are always motivated by looting, they must be disarmed by all means to protect civilians.
7. Riek Machar’s group will get only two ministerial posts in the Government of National unity.
8. All soldiers loyal to Riek Machar will not be deployed in Central Equatoria, Jonglei, Upper Nile state and Unity State . They will be taken to Mapel to undergo training in nationalism before they are deployed to border towns.
9. Politicians loyal to Riek Machar will undergo education in eradicating tribalism before assuming any constitutional positions. They will first be transformed psychologically to become nationalists before assuming any position.
10. Riek Machar will publicly apologize to the people of South Sudan before assuming his position as the Prime Minister for staging a coup twice.
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