Why this forced military recruitment in Bor is a new dawn for Bor people
4 min readBy Deng Lueth Yuang, Calgary, Canada
July 1, 2015 (SSB) —- Gone are those days when Kuol Manyang, John Garang and Jong Reng used to force our traditional Chiefs to give them every able-bodied boy to serve in the SPLA!
Gone are those days when Kuol Manyang used to conscript young boys, cattlemen and any other middle aged men into the rebel army –the SPLA.
Well, it wasn’t a bad thing at all. We were after all fighting a common enemy for a common cause with a common vision.
But now we lack common enemy, cause and vision. Secondly the young men are being forced against their will to do something that they haven’t decided to do so.
But amid all these turbulences, one thing stand out clearly – it does not matter how this young recruits from Bor are being recruited into the army. What matters is an army controlled, occupied and ran by Bor sons.
Time and time again, history has it that these conscripts will listen to their elders, chiefs and senior govt officials to do what they are expected to do. Even if they refuse at first hand, they will change their heart at last. But inside my ‘medulla oblongata’, I sense something unethical!
This brings me into asking these qns: a) why Bor who are numerically disadvantaged among the Dinka clans? B) Why initiating a forceful recruitment in the 21st century while you know very well that these young guys are politically aware more than before? C) Will you not regret if they say yes, but then turn their guns against you – defect or form their own rebellions?
[I have no doubt; that is why rebellion is habitual. There are no right people at the right places at the moment].
However, if this forceful recruitment taking place in Bor town under the auspices of one Dinka Bor general is something to go by, then I encourage all our able-bodied men to all become part of the South Sudanese army, not to go and fight the Nuers rebels but be a custodian of a sovereignty of South Sudan nation.
In my own recognition- assume if I were in Bor, can the mighty general force me into the army? Does he know where I came from and where I am going? This qn also applies to those being recruited into the army against their wills? Does he know what their intentions are? We live in a 21-st century where no one lives in darkness.
Each and every one of us knows what transpires in Juba! So do you think my brother who is going into the army, leaving his family behind and being send to Malakal to go and kill Shilluk and Nuer can do the fight for you, really? Really in this age?
Well in as far as I am concerned, there is one good thing that Bor sons never do – going against a good cause. But this time around, I support Malual Ayom decree for all able-bodied men and women to voluntarily or mandatorily join the SPLA. Why? Because it is latitude for political and military recognition in south Sudan at this hour of need. It is a deterrent factor to would-be enemies of our people.
Ber Moor Ben was formed last year, but it has not lived up to its name. It is taken to Malakal, and I guess by now they are ‘finished’. So this time around, never mind. Join it, take your guns, go back home and never go to Nuerland. Come back with those guns and form your military chain of command to counter Aguelek, Cobra, Mathiang Anyor, White army, and the Arrow Boys. We so badly need you to defend our Borland!
***I’m here for you***
Deng Lueth Yuang, the writer is a former primary, high school and academics in Kakuma Refugee Camp. He now lives in Canada as a scholar and humanitarian worker around the globe. He holds both BA and MA in Economics from University of Calgary, Alberta, CANADA. Contact: luethdeng@ymail.com
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