George Athor’s Letter to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda Before his Death
7 min readThe office of the Chairman and Commander in Chief of South Sudan Democratic Movement & South Sudan Defence Army (SSDM/A)
I am honored to have this opportunity to meet your Excellency
December 25, 2011 (SSNA) — Our people of Southern Sudan are well known by their resistance to all sorts of oppression, they fought governments in Khartoum since independence of Sudan in 1956 until they achieved their objectives and that by having independent state, Republic of South Sudan.
The people of Southern Sudan were hoping during the interim period which the C.P.A provided that the SPLM, which was virtually controlling the rein of power in South Sudan, would be able to implement the objectives we have been fighting for since 1983. But unfortunately that did not happen. Although the government and people of Uganda stood firm with people of Southern Sudan during hard days of liberation struggle up to now, they gained the opposite. The people of Uganda who are supposed to enjoy the fruits of liberation with their brothers in the South become victims, their Women are being raped, and Men are being tortured or killed in cold blood by SPLM throughout South Sudan.
We in SSDM/A are committed to see South Sudan is liberated from this system and want people of Uganda to enjoy the fruits of liberation of new South Sudan free from racing, tribalism, corruption and nepotism.
THE MISMANGEMENT OF THE SOUTH BY THE SPLM:
The CPA provided a Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) that is virtually run by the SPLM (its share was 70%) and enjoyed full independence, financially, politically and security-wise all through the interim period. Hence, the SPLM was expected to implement its vision of the New Sudan in the South. Since its formation in 2005 up to December 2010, the GOSS has received more than 20 billion US dollars in oil revenues and, yet, it has nothing to show for it in terms of provision of services, let alone development. These resources were eaten up by rampant corruption with money going into the pockets of a few individuals through nepotism and favoritisms. At the same time government employees and the SPLA soldiers go without salaries for months. To ensure complete lack of accountability, the accounts of GOSS have never been audited since its formation in 2005.
The GOSS has miserably failed in meeting the basic functions of any government such as provision of personal and collective security for its citizens. Inter and intra tribal conflicts have recently become the order of the day in South Sudan and a lot of lives and properties have been lost as a result of these conflicts.
The GOSS has no plan of any kind for any length of time and the SPLM-dominated South Sudan Legislative Assembly, which should have acted as a watchdog on the Government, has been turned into a rubber-stamp. Statements of the President of GOSS before the Assembly for all the interim period never spelt out any government programs as would be expected in any Parliament worth the name. Furthermore, this Assembly is the first of its kind to introduce the practice of approving Government over-expenditure and call it a supplementary budget!
There is no space for political freedoms in South Sudan. The SPLM leaders, who shout loudest about political freedoms and democratic transformation in Northern Sudan, do not allow other political parties; even their colleagues in the party disagree with them about political freedom that should operate in South Sudan. This behavior is shameful for a party that is in the forefront of the call for democratic transformation. To add insult to injury, the clique imposed a sub-culture of political blackmail all over the South. Any person who is critical of the mismanagement of affairs in the South is labeled either as “bought by the Jallaba” or “an agent of the NCP”!! This language of blackmail frightened some people but could not frighten everybody.
People in Southern Sudan are frustrated by the Government’s lack of direction. They need a government that can liberate them from poverty, corruption, tribalism, insecurity and deliver them out of the present economic crisis. Above all, they yearned for a government that could have united them to face the challenges ahead.
The majority of Southerners who thought they would have changed the corrupt and inefficient Government in Juba through elections were in for a big disappointment. When the general elections were held in April 2010, the SPLM and the NCP conspired to rig the elections in the South to return the SPLM. Having got the green light from its partner in the CPA, the SPLM went into an elections rigging spree using the SPLA and the other security organs. This act more than any turned the disappointment into fury with some people taking up arms against the Government of Southern Sudan.
The armed groups that rebelled against GOSS in different parts of South Sudan have decided to come together in a later date under a united organization to be known as the South Sudan People Revolutionary Democratic Front (SSPRDF).
Before all the armed groups merge in the near future, I would like to explain the reasons behind the formation of SSDM/A. The SSDM/A emerged as a result of the dictatorship of the SPLM/A, marginalization of all the South Sudan political parties and civil society, failure to adopt a viable political road map which can galvanize and reward the Southern people for their victorious achievement of a just peace, the rampant corruption perpetrated by the SPLM-led government in Juba, neglect of the families of the martyrs in the war of liberation and the rigging of the people’s vote by the SPLM/A in the last elections.
The Movement seeks to replace the corrupt and inefficient clique regime in Juba by a transparent and accountable transitional government agreed upon by all the political forces in South Sudan. At the end of the interim period, general elections will be carried out all over South Sudan to elect a Constituent Assembly that will promulgate the permanent constitution of the Republic of South Sudan.
The Objectives:
The principal objectives of the South Sudan Democratic Movement & Army shall be the establishment of a free, just, democratic and decentralized system of governance and a social contract based on the free will and popular participation of all the people of South Sudan. This is preceded by other minor objectives, here below:
1. To orient the life of people to plant patriotism and make the spirit of cooperation (unity), fraternity and love as the basic attachment among the citizens.
2. To fight corruption and crimes to maintain discipline for the peace of the society.
3. To maintain the culture of cooperation within businesses in the society which adheres to criteria of equality and justice using machinery of tolerance and peaceful resolution of problems through negotiation and judiciary.
4. To raise the values of patriotism and defend security by establishing military forces and to take care of militants of army who are alive or injured or martyrs’ families and also to encourage individuals of the society to respond to the call of liberation and struggle at any time and any place.
5. To intensify educational systems and to encourage the researches and scientific experiments and arts to develop the culture of the society and promote the African Sudanese traditions.
6. To organize seminars, lectures, symposiums, and workshops for the military, women, youth and students to accredit SSDM/A as the sole liberator for equality and freedoms.
7. To ensure social security, spirit of peace and liberation are the fundamental principles of nation-building without any segregations or discriminations on ethnicity, social-class, or race and religion.
The Methods and Mechanism:
The South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army explores all the peaceful mechanisms in its general activities and mobilization within the frame work of valid laws and respect of human dignity. These include:
1. To interact, coordinate and cooperate with other political organizations and the civil society on the common affairs of serving and liberation.
2. Publicity and announcement through mobilization of communities, media advocacy, social functions, direct communications with people, conferences and rallies.
3. To devise all possible methods to power either via democracy or defuse the oppressors and tyranny group on gun barrels and establish a transparent and accountable government in the south.
4. To launch international cooperation with political institutions in the sisterly and friendly countries for aids and participation in any regional and world conferences.
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