Backing up for Khartoum by the International Community is Unfair and Unacceptable
By Dengdit Ayok
Before I express my opinion on the ongoing aggression against our nation, I would like to commend our gallant soldiers, the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA); for bravely repulsing the invading Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) from Panthou. That is what the people of South Sudan have been enthusiastically waiting for to hear because their dignity and their integrity and their sovereignty as well; has been repeatedly disgraced and humiliated by the government of Sudan and its army.
I would also want to give a round of applause to the President of the Republic Sir Salva Kiir Mayardit for refusing the International Community’s unfair calls for withdrawal of our army from Panthou, and for courageously stating in his speech to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) that our army will advance into Abyei to liberate it if the International Community did not take a move to call on the government of Sudan to withdraw SAF from there. This is what the people of South Sudan have been keenly waiting for to hear from their government after series of aggressions and senseless wars waged against them by Khartoum’s Ingaz-Islamists government before and after independence.
The UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Security Council, the Arab League and the African Union and the US President Barack Obama have apparently showed to the people of South Sudan and proved to them beyond any doubt that they are biased and unfair, very unfair and backing up the Sudanese government in its failed attempts to invade and occupy areas that belongs to our country.
It is indeed very disappointing that President Obama called President Kiir to tell him to remain calmed without retaliating to protect the sovereignty of South Sudan in self defense; a right enshrined in the international laws and granted to states, groups and even to individuals, while SAF is occupying territories within South Sudan.
One wonders to hear President Obama whose country strongly stands against terrorism, calling on the President of a fledgling country telling him to remain calmed while the forces of invasion occupy its territories despite of his full knowledge that this nascent state is interested in peace and fully committed for peaceful settlement of the pending political differences between her and Khartoum through negotiations in Addis Ababa under African Union’s mediation.
One really wonders as to how President Obama could condone acts of terrorism being carried out against South Sudan by the very regime which once had hosted the most 21st century’s famous terrorist (Osama Bin Laden) who had inflicted death and destruction on the people of his country more than 11 years ago. What Khartoum has been doing on our borders is part and parcel of the global terrorism that the United States is fighting against, and so how come that President Obama, call on South Sudan to remain calmed in the face of terrorism that his government had hunted Osama Bin Laden for in the last 11 years and killed him last year? How come that he call on President Kiir to be calmed while he himself is ready to fight and deter any aggression that threatens the security of the people of United States such as Iran’s and North Korean’s Piong Yang nuclear programs as his government believes?
How come that Mr. Ban Ki-Moon gives orders to President Kiir to withdraw our troops from Panthou when our troops are actually implementing their natural constitutional mandate, protecting the lives of the people of South Sudan and the geographical territories of their state from Khartoum’s offensives? How come that Mr. Ki-Moon call on the government in Juba to withdraw its troops from the area when he himself and members of his Security Council have failed to convince the government of Sudan to withdraw its troops from Abyei since its occupation in May last year? Is this not interference into the internal affairs of South Sudan by the UN Secretary General at the expense of the people of South Sudan for the interest of Khartoum? Surely, it is, and the government and the people of South Sudan strongly reject that.
The message I would like to send here is that South Sudan is not the one attacking and invading the Republic of the Sudan or occupying its territories, it is the Sudan that is launching military offensives against South Sudan to invade it and kill its innocent civilians for nothing except its greed for oil. Al-Bashir and members of his government have a goal which they want to achieve. They want to occupy oil fields that belong to South Sudan on the borders. They are aggressive and they are the ones who initiate wars and military escalations on the borders by attacking oil fields in Unity State and carrying out aerial bombardments on oil fields and SPLA by their Iranian made warplanes.
Our government has proved to the whole world its seriousness and keenness in pursuing peace through talks, but Khartoum has been boycotting the talks, violating none-aggression agreement signed in Addis Ababa in February this year, violating agreement on four freedoms signed in Addis Ababa last month, agitating the Sudanese populace for war through mass media and calling for Jihad against the people of South Sudan, frustrated and sabotaged the summit scheduled to take place between Kiir and Al-Bashir on the 3rd of this month in Juba and the list of violations goes on.
The statement read out by Mrs. Susan Rice, the US envoy to the Security Council and on Thursday saying that the 15 members of the Council “demands a complete, immediate, and unconditional end to all fighting; withdrawal of the SPLA from Heglig; end to SAF aerial bombardments; end to repeated incidents of cross-border violence between Sudan and South Sudan; and an end to support by both sides to proxies in the other country,” as reported by Sudan Tribune is completely unfair in our view because it is a backing up to Khartoum by the International Community and it is totally unacceptable because the people of South Sudan are now acting in self defense which is lawful.
Why then should the International Community waste its time in condemning the government of South Sudan and calling on it to withdraw SPLA from an area which originally belongs to South Sudan and now brought back by force after it was forced by the masters of war in Khartoum to do so? Moreover, the call by the International Community on Juba to withdraw its soldiers from Panthou is biased and does not serve justice at all for both sides. It only serves the political interests of the Ingaz regime in Khartoum and for this reason; it is vehemently rejected by the government and people of South Sudan; because it is very unreasonable for the International Community to waste its time in defending an indicted Sudan’s President for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Defending a criminal and fugitive by the International Community at this time, is something questionable. Our soldiers shall not withdraw from Heglig because it is part of our country and we cannot leave an inch of our land to the vampires of Khartoum. The International Community should now start calling on Khartoum to respect the sovereignty of South Sudan by withdrawing SAF from Abyei instead of unfairly calling on South Sudan to withdraw from an area which naturally, geographically, politically and historically falls under the jurisdiction of South Sudan.
We will win this war which Khartoum has imposed on us because we have the truth we have vowed to protect our nation and
“Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet ’tis truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong:
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow
Keeping watch above his own”.
James Russell Lowell
Mr. Ayok is a South Sudanese journalist working with the Juba-based Al-Masier Arabic daily newspaper. He can be reached at dengdit_a@yahoo.com.
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