The Cases of Stolen Ambassadorial Positions and Tribal Conflicts in Jonglei State

                   The three counties of Bor South, Twic East, and Duk were allocated 12 ambassadorial positions by the Government of South Sudan, but during the process of allocations in Bortown, 8 of those 12 positions were given to Bor South communities, leaving just 4 positions to be shared between Twic East and Duk counties. Having being born in Jonglei state and having  had a splendid opportunity to spend my lifetime around the members of Jonglei communities, I would have to conclude that Bor South, Twic East and Duk communities have shared a great history together.

                   In the past, if an issue of war or economic development arise, members of the three counties would take up their war shields and wits to defend themselves  from any foreign invasion. As far as I can remember, it has been like that since time immemorial. The three communities were like a set of triplets, born from the same mother and father. Even though, they were not exactly real triplets from the same parents, they resembled a replica of an actual set of triplets that were carefully brought up by their good and loving parents, which was recognizable in how they stood their ground in harsh moments of trials and adversity throughout their history of existence in Jonglei state.

                 People tend to disagree on different things when they can’t find a way to accommodate their differences. But it is only through diversification and acceptance of our differences that we can find numerous ways to  strengthen and build up our communities from the ground up. Once we learn to respect to our differences, then we can soldify a united front where diversity in unity is a social organization that resolve our communal barriers. If this case could have started a conflict among the three communities, then we could have experienced a bloodbath right in our backyard, with a mere issue  that could have been easily solved by our leaders in Bortown by equally distributing 6 ambassadorial positions  to Bor county and another 6 appointments to Twic East and Duk counties.

                   Is this the end of the line for a truly remarkable history created by living side to side all these centuries? I hope not; because we were recently awarded our independence from Arabian colonialism. If it is indeed the case, then we ought to say goodbyes with our heads held high up, not through thievery of our political positions endowed to us by the Government of South Sudan because they belong to us through our birthrights, unalienable rights and our stake claims as citizens of Jonglei state. From 1956 up until July 2011, South Sudanese were fighting Jallaba’s colonist regime in Khartoum to spurs on their claim to get a shot at the modern-day civilization, only to see our Great communities of Twic East and Duk face marginalization from Bor county in Jonglei state.

                  Why didn’t our cousins from Bor county tell Twic East and Duk communities to remain in the bush to fight their own war of self-determination from them in the first place? If Bor South communities continue to hustle away our economic opportunities like the way of these ambassadorial positions, then, we no choice, but to campaign for the division of Jonglei state into two separate states, where we will live in a state of abundant without someone robbing us of economic projects. Governor Kuol Manyang and Bor South communities, we are urging you to recall those ambassadors and be returned to their rightful owners in Twic East and Duk counties.

                   It is not too late to solve a problem that will leave a lasting scar among these three communities. The time is still ripe to make a difference because the appointments were only made in late March. We don’t want anyone to stunt our economic growth in any way possible. If you happen to scale through the map of South Sudan, one wouldn’t fail to recognize that Jonglei state is the largest state among the 10 states. During the recent Jonglei state clashes, some pockets of peace activists briefly mentioned that, the only way to bring peace to Jonglei state is by dividing the state into two states to ease up turmoil among conflicting communities.

                 That might have seemed like a far-fetched  solution to an age-old problem of cattle rustling and child abduction among the intertwined communities of Dinka Bor, Twic East Dinka, Lou Nuer, Murle and Anyuak. Imagine, if Lou Nuer and Murle were grouped together again in their own state, the same problem would have continued or further escalate into a bigger humanitarian crisis than it is already is. The Jonglei state clashes is a mult-faceted problem that can be solved through two alternative routes. The first part to solve this monotonous problem is for the conflicting communities to pick a third party member from outside Jonglei state and be none other than from Dinka, Murle or Nuer tribe, this third party member will then conduct a dialogue among them.

               This is true in part due to the fact that, a Murle community would not accept a member of Lou community to solve this problem because they might suspect a member from Lou Nuer from wrongdoing in this conflict. The same thing holds true for Twic East Dinka, Dinka Bor or Anyuak communities, they would blatantly refuse a Murle or Lou Nuer community member to hold the conflict resolution dialogue among them. This problem doesn’t require westernized conflict resolution methods or approaches similar to those of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This problem bears no resemblance to the genocidal cases of ICC because it is a centuries-old problem that needs to be uprooted from its genesis of beginnings.

                Once the third party dialogue member has been selected, then all these communities need to involve their youth leaders, traditional chiefs, payam leaders, Members of Parliaments, and county leaders. Traditional wisdom is as important as modernized African methods of conflict resolution partly to the fact that these were applicable methods that continued to keep our communities as cohesive as possible up until our modern era and those methods have not failed us since the first time we stepped our feet on this planet.  After the dust is cleared and settled, the conflicting communities can then talk to their youth, young adults and all the community members who are considered responsible for this problem, that we are here to live side by side as diversified communities of Jonglei state and most importantly as good citizens of the Republic of South Sudan.

               The Human Rights Watch, who is very popular with its slogan which goes, “Defending human rights wordwide,” has a statement which says, “Every human being has human rights by virtue of being a human being.”  We need to find creative ways to drum ideas of communal relations into the youths and young adults of Jonglei state to learn from us that no one, even the Pope of the Vatican City is not above the law and that there is a need to respect everyone’s human value, dignity, and property. Disarmament of Jonglei communities is not a long term solution to the Jongle clashes, it is a short-sighted approach to cover up the failures of our government in Juba. While the process of disarmament is taking shape in Jonglei state, some pockets of Jonglei communities may run to the nearby bush and hide their guns that they may retrieve later after the tides of disarmament has died down.

              And better yet, some members whose weapons were forcifully taken from them, may rush to the blackmarket dealers to buy yet another gun. On the other hand, deploying South Sudan Police around Pibor county is another short-term solution that may later make this problem worse than it is already is.  While South Sudan Police is deployed around Murle villages, these same Murle youth may talk their way out of the deployment lines by saying we are going to attend a wedding or school in Central Equatoria state. After they infiltrated the deployment lines, they may group themselves up again and attack in Dinka Bor areas.

              If these Murle youths can’t find a way to get rid of the South Sudan Police, they might confront them head on, which is another altercation that may cause another senseless lost of lives. Murle has a long-held cultural practice where youth are allowed to raid cattle, abduct children, and kidnap women from their neighboring communities. Murle boys must perform these deeds before they become adult. If these deeds are performed to satisfactory standards, then they are rewarded with statutory privileges and wealth. That is why this cultural practice has been hard to break in the mainstream Murle culture, because it holds prominence important to everyone, youth or adult.

               The second alternative route to solve this problem is for both our federal government and Jonglei state government to take immediate educational initiatives and economic projects to Pibor county, these social institutions can then be used to build schools, hospitals, roads and thereby creating an atmosphere of community empowerment. Our Murle brothers need to be taught the civilized methods that are encroaching at everyone’s doorsteps in South Sudan.While Murle youths are trying to raid Lou Nuer of their cattle, their Lou Nuer youth counterparts are busy studying for their final exams to pave way for their futures as engineers and doctors.

             Installation of social institutions and active community leadership in Pibor county can bring tangible results of social change never before seen possible. Murle community needs cultural socialization approaches that will create awareness and consciousness which are bound to break down cultural practices that are harmful to other Jonglei communities. These social institutions have capacities to teach Murle community that other communities in Jonglei state are as important as them.