One Month Later Isaiah Abraham is with Us: What South Sudan Did Wish to be?
8 min readBy Akolde N. Jinub, Rumbek, SOUTH SUDAN.
Today at dawn 5th January 2013, late brother Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol was dragged out of his house in Gudele west of Juba, the capital of South Sudan city. Earlier on, late Isaiah has complained, informed and suggested to his siblings, relatives and colleagues such as Nhial Bol, the Chief Editor of Citizen Newspaper that he is being threatened with text messages on the phone, a group of plain cloth personnel came to his office with a copy of his opinion article that he wrote on 21st November 2012.
And in his secret discussion with Nhial, late requested Nhial that they should run to exile upon threats to their lives because of their fight for the voiceless, the weak, the disadvantaged, the heroes/heroines’ orphans, widows and for the common cause that our current ruling party SPLM took up arms and led Southern masses to fight against. Quote from Tribute to Isaiah Abraham dated 19th December 2012.
This brings me to unfortunate criticisms from our fellow writers/columnists whose views were condemning late Isaiah on his two opinions published on www.Gurtong.net and www.SouthSudanNation.com online news outlets. In the two pieces, one was hard on late that he shouldn’t tamper with the business of the ruling clique, to an extent of calling for the resignation of the president. The other objected to late Isaiah hard words for failures in South Sudan leadership and betrayed by the same people who said that they took up arms to liberate this society they are robbing today in broad daylight.
This second critic questioned the name that late Isaiah uses, as if he was disguising for any repercussions. This is where I would like to write and consecrates this piece for, and to why late Isaiah and those of us decided to use our pen-names instead of our given names.
But, first allow me to take you to our Holy book, the Bible where we get these two names that late Diing Chan Wuol names were chosen from. In the Old Testament, we find the name Isaiah. He was a great prophet and lived in Jerusalem during the eighth century BC. Judah, the southern kingdom was threatened by a powerful neighbor, Assyria, the current Syria in Middle East. The prophet Isaiah saw that the real threat to life of Judah was not simply the might of Assyria, but the nation’s own sin and disobedience to God and their lack of trust in him. Prophet Isaiah called in words and actions on people and their leaders to a life of righteousness and justice.
In this same Old Testament in the Bible, we find Abraham, the father of all nations, who was chosen by God, asked to leave his homeland with family to unknown land that He God will show him. Abraham went faithfully. God once again asked Abraham to sacrifice to Him his only son Isaac. Abraham did as God told him. In the last minutes of sacrificing his son Isaac, God called Abraham not to kill his only Isaac, and shown him a lamb for sacrifice and confirmed that Abraham was then His true faithful.
Reading these two situations, I would rather opine, whether late Diing Chan parents chose this name Isaiah for him, having studied of Prophet in the Bible or just the name was for baptism, and that the other name Abraham as of late father were for a purpose that God had intended for late Diing Chan Awuol family or not. I leave it to Awuol’s family and relatives.
From my own analysis of why late Diing Chan chose his two names of Isaiah and Abraham as his pen-name, I assume that he had one main issue in mind. If he were to choose Diing Chan Awuol to criticize South Sudan’s current affairs, and going nip into one of the leaders back, he would have been accused of either Jiengism (Dinkaism) or Borism, his home village in Jonglei. This is evident with views that young people of today including myself do have with their tribal, regional identification and sentiment, like I am being from Rumbek, Bahr el Ghazal, Agaar Jieng (Dinka) all the way to be my Payam and Boma, rather than identifying ourselves as South Sudanese people period!
Late Isaiah too chose his two names to fight for a common interest of South Sudanese people and the nation as he did when he let go of his educational achievements as proven by his prowess in hundreds of articles he wrote and were published.
I am among persons, who decided to use a pen-name called Akolde Nhiak Jinub. This is not my family given name, but my pen-name that I decided to use to criticize individuals, leadership or groups, locally, regionally and internationally. Numbers of writers or readers have viewed us with these names as being cowardice.
This is not true and not the case. The name Akolde Nhiak Jinub, literally means, “What will be the day, and Future of South Sudan, will look like!” Late Isaiah Abraham has had his full contact addresses, his photo being posted in all print media houses in Juba every news on daily basis, especially Gurtong monthly magazine. Here, I would like to inform my readers that whatsoever the contacts being put beneath these articles are correct and from reliable sources.
However, I would like to put across of what kind of South Sudan that late Isaiah Abraham has had hoped and struggled to be. Late Isaiah have had wished a South Sudanese nation where ideals, objectives and goals of an independent State and people be put into actions for the benefit of all regardless of ethnicity, creed, religion, status, region or opinion. He has had dreamt for a South Sudan state where equal opportunities are provided for her people. He has had hoped for a prosperous, independent and viable state of where integrity, honesty, humility and faithfulness should have been characters of our leaders.
Late Isaiah Abraham and I would want this nation that a free and quality primary education is encouraged, nurtured, guided and established for all regardless.
Late Isaiah Abraham and I would want Our President Gen. Salva Kiir to monitor and evaluate his several promises such as his April 2006 call for Free and Quality Primary education across South Sudan. This area of our today’s humanity is core, and which is fading away in South Sudan, and most specifically in Greater Bahr El Ghazal and Greater Upper Nile. I love my people of Greater Equatoria, for they are up to their duty call for their people. Go and Gov. Louis Lobong. See what he is doing for his people there!
The 2008 Dura scandal in which about 4 billion Sudanese pounds was squandered, and nobody has been brought to book for justice.
In 2009, Our President told the Governor’s forum that all those who have swallowed what are not theirs will be made to vomit it out.” He was referring to the corruption that has now crippled our dear nation of South Sudan. Nobody has been made to vomit it out till this little author writes, but rather a high profile and large scale of this syndrome is being encouraged from the top.
Spate of human violence has had gone to an enormity of total destruction without remorse, and has changed its traditional course of cattle stealing and quest to get away with cattle, but rather to the annihilation of all of humanity, most notably in Jonglei, and which worsened in December 2011 – early January 2012.
A regulation of tinted vehicles was passed in 2011, till today, it is not being respected because the very top leaders are the ones violating what they deliberated and passed into law. This is being encouraged by immoral decay that married men leave their women in far states and congested in Juba to hunt for harlots and dangerous prostitutes from other countries.
A thing such as business title of His/her Excellency is needed for an address to even a Boma Administrator. Whether in official letters of work, family tea gathering or chat ceremonies, a Director General in government office would want to be called H.E. My readers, believe me, if you do not call or write as this, you won’t be served, listen to or you will even be accused of contempt. This attitude stems from total lack of education, ignorance, anarchy or village-man-ship mentality. In today’s business studies, it would even be enough to call me Miser Akolde, E.g.
As announced on Thursday 3rd January 2013, that some (groups/names undisclosed) have been apprehended in connection with intentional murder of late Isaiah (Diing Chan Awuol), one thing leaves great to be desired. The suspend length of the announcement, disposition of the investigation and nature of events; totally mirror into an extension of what truly is behind the willful murder of late Isaiah Abraham.
SPLM, the ruling party of South Sudan, we, the citizen needs justice to be done into Isaiah’s assassination and peace to prevail in South Sudan. All sorts of killing must stop in Juba, Jonglei, Lakes, Eastern Upper Nile, Western Upper Nile (Unity), Warrap, Western Bahr el Ghazal and all of South Sudan. We want our mighty SPLA army to be adequately fed, cared for, and paid on time! SPLA Oyeeee!
Let justice prevail. Let peace prevail! Sudan should be told to either opt for Peace or War!??
Late brother Isaiah Good bye to you! May your dear soul Rest In Eternal Peace, till we meet again.
Akolde N.Jinub lives in Rumbek. He is on akolden.jinub@yahoo.com Tel: 0977919696/0922808080
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