Dr. John Garang: You Can Kill Self-Determination Through Self-Determination
“Self-determination is not given, one determine his future, we do have self-determination in the areas we have control, and if you believe that the Khartoum government has given you self-determination, then go back and ask Khartoum to withdraw its troops from the three capital cities of South Sudan–Juba, Malakal and Wau–and I (Garang) promise that I will not attack you. Your claim of self-determination of the South Sudan while in Khartoum means that you have surrendered. I also believe that when the people of South Sudan are given an opportunity to vote in the referendum, they will vote almost 100% for independence.”—Dr. John Garang de Mabior to Dr. Riek Machar in Gulu, Uganda, 1997
———————————————————————-
“…As for our brothers in Nasir, I would say it makes no sense to announce a coup in Nasir against someone sitting in Torit. We have no government physical structure to be captured. We have no government for someone to overthrow. All we can do is to disagree and live in different corners of the bushes of Southern Sudan. The objective of the Movement has been used as the excuse for Nasir betrayal. I know as much as they do that the South feels strongly about its quest for independence. There are valid reasons for their wish but the strength of passion is not the same as the practicality of the proposition at this time. We must base our approach on the objective realities facing us. The National Islamic Front (NIF) has dropped the hint that they would be ready to let the South break away if the Nasir removed John Garang and abandoned the call for the New Sudan. A little thinking could have made our brothers realize that the NIF was being as typically deceptive as their predecessors. When Southerners demanded a federal system as their condition for supporting the independence of the Sudan in 1956, the Arabs promised them ‘due consideration’. That promise was contemptuously disregarded after independence. Do we have to repeat the same mistake in 1991? Why would the government cede territory to them after the successful destruction of the SPLA? The very fact that the NIF detests the concept of New Sudan confirms that we have touched the right button….Dr. John Garang’s Discourse with Steven Wondu: New Sudan Vision as ‘a Strategic and Tactical Conceptualization’ Nairobi Kenya, 1992
Commander Dr. John Garang de Mabior Speaking to Senior SPLM/A Officers in Yei Garrison (29-30/06/2000), Part-one
Commander Dr. John Garang de Mabior Speaking to Senior SPLM/A Officers in Yei Garrison (29-30/06/2000), Part-two