SOUTH SUDAN’S STRATEGIC PEACE PLAN
7 min readSOUTH SUDAN’S STRATEGIC PEACE PLAN: A PROPOSAL OF WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO END THE CONFLICT IN THE COUNTRY
BY AMER DHIEU
INTRODUCTION
It is clear that no one is going to win this current war. It is clear too that the more we keep fighting this war the more we lose lives of innocent citizens, elderly people, disables, women and children. It is also clear that this war is not just killing our people through bullets but also affecting our national economy, our international image, our regional cooperation and most importantly it is adversely dividing our national army and general public.
Our nation has already fallen apart. It’s weakening. It has lost more than what it has in hand. The JUSTICE, LIBERTY AND PROSPERITY in our National Anthem have become meaningless. We are not practicing them. The hatred is taking its toll on South Sudanese communities.
They say in international relation that “war is the last resort” but to us it was the first resort. The question is: what is our last resort? What should be used as last resort instead? In my perspective, we have given war a chance, now let’s give peace a chance.
This proposal is a personal view of what should be done. You might disagree with me, but I encourage you to pen down your proposal too. Not that the government or rebel will use it but IT will give few people who will come across IT an idea of where our failing state should go next.
VISION
You tell me. What else is the vision of peace strategic plan? It is simple: restore our national harmony, integrity, peace, justice, liberty and prosperity. Erase the stain of hatred, conflict, bloodshed and division. Bring back the confidence we lose in our government ability to sustain peace in the country.
MISSION
The mission of peace strategic plan is to seek:
Stop ongoing war and urge leaders on both sides to come to the negotiating table
Restore our national peace
Strengthen our national economy
Restore our international image
Help sustained our regional security and cooperation
Provide South Sudanese citizen with a safe place to call home
Encourage our 64 tribes to live in harmony: the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood
BACKGROUND
You ask me who is the enemy in South Sudan? I won’t tell you it is the rebel. I won’t even tell you it is the government. The enemy is the uneducated population, the enemy is the tribalist, the enemy is the divisionist, the enemy is the uncivilized, the enemy is the poor, the rich, the homeless, the millionaire, and the business people.
All these people do not know how to live together. They don’t know how to live in harmony. The Poor don’t know how to beg the rich; the rich don’t know how to give to the poor. The Nuer doesn’t know if Lotuho is a brother and a sister living next door in the same land. Murle doesn’t know if a Dinka and a Nuer also need cattle to survive. The Government and the Rebel don’t know if they are fighting for one position—be a leader and serve South Sudan’s people best interest. The whole country lives in a “DON’T KNOW” environment.
The purpose of this Strategic Peace Plan is to let this DON’T KNOW, KNOWS through the strategic peace plan. But how? Teach Nuer how to say “loi edi” in Dinka? Or to teach Kakwa how to say “male megwa” in Nuer? None of these is the strategic peace plan.
STRATEGIC PEACE PLAN A: DEMILITARIZATION OF SOUTH SUDANESE CAPITAL
You know how they mark around civilian’s suburbs in Juba with those ugly long guns. You know how the put army on high alert when there is disagreement in parliament. You know how government officials send their guards to haunt down people they have argument with.
Objectives:
Move all military barrack out of Juba to Buma.
No use of army personal guards either by government officials or other insecure citizen.
No use of a gun in civilians occupied suburbs.
PLAN B: COMPULSORY PEACE TRAINING IN ALL TEN STATES
Emmanuel Jal once said, “If there is any place in the world where people are most hungry and thirsty of education, it is South Sudan”. Not all educated people are wise. That is my belief but all educated people know how to construct something from nothing. It cannot always be something good but it can be peace from war. Peace training can give them skills to live in multicultural and diverse country. It can help them accept each other’s differences and embrace it.
Objectives:
Cut national military budget by 10 percent and use it to build training centres in every county and Payam of all ten states.
Peace education must be a compulsory subject throughout primary, secondary schools and colleges. May be universities too.
STRATEGIC PEACE PLAN C: RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL ORDER
We know in South Sudan the rich are going richer and poor are getting poorer. There is a huge gap between these socio-economic classes. Rich families are easy to gain public recognition, access quality health care, clean water, likely to get job than their poor counterparts and living a sustainable lives.
Objectives:
All equal before law policy must be put in place.
Provide funding for local Job agencies to help unemployed people find jobs.
To provide job training for unskilled person
Department of Human Services to provide social security/welfare to support the poor and the unemployed person.
Each adult being given 300 pound and a child with 150 pound every monthly.
INTRODUCTION of effective taxation systems to pay for public schools and healthcare system
STRATEGIC PEACE PLAN D: EFFECTIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
Now this is where big problem is. If we don’t have very effective form of government we don’t have effective rules and laws governing the entire population in the country and whole nation will be like a flock of sheep with no shepherd. People can steal, people can kill, can be corrupt, and can do any illegal things imaginable because there is no effective government to enforce rules and regulations. Effective government consists of transparency in the system, it consists of democratic system, it consists respect for human rights and dignity, it consists of keeping law and order, it stands as a shield and source of every human needs and all living creatures in South Sudan.
Objectives:
To have effective government we must have effective and brainy technocrats behind every board member. To achieve this, it would be prudent for President Kiir not to run in the forthcoming general election. He should hand over the torch to a younger, educated and ‘brain-active’ candidate, whether from the SPLM ruling party or other parties or even an independent candidate, so long as that person would turn back the clock to doomsday of our beloved Republic.
2015 cabinet must not include old Folks, especially those who have been in the cabinet before. They have spectacularly brought South Sudan to its knees. They are too rude and too corrupt. Cabinet must be made up of those with long vision, not short vision. Those who sees light ahead not “Dhuluma” Because if the cabinet members sees darkness ahead they only do things that will take country to darkness.
New military recruitment must take place and government must provide funding to send them abroad for Training. When they are fully trained they can come back and the current military can be put on reserved. This is because the current one only knows how to follow their bosses, how to protect (or advance the interest of) their own tribes instead of the nation. They don’t know that their main priority is, which is to protect the nation against foreign invasion and state sovereignty not the tribe.
System! System! System out of all must be adjusted. System in all aspects. From work places, supreme and magistrate courts, in all public services. It must be fair, Democratic, transparent, equal and accessible by all persons living in South Sudan.
Government must first serve the interest of all citizens before theirs. No child must be left homeless, uneducated and unnursed with care. That’s the ideal that all government officials must live up to or else they will risk being thrown out of office in no time by the general public whether they were democratically elected or not.
RECOMMENDATIONS
All media companies, bloggers and news editors must preach message of peace and development. All academicians, political analysts, activists and intellectuals must provide South Sudanese with new knowledge and strategies everyday on how to rule and keep the country going forward, not BACKWARD.
CONCLUSION
we have clearly read who is the enemy in South Sudan and to reduce those enemies we must immediately implement these strategic peace plans or any other plans you might comes up with. The responsibility to implement it is on your and my neck. We are the poorest and must learn how to beg the richest. We are the richest and we must learn how to give to the poorest. I am the Murle and I must know you the Nuer or Dinka also need your cattle in order to survive.
It us all who live in the environment of “don’t know” and it’s us all who need to live in the environment of knowing. GOD BLESSES SOUTH SUDAN!
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Good Amer weng , at least you can offer something tangible . you have missed one issue in your article , what is the root cause of the conflicts ? what is the solution? you should rewrite your strategic plan D because it almost to root cause of the problema. all your solution are short term solution we want long term solution