Gen. Daau Aturjong: Your Dinka Community Never Honors their Nyageet
11 min read“I thought we liberated our people from northern domination only to realize the revolution was hijacked by a tyrant dictator upon the death of our leader, late Dr. John Garang De Mabior…Now I decided to take [up] arms again to liberate my people since the first liberation [was] hijacked by a tyrant tribal dictator. I am taking [up] arms again to bring justice, freedom, equality and prosperity to my people. I am taking [up] arms to transform the country democratically and establish [a] federal system where powers and resources are driven by [the] people. I am taking [up] arms to restore rule of law and respect [for] human rights in my country…Therefore, my appeal to [the] people of South Sudan, Dinka Community generally and people of Aweil in particular not to support Salva Kiir…I am also appealing to the SPLA to stop fighting for Salva Kiir. My appeals go to the democratic forces globally to support the SPLM/SPLA led by Dr. Riek Machar to remove Salva Kiir and establish a new democratic South Sudan.” –Retired Gen. Daau Aturjong Nyuol of Aweil announcing his official decision to join Riek Machar in toppling the government of President Kiir in Nairobi, Kenya, May 31, 2014
By PaanLuel Wël, Juba.
Comrade Gen. Daau Aturjong Nyuol, I woke up today to a press statement announcing your official defection to Riek Machar-led armed rebellion against the government of President Salva Kiir Mayaardit.
Comrade, your pronouncement was not surprising at all because, since Dr. Dhieu Mathok joined Riek Machar in December 2013, there have been speculations and counter-speculations that it was just a question of when, rather than if, you would join Riek Machar, too. To paraphrase myself, Mathok was John the Baptist going to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus.
From all appearances, it seems your move is politically motivated and personalized and state-ized. It is politically motivated because the genesis of your disillusionment with President Kiir was the 2010 gubernatorial election in the state of Northern Bahr el Ghazal (NBG). You claim that the SPLM leadership rigged both the primary and the general elections in favor of Gen. Paul Malong Awan.
When, last year, President Kiir appointed Malong the chief of general staff, you were nonchalantly passed over in preference for Kwel Agwer Kwel, former SPLM’s secretary for finance and economics affairs at the ruling party general headquarters in Juba, who was appointed caretaker governor of NBG state.
These incidences might have been too much of a political humiliation for you. Ostensibly, you were robbed of your constitutional, democratic and legitimate leadership of NBG state and then casually passed over for Kwel Agwer who, unlike you, never participated in the war of liberation.
Thus, your problem is not against the “nine years of Salva Kiir’s authoritative dictatorship in Juba” per se nor is it about the dismal failure of Juba or the alleged lack of democracy in South Sudan; rather it is a political supremacy war with Malong Awan at state level.
Comrade, our past and recent history is littered with such personalized (and localized) political sparring that later ballooned into a national headache. Think of George Athoor Deng and his political dueling with Gier Chuang Aluong at Pigi County level and with Gen. Kuol Manyang Juuk during the 2010 gubernatorial election in Jonglei state, which later developed into a national problem.
Think of the David Yau-Yau insurgency, which began as a political contest for the MP-ship of Gumruk political constituent that Yau-Yau lost. Like Athoor and Yau-Yau, you, Comrade Daau Aturjong, have no fundamental differences with President Kiir as a person or as the leader of South Sudan. Your problem, I suppose, is with your immediate and local political competitor: Paul Malong Awan.
I suspect that had Athoor gotten the gubernatorial post of Jonglei state, had David Yau-Yau been the state MP for Gumruk constituent on the SPLM ticket or had you been appointed the caretaker governor of NBG state, there would have never been insurrections of Athoor and Yau-Yau or your defection to Riek Machar. Your case therefore, comrade, though clothed in the grand rhetoric of a coming Messiah, is political opportunism.
Apparently, your political announcement is opportune. Already, there are talks of an interim coalition government, dubbed the Government of National Unity, which would encompass all parties to the conflict. As a high profile political and military leader from the Dinka community, and particularly one from the backyard of President Kiir in the Bahr el Ghazal region, chances are that you might land a big political position in the interim government on the side of the rebels.
After all, what better political and propaganda tool can Riek Machar wish for but a person of your political stature to hit back at Gen. Malong Awan who is currently leading the war against Riek and who many believe to be the real center of power behind the throne.
It suits you, too, Comrade because not only are you literally fighting your main enemy, Malong, but also sending the unmistakable message to the president that there is a price to be paid for politically favoring Malong over you and yet all of you equally contributed during the war of liberation.
None of you ever betrayed the People’s Revolutionary Movement. After all, you bid your time after the 2010 election, preferring to exile yourself rather than take up arms against your own people like Athoor Deng or David Yau-Yau. What prevented the President from appointing you the caretaker governor of NBG after Malong left for Juba, you demand to know. I have no idea, Comrade.
What I do know is that your move is political suicide. The Dinka Community that you hail from never follows nor honors their political and military ‘Nyageet’. Think of Akuot Atem de Mayen, Arok Thon Arok, Majier Ghai Ayuel, Majur Nhial Makol, Dengtiel Ayuen Kuur, and Hakim Aluong Kaang from Bor/Twic.
Think of Kerubino Kwanyin Bol, Faustino Atem Gualdit, Dhol Achuil Aleu, Kawac Makwei Mayaar, and Dr. Costello Garang Ring from Gogrial/Tonj. Think of Telar Ring Deng, Dr. Achol Marial, Amon Mon Wantok, Prof. Isaac Cuir Riak, Maker Benjamin Bil, Ater Benjamin Bil, Nikanora Magar Achiek, Martin Makuur Aleiyou, Benjamin Nyankot Biaar, Malath Joseph Lueth and Chagai Matek from Rumbek/Yirol. And think of Chol Deng Alaak from Abyei.
These political and military leaders from your Dinka Community rebelled against the leadership of Dr. John Garang. You and Malong, among others, fought them. They were never followed nor later honored for their rebellions by their respective Dinka clans, notwithstanding their reasons for revolting, some of which, in retrospective, could have been partly justified.
Yet, in spite of that knowledge, you still called upon the people of Aweil (Malwal Dinka) to rebel against the leadership of President Kiir and follow you into Riek’s rebellion. Arguably, most people from your community associate the SPLM with the painful sacrifices they made during the war for independence, much as they associate President Kiir with the continuation of the historical SPLM leadership.
That perception, coupled with the simple fact that the current alternative to a failed Kiir leadership is none other than Riek Machar, makes your move a political suicide. If history is anything to go by, you are likely to remain in the political wilderness for the rest of your political life in the Republic of South Sudan.
There was no doubt that you had considerable political support among the people of NBG state but just like the political fortune of your community ‘Nyageet’, it has evaporated. If powerful leaders from your community, like Kerubino Kwanyin and Arok Thon, could not get followers after their defection, what made you think that you might do better?
Remember when Kerubino went back to ‘liberate’ (as you are now claiming) the people of Bahr el Ghazal from Garang’s ‘dictatorship’, the local people, their own blood relatives, violently confronted him with a song: ‘acën bäny cï baai kɔn kuum ke cäthke Nuer!’ As you go about ‘liberating’ the people of South Sudan from President Kiir’s ‘dictatorship’, be careful, lest you might meet the same political fate as that of Kerubino.
Kerubino, the great man who fired the first shot of the revolutionary war, died under mysterious circumstances, away from true comrades, friends, relatives and family members. He was never given an honorably burial and his grave is that of the Unknown Soldier.
Don’t get me wrong, Comrade. I am well aware that Riek Machar would appoint you a full minister in the provisional government of national unity. But that government is transitional and you will have to go back to NBG, to the people of Aweil, to campaign for a political office of your choice. And it would be the people, not Riek Machar, who would determine your political fate.
Your return to the cabinet would be contingent on the number of votes you deliver to Riek Machar. How many independent candidates (non-SPLM) from your community made it to parliament in 2010? Your return to the cabinet would also be conditional on Riek Machar winning the presidency. Unfortunately, his core political constituent (the Nuer) is only about 15% of South Sudan’s total population unlike that of Kiir, which is about 40%.
Due to the tribal nature of Sub-Saharan African politics, your boss, Riek Machar, has a better chance of coming to power through the barrel of the white army’s gun than through a ballot paper in a free and fair, democratic election. This is why three out of the four Presidents of Kenya since independence in 1963 have been Kikuyus—the largest tribe in Kenya.
That does not literally mean that your Dinka Community would dominate South Sudan’s political scene the exact way the Kikuyus are doing in Kenya. Nonetheless, it means that whomever your community back (and this would not be Riek) stands a better chance of winning than the one they would oppose (which would be Riek in this case).
If your community, for example, backs an Equatorian (with political constituent of 33%), that leader would be the automatic winner. It might just be a protest vote against your boss, Riek Machar, called it a marriage of convenience, till Riek exits the political arena and ‘a clean Nuer’ emerges.
Therefore, given the way your community has been treating their ‘Nyageet’, there is no reason whatsoever to believe that you would be an exception to the rule: being regarded as a traitor to the people and thus a social outcast. Political traitors and societal outcasts of your community, unlike the rest, are never given the chance to lead. Just think of it, how many of them are in high political office today?
Telar Deng and Dengtiel Ayuen, who today hold political positions, revolted against Riek Machar after the death of Dengtiel’s mother in the Bor massacre of 1991. Unless you would rebel against the rebels, you can’t possibly aspire to be the next Telar or Dengtiel of your community.
Your community, just like all communities of South Sudan, has indeed been largely let down by Kiir’s administration. Yet, how many members of your community have you succeeded to take along with you? There is a reason why a caged bird sings Comrade. And I know it.
It is not just the fact that you have rebelled against the government of President Kiir that would eventually alienated you from your political supporters who solidly back the President, it is also about the rationale you have offered for your rebellion. You proclaimed that your rebellion was informed by your quest to fight for democratic transformation and federalism in South Sudan, and to get rid of Salva Kiir from the presidency.
First of all, political is tribal in South Sudan and that being the case, it should worry you that your community (and most importantly your political constituent in Aweil) derided the rebels’ claim to be fighting against the dictatorship of President Kiir. Riek rebelled in 1991 in the name of democracy but ended up jailing (John Luk, Gatwec Dual etc.) and killing (Nyuon Bany, Manyiel Kueth, Koang Banyping etc.) those who challenged his leadership.
For your political constituent, Riek Machar has no credentials whatsoever to talk about democracy, let alone to be its apostle. They think that President Kiir was right to brand him ‘the Prophet of Doom’. There is no democracy at the barrels of the white army’s guns.
Secondly, your political constituent and ethnic community are reeling from your declaration that you are fighting for a federal system in South Sudan. Federalism, to your community is neo-Kokora-ism. It means ethnic segregation, balkanization.
To Equatorian intellectuals who recently met in Juba and declared their abiding support for a federal system, federalism means kicking out the Dinka and the Nuer from Equatoria. It means everyone to his/her state and ancestral homeland and ‘God for us all’.
To the armed rebels under Riek Machar, federalism is an ideal political tool to be gleefully dangled at the Equatorians in order to secure their political and military support to oust President Kiir from power, after which it would be discarded and Equatorians shown the barrel of the gun to extract their acquiescence.
As for the dethronement of President Kiir, good luck Comrade. But as you appeal to “the democratic forces globally to support the SPLM/SPLA led by Dr. Riek Machar to remove Salva Kiir and establish a new democratic South Sudan”, just remember that sooner or later, the ‘democratic forces’ will be asking how many of your people have joined the war, fighting and dying for the removal of ‘dictator’ Kiir.
And as the transitional government expires and election time comes calling, the ‘democratic forces’ would once more be wondering how many votes you would muster for ‘President’ Riek Machar. If you don’t live up to your military and political expectations, then remember the Good Book’s forewarning: salt that has lost its saltiness is trampled upon.
Comrade Daau Aturjong, I admired your heroic accomplishments during the war of liberation. However, given your community’s way of dealing with a ‘Nyagat’ like you, I am wondering if you could deliver both militarily and politically to Dr. Riek Machar Teny’s ambition of leading the Republic of South Sudan.
I bet you would fail to deliver. I bet you would be rejected by the ‘democratic forces’ once you are proven, politically and militarily, to be without supporters from your own political backyard.
I bet you will have nowhere to go thereafter: you will be useless to the ‘democratic forces’, a social outcast to your community and a political traitor to your political constituent of Aweil.
I bet you would end up one more statistical number to the dictum that the Dinka community never follows nor honors their ‘Nyageet’ of whatever color, section or ideology.
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