If Kiir Mayaardit Wannabe the Mayor of Juba City, He Should Have it for the Sake of Peace
The 60-day ultimatum given to the warring parties by the IGAD countries has expired.
By PaanLuel Wël, Juba
If Riek Machar wants to be in the government, I can create for him a position. I will bring Riek to be second vice president after vice president James Wani Igga, If he [Machar] does not want [to be second vice president], let him stay outside there and wait for the elections. If he defeats me in the election, he will be the president,” said Kiir Mayardit at Juba International Airport on his arrival from Washington DC after attending the US-African Summit hosted by President Obama.
If Riek Machar wannabe the governor of Unity State, I will grant him that post, there is no need for more wars, revealed President Kiir on Independence Day in Juba.
If Riek Machar wannabe the 2nd vice president of South Sudan after VP Wani Igga, I will grant him that post, there is no need for more wars, revealed President Kiir in Washington DC (actually, on his arrival at Juba Int’l airport, but the idea was concocted in DC, right?).
And what is Riek Machar saying: Kiir must step down for any meaningful peace and development to materialize in South Sudan, because he is a killer of Nuer
My opinion is that President Kiir is slowly but surely coming back to his senses, realizing, appreciating the fact that for calm to be restored in Juba, Riek Machar must be once more accommodated as it was done in 2002.
Gone are the rosy days when the President was “high”, adamantly calling for the perpetrators of the “failed coup” to be brought to justice–and quickly for that matter.
Riek Machar, on the other hand, seems to have fossilized in his original “political” stance, that the “killer” of Nuer must not be rewarded with more time in office, another term in office, but should rather be duly deposed and brought to book, to account for the “massacring” of innocent Nuer civilians in Juba.
Yet, in the utter betrayal of their mutual selfish positions, these two leaders concur on one thing: the former political detainees must not be included in the talks, READ, should not be part of any interim government allegedly because, to paraphrase Mabior Garang de Mabior, they have not been in the field, hunting for the giraffe (now up for grab).
It is clear, has always been clear and will always be the case, that this war is political in general and is about political positions in particular. In that case, President Kiir shud be applauded for having commenced talking about the real stuffs: political positions and which should go to who, where and when.
It is up to Riek Machar to cease from self-delusion that he is somehow fighting for a higher cause. People died from both sides and if bringing justice is so paramount, then Riek, rather than Kiir, would be the first to face the court of law and to get disqualified from holding any honorable office of our land for his 1991 Bor massacre, let alone the current ones, of which he has got a partner in his Brother Kiir.
The crimes have been committed but Riek is the last person to champion the right of the victims if justice has to be done and seen done. Riek should therefore respond to the President accordingly and outline his political expectations position-wise on the sharing of the giraffe.
It will all come down to an-all inclusive transitional gov’t. The imperative therefore is a matter of taking cue from the President and start talking about who should take what position where.
Indeed, if Kiir Mayaardit wannabe the Mayor of Juba city, then there is no need for more wars, he should have it for the sake of peace and stability in our beloved country.
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