Riek Machar Should Moderate his Entrenched Position of Day One
5 min readBy PaanLuel Wël, Juba, South Sudan
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“When our leaders agree, they loot our Oil Money. When they disagree, they kill us”
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January 24, 2015 (SSB) — South Sudanese rebel leader, Dr. Riek Machar, is calling upon President Salva Kiir to step down. This is hardly a day after the signing of the Arusha reunification accord amongst the three warring factions of the SPLM—SPLM-in-Government, SPLM-in-armed rebellion and SPLM-in-Nairobi.
And there you caught yourself wondering who or what is preventing Riek Machar from removing President Salva Kiir from power. Riek Machar has taken over one year, and counting, battling the government in Juba. Not only has he failed to take over the government, he has not succeeded to hold control of one of the ten cities of the ten states of South Sudan.
The presence of the UPDF in Juba and Bor is not an excuse since there are no UPDF forces in Nasir, Malakal, Bentiu, Renk, Gadiang and Ayod to have precluded Riek Machar’s forces from capturing and maintaining those major towns.
Riek Machar’s intransigence on the departure of President Kiir makes one think of what transpired in 1991 in the wake of the Nasir coup.
By then, the SPLM leadership (Garang, Nyuon, Kiir and Wani) was insisting that the Nasir group should return to the Movement and resumed their previous ranks and functions without retributions.
The Nasir leaders, Lam and Riek, wanted just one thing: “John Garang Must Go”.
We all know how it ended: the immense suffering of Junubiin, the near annihilation of the Movement in mid-1990s and the sheer humiliation Riek Machar was subjected to in Khartoum by the Arabs in the name of the 1997 Khartoum peace agreement.
Neither the SPLM leadership nor the Nasir leaders benefited from the utter obstinacy manifested during the Nairobi peace talks mediated by Church leaders.
Are our leaders blind to history or are they prepared to relive it, along with us the common folks?
President Salva Kiir—unlike in December 2013 when he trumpeted preposterous coup—has compromised enough now. Following the Arusha reunification agreement, Riek Machar is reinstated as vice chairman, Pagan Amum as secretary general, of the SPLM ruling party.
All the rest—rebels and G-10—have been reinstated into their former positions and ranks within the SPLM party.
Moreover, as part of the proposed transitional government in Addis Ababa, Riek Machar is coming into the government as a Prime Minister. The government will be shared among all stakeholders to the conflict. It is only the modalities and proportionalities of the power sharing and leadership structure that are still in question (and being worked out in Ethiopia).
Riek Machar should remember that President Museveni of Uganda confined the Acholi-led rebellion to Northern Uganda in Acholiland as he went about ruling the rest of the country. That was exactly what happened between Khartoum and Junubiin as much of the war was confined to Southern Sudan, resulting in the present dire socioeconomic condition of our people.
At least, much to his credit, President Kiir has not resolved to pursue that option for nothing can be gained from it. There is no South Sudan without the full participation of the Nuer people, much as a dissatisfied Dinka or Equatorian population would destabilize the entire country. South Sudan belongs to all South Sudanese people.
President Kiir has compromised by reinstating his political opponents back into the ruling party and by accepting to share power with them. He has even decided to postpone the purported “June 2015” election, in the name of lowering political temperatures in the country.
Yet, Riek Machar has stuck to his Day One battle cry of “Salva Kiir Must Go”. If he fears his military leaders and the white army, then he should remember that they are the ones who have failed to remove President Kiir from power. If he fears his fanatical supporters, then he should remember that President Kiir has enough imbeciles on his side too.
If he really thinks that President Kiir is a devil for the death of the unarmed Nuer civilians in Juba, then he should remember the 1991 Bor Massacre. If Riek Machar who has committed massacre can become a vice president of South Sudan, what would prevent Salva Kiir from remaining as the President of South Sudan? It is simple logic and Riek Machar should get it.
Riek Machar had a whole year to overthrow President Kiir, but he has nothing to show for it as President Kiir is still in power and more Nuers have died than those killed in Juba, December 2013.
If Riek Machar cannot remove Salva Kiir militarily and if he is not prepared to work with him again, then who is Riek Machar calling upon to remove Salva Kiir from power?
Is he calling upon President Kiir to remove himself? Is he calling upon the international community to get rid of President Kiir?
One way or another, the best way forward is a power sharing government with Salva Kiir as the president, Wani Igga as the vice president, Riek Machar as the prime minister and Pagan Amum as the deputy prime minister.
This is what Addis Ababa is all about. Meanwhile, the Arusha accord was about ensuring the unity of the SPLM party without which there would be no government of national unity.
The raging war started within the SPLM party. The advance of peace must therefore commence within the party before anything concrete and substantive would result from the Addis Ababa peace talks.
Riek Machar should stick to the letter and spirit of the SPLM intra-party agreement on the reunification of the SPLM warring factions in Arusha, Tanzania.
He should moderate his entrenched position of Day One (Salva Kiir Must Go) and compromise for the sake of peace and reconciliation in South Sudan.
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