In Defense of “Mathiang Anyoor”

February 17, 2015 (SSB) — For many reasons, I have been ignoring the contemptible insults directed to the unwavering forces of Mathiang Anyoor, a military unit of the South Sudan national army, trained and armed in the Northern Bahr El Ghazal State’s town of Pan-tit. “Mathiang” means Brown and “Anyoor” means Caterpillar in Dinka, and so the name “Brown Caterpillar” or Mathiang Anyoor was probably given to these forces to mean that they’re dangerous and can’t be easily seen if they hide or lay in ambush.

One of the reasons as to why I’ve elected to sit on the fence and watch as the game of condemnations unfurls is that, I don’t want to be outlandishly perceived as a supporter to any of the South Sudan’s warring factions. It is clear to be seen that the continuing civil war in South Sudan has, to a great extent, affected South Sudanese in many ways including analytic competencies which is excusable anyway.

Anyone who has been keenly following the interactions of most of the so-called South Sudanese intellectuals could tell how awfully and brashly they have been debating as if they lost their brains to Peter Gadet Yak, the man whose erratic behavior is difficult to grasp. In any case let’s go back to the story of Mathiang Anyoor.

With the little and authentic account that I know, I seek to shed light on the formation of these forces(Mathiang Anyoor) and my precise intention in undertaking this task is to clarify and redirect those that have been faultily informed of Mathiang Anyoor’s very existence. The faultfinders maintain that the aforesaid South Sudan’s military unit was illegally trained and armed by the current General Chief of Staff, Gen. Paul Malong, with the aim of guarding Salva Kiir’s presidency. Consequently, the ill-informed grumblers call Mathinag Anyoor as “Gel-Beny” (a leader’s protector or shield in Dinka).

I have read people like Kuir E Garang and Rengo Gyyw Rengo making claims in respect to Mathiang Anyoor, and their claims are not only misinformed but are also largely blemished and prejudiced, too. The two gentlemen including Dr. Majak are typical example of the people who cite Mathiang Anyoor in their discourses as President Kiir’s private army, Gen. Malong’s trained militia, etc, etc.

What I know

In 2008, the Northern Bahr El Ghazal State’s borders were militarily attacked by the Republic of Sudan. This deplorable attack compelled the Juba government to dispatch troops to Northern Bahr El Ghazal State to confront the startling insecurity alarms in the vulnerable areas like Kiir Adem (Mile 14), Waar Guet, and other state borders that were under attack.

To the Aweil community, this attack wasn’t only a threat but also an insult to their much treasured and freedom fighters’ homeland, Mading Aweil.  Aweil community in Juba in particular didn’t take this issue lightly and the patriotic Aweil sons including but not limited to Hon. Ayii Duang, Hon. Kawac Makuei, Hon.Garang Deng Aguer, and Gen. Malong Awan, organized camaraderie meetings in Juba and gathered support including food items for the boys at the front-lines.

The then governor of the state, Hon. Madut Biar, was reputedly slow in responding to the threat and consequently, Gen. Malong capitalized on his slowness to influence the backing of Aweil’s people. Having understood the concern of the people of Aweil, and given Gen. Malong’s colossal military strategies, the President of the Republic dismissed Gov. Biar and appointed Gen. Malong in March 2008 as the new governor of the fraught border State, Northern Bahr el Ghazal.

It was shortly reported that the soldiers who were sent from Juba to Aweil cowardly escaped when the war got real and the State was still under foreign threat. Gov. Malong was left with no option but to mobilize and train homeboys who offered at will to protect Mading Aweil which was applauded by the central government and the national Ministry of Defense sent training materials and facilitated their training.

This is how Mathiang Anyoor was formed and the recruitment of these young patriots became a national army’s policy as well. 

The contradiction in Central Government’s support to Mathiang Anyoor first raised its head when the then General Chief of Staff, James Hoth, and the then Deputy Minister of Defense, Dr. Majak Agot both refused to graduate the trainees. In this respect, one should be pardoned to ask many questions and the first question is: why would an army refuse to graduate its trainees? what changed, or what was going on with Dr. Majak and Gen.James Hoth? Correct answers to these questions will/shall automatically lead us to a significant discourse.

I won’t claim to produce correct answers but I’d like to give an account that attempts to uncover Dr. Majak and Gen.James Hoth’s inherent intentions. In 2012, there were reports of coup plans by the SPLA’s top generals in the army and Dr. Majak and his military cronies were repeatedly linked to those coup plans. The plans were ostensibly dismantled by the president with the help of the national security. The president cautiously later on restructured the army to avoid the suspected fears.

For example, General Pieng Deng Majok who was an active military general was named as the new Inspector General of Police. Should president’s suspicions and subsequent actions hold meaning, then Dr. Majak and Gen. James Hoth’s intentions not to graduate the nationally trained military servants could be rightly gauged, and one reason could be that Dr. Majak and Gen. Hoth blocked the graduation of these soldiers because they wanted to frustrate the army and making it indefensible and, therefore, easy for them to use it in notching their political projects.

To validate this assertion and in a logical sequence, Dr. Majak recently told his audience in the USA that “president Kiir trained 15,000 militias from Dinka Tribe, who were recruited from the Bahr el Ghazal States of Warrap and Northern Bahr El Ghazal. These forces are responsible for the genocide committed in Juba” (Nyamilepedia, Oct 27, 2014).  What does this statement tell you? Dr. Majak simply had hidden plans and, thus, didn’t want an army that wasn’t presumably loyal to him, and in this case, Mathiang Anyoor had no close relations with him whatsoever. 

This shouldn’t be taken as attacks on Dr. Majak or anybody but for anyone to defend Mathiang Anyoor from its critics,one must reveal related accounts like Dr. Majak Agot’s. Like I mentioned in the beginning, my intention is to clarify the existence of Mathiang Anyoor and refute weak and deceitful charges that are being made against their formation.

I don’t support what they do nor do I denounce their actions either, I just want to tell their story as it is. I must agree and to the critics’ credit that the president is coincidentally using these forces against Dr. Riek’s but the primary purpose of Mathiang Anyoor was to protect the border areas under foreign threats like Kiir Adem (Mile 14).

To call Mathiang Anyoor as a private army or gel-beny, one should as well call SPLA the same name because they received the same training and both are loyal to Gen. Malong Awan and  President Salva Kiir. Mathiang Anyoor are part of  the national army and bullying them on unjustified grounds is simply unwise.

–

The opinion expressed here is solely the view of the writer. The veracity of any claim made are the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers (SSB) website. If you want to submit an opinion article or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. SSB do reserve the right to edit material before publication. Please include your full name, email address and the country you are writing from.