HOW MANY MORE REBELLIONS DO WE NEED IN SOUTH SUDAN?
Peter Mach Makeer, Kampala, Uganda
July 20, 2015 (SSB) — While struggling to finish my financial accounting course work, as internet was not stable, meaning it comes and goes, an idea came to me having been borrowed from a friend, I felt I should put it down in writing and share it with friends across divides in South Sudan and may be in Africa and to the wider world. Do we need rebellions in the first place? When did it start? Who started it? Does it always pay? And in what form does rebellion come? Etc. I hope these questions will generate as much as possible different views. Some will agree to the questions of course while others will disagree.
My business here is to see how both minds will be used for the betterment of human kind anywhere else including south Sudan as long as the outcome is not that devastating as seen in other literature around the world. If we handle these questions well, per have we shall be able to avoid or accept some more rebellions.
As I have mentioned earlier above, I will not explore rather I will only observe how different perspectives will be employed here, but then it will serve no meaning if I do not contribute slightly,
We are all aware that rebellion started so long ago in heaven; maybe, I should call it the first rebellion when the then holy Angels attempted a failed coup on God. To me that was the beginning of all the rebellions, that in itself will tell us which way to go. Of course there are two ways now, one belonging to God’s and the other to the fallen Angels. From the eyes of God, rebellion is associated with greed, indiscipline and all that characterizes it.
On the other hand, fallen Angels views rebellion as a quest for democracy (right to choose between the right and wrong) which to me, I can happily translate it into freedom of speech, right to Governed and be governed, equal resource distribution and all, their view of God is explain in unkind terms such as Authoritarianism to mean dictatorship, intolerant to diverse views and so forth. From God’s perspective, fallen Angels are the first rebels while on the fallen angels’ perspective; they are the unsung heroes of democracy in heaven. No justification here please
The second rebellion came when Adam and eve disobeyed God’s instructions and ate the “not to eat fruit”. Although Satan is being blamed for it today, inside their minds (Adam and Eve) was a silent question, why? And as Satan tried to trick them into eating the fruit, in my view Eve as the second highest sinner was more than willing to explore and so did Adam. There is nowhere in the bible showing resistant from either Eve or Adam to what the Satan was telling them only that Adam blamed Eve for the mistake thereafter. This means that there a weak rebellion in them which only surfaced at the arrival of Satan (serpent) they were punished differently by God.
The third rebellion came when Cain and Abel were born, as they grew up, they were tasked equally to different duties including offering sacrifices to God on a regular basis. For what is best known to Cain, he chooses to rebel against the set rule. On the table of offertory, his offering was rejected which indicated to him that his offering was not the best and that also means that he had the best to offer but refused to do so as required of him. That made him to take the life of his own brother Abel who on his part offered the best in offering to God. Cain for his sin was punished of course.
In our today’s world, people rebelled for so many reasons such as political, economical, religious as well as cultural reasons and so many others that are best explained by the rebels themselves. Apart from other rebels around the world, Uganda and Nigeria have provided us with two unique rebels namely, the Lord Resistance Army/Movement (LRA/M) and the Boko Haram (western Education is prohibited) respectively. According to the hearsay, LRA has a constitution that sees Uganda as a country strictly following the Ten Commandments as the basis of governance.
But if you look carefully, you will not in any way relates what the constitution of Lord’s resistance army/movement say in relation to what it does to the people of Uganda ( northern part in particular), South Sudan, DR. Congo and Central African Republic. As they struggled to make Uganda a religious based country. Forceful abduction and recruitment of minors into the Army, abducting and raping of women and school girls has been reported on massive scale since the start of the rebellion, What is inhuman about the LRA/M’s act is not the killing rather, it is the torture of its victims, so horrible in such a way that what some of the surviving victims exhibits are the cut off lips, locked lips, cooking of other human being for others to eat among many other horrible things, Joseph Kony himself was alleged to have shot his immediate deputy before cutting off his testicles which he later use for his own spiritual needs. Such is a Uganda example.
What is driving Boko Haram (western Education is prohibited) to rebel against Nigerian people and Government is not in any way different from the Ugandan’s Lord Resistance Army/Movement. They are all religious based rebellions in the sense that one is a Christian (LRA/M) and the other is an Islamic based rebellion. Boko Haram from the start is on records abducting and forcefully marrying off school girls (200 school girls) to their fighters, attacking both Christians and Muslims places of worship, all in the name of prohibiting the western education. Surprisingly, these seemingly Allah (God) sent saviors are using western education to disseminates and advanced their rebellion ideals, Boko Haram is on records still using the western guns, cars, communication equipments such as radio calls, medicinal values of western origin. The list can be long.
Boko Haram’s interpretation of western education is so narrowed to the things that are not even accepted by the western religious people/community. Things such as homosexuality, divorce, and several other practices that are only found in secular states, Wearing of mini skirt is not western at all, it is a universal woman’s desire to exposed herself in order to gain male attraction. Common sense tells us that the two rebellions have contradicted themselves beyond reasonable doubt. What is true about them is that they are rebellious movements, the meaning is best known to them after all rebellions pay either way.
In the world, there are people like Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Hitler, Gandhi, Martin Luther King jr. and Nelson Mandela among many other rebels, these people to me are what I proudly call senior rebels of our current world for they have stood for what they differently believed in and have paid dearly for it. Jesus too is a rebel for he has preached, performed miracles even in death in total contravention to pilato’s way of going to God. He even performed a miracle on Sabbath day. What a rebel!!!
In south Sudan as suggested by the title of this article, we as a country are as a result of rebellion borne out of total discontent from the monolithic Arab Islamic state. Therefore you and I are comrades in rebellion aware or not. Dr.Riek Machar and president Salva kiir are just but junior rebels when it comes to the history of rebellion since the coming of Arabs and the British to Sudan. Some people unknown to both Sudan’s and South Sudan’s history today are our silent but proud senior rebels; they are not there of course.
In 1955, Southerners out of dissatisfaction rebelled on august 18th in Torit, the reasons although we claim to know today, are best known to them, superficially, it is all about marginalization of the black by the Arabs in all aspects of life, be it education, water, health, roads, name them. People like Fr Saturino Lahure, William Deng, Paul Ali Guatala, and many others are in the eyes of Khartoum even today, the big Rebels while in the eyes of south Sudanese, they are freedom fighters which leaves one wondering how one person can be seen differently. The same people viewed by different people from different angles reflect differently.
28 years later, another war started in the town of Bor which brought back the war to both African and Arab Sudanese; the African Sudanese had once again accused Arab Sudanese of reneging from the Anya Nya one peace plan. With the sweet tongue of John Garang, he successfully accused them of all bad things and so began another liberation struggle in the name of Sudan people Liberation Army/Movement (S.P.L.A. /M) under John Garang himself assisted by several other senior freedom fighters/rebels depending on whose angle you are viewing from. My father was tricked into this clever thing and paid dearly with his life, no regret at all.
As the struggle continue, several senior freedom fighters that include Mr.Kerubino Kwanyin Bol whose soldiers shot the first bullet of rebellion deserted Garang camps in the sweet middle of liberation to the enemy side on accusation that he was worse than the Arab based government of Khartoum. On his part, he (Garang) labeled them as traitors or rebels. This group is believed to have crossed to and fro severally, an act which makes them lose respect from both sides of the conflicts. Dr. Riek Machar is one of the people labeled by both sides as a rebel; he rebelled against Sudan to join SPLA/M in 1985, in 1991 against SPLA/M to join Sudan, against Sudan in 2002 to join SPLA/M and now (2013) against South Sudan under President Salva Kiir wanting to take back South Sudan to Sudan. He is a rebel by nature not a freedom fighter. (Personal opinion)
2010 general election brought with it a lot of rebellions to South Sudan in a sense that even anything that cannot make a person to become a rebel did make one. George Athor contested and rebelled immediately after losing the governor’s seat to kuol Manyang who is the current defense minister. Unfortunately it is only him that the Government of South Sudan has successfully killed. David YauYau also rebelled after losing his state’s parliamentary seat and embarked on indiscriminate killing of Bor and Nuer people for having lost to his Murle competitor. His take was that Bor and Nuer through Kuol and Hussein Maar (currently a rebel himself) made him to fail and so started his rebellion. He got immeasurable rewards thereafter.
There are so many rebels in South Sudan, one writing cannot exhaust them all, Johnson olony made SPLA destroy its own warship in total desperation. Destroy it or I capture Palloch, he seem to say, the only source of dollar revenue to Kiir himself and the non rebels (as of now) and partly to the rebels. Olony having rebelled before against South Sudan was caught unaware on the night of 15th December 2013, in this regards he found himself fighting alongside the government forces to the point that he got himself shot on the neck, I hope the rebels are apologizing to him now. Salva immediately ordered the immediate destruction of the well equip warship not aware of the American commando style, Poor him, few days later, Nairobi witnessed a grant merger of olony faction with that of Dr. Riek Machar. You do not need to doubt, Mabior Garang Mabior distinguished himself as the head of Gat Machar’s delegation. For your information, Kenya today is the safe heaven for those who call Salva rebel. I hope very soon olony will harvest immeasurably.
Gen. Dau Aturjong who cannot see an eye to eye with Gen. Paul malong Awan is another rebel, having contested against Gen. Malong in 2010 general election and suspiciously according to him lost to Malong was rumored to have rebelled immediately but came back to south Sudan following persuasion by his people, no justification here please. However, Gen. Aturjong was more than happy when Dr.Riek presented him an opportunity on 15th December of 2013. He took it at once, now he is a reasonable thorn in the flesh threatening western and northern Bhar el Ghazel. I hope he too will harvest dearly when the anticipated merger become real.
Equatorians for the fear of unknown are not joining rebellion in their thousands, this is making somebody like Alfred Ladu gore unhappy, he was and now he is still a rebel fighting alongside his comrade in rebellion, Dr. Riek Machar. Although little but significant rebellion has been heard in various parts of Equatoria most of recent in Nimule where about three trucks were set ablaze and a police shot dead. Mundri west gave us some rebellion some time; I hope it is making him (Alfred Ladu) more comfortable at the senior table of rebellion somewhere around Ethiopian border. He too will harvest immeasurably. Positively of course
Like I said it before that we are all comrades in rebellion, well aware of the benefits of rebellion in our country south Sudan, in your fairest judgment, how many rebellions do you think we are still having? Mind you, we are between 8 to 15 million if well counted.
The views expressed here are of the author, Peter mach Makeer, who is a student of environmental health science at Cavendish university Uganda; He can be reach @ pemachatong@gmail.com.
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