Can the Law in the White House be Applied on South Sudan?
6 min readLaws in White House are Not Applicable Everywhere, Susan Rice MUST Know This
By Simon Yel Yel, Juba, South Sudan
“The US-led western alliance that portrays itself as a champion of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights within individual countries acts from a directly opposite position in the international arena, rejecting the democratic principles of sovereign equality of states, and trying to decide for everyone what is good and what is evil,” Says Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign affairs minister.
July 22, 2015 (SSB) —- Barefacedly, alone among the governments in the world, the Americans believe that their nation, the US, is an ”exceptional” country and Americans are “indispensable” people and require sovereign government to follow its laws even when Washington’s laws contradict the laws of other sovereign countries. It was 9th July when the US redefined media propaganda reached the highest peak. The usual mumbo-jumbo propaganda of the US on twitters and TVs moved to YouTube when the National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice downloaded what she called “message to people of South Sudan” on the solemn fourth anniversary of our independence.
Indeed the U.S. has succeeded in demonizing the government of President Salva Kiir by consistently portraying South Sudan in the eyes of the world as a failed state and Kiir as a murderer and despot who wants to be in power forever. The White House has been making great use of mass media propaganda to get the job done since the beginning of the ongoing war. First, they’ve controlled the narrative of what is happening in South Sudan and use it as a platform to misinform the people. This is critical for the following reasons. One, because it permits the White House to sweep the December 15th foiled coup attempt in Juba into the dustbin of American memory and world at large and, never to be seen again.
Second, major western media like CNN, Fox news, BBC, ABC and Sky news plus Al Jazeera are now shamelessly spewing out Americanized propaganda and they are doing their job very well; submissively regurgitating managed news misinformation trash, malevolently burying hard truths on what happened and what is happening now in South Sudan. These media pundits have spectacularly succeeded in renaming every good thing that the South Sudan government does.
With all this mass media propaganda, still the White House extends the propaganda to the beloved people of South Sudan via YouTube. On 9th July, the National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice posted what she called “message to the people on South Sudan” on YouTube as her gift on the 4th anniversary of South Sudan independence to South Sudanese. In her 10 minutes video, she brazenly said “Over the past 19 months, the government has abdicated its responsibilities, failed to protect its citizens, and squandered its legitimacy. Instead of negotiating a resolution to the conflict, it has subverted democracy and unilaterally extended its mandate.”
Look at how the White House is playing with South Sudan? One may wonder and ask Susan, is it a message that you really want to tell South Sudanese that the gov’t has squandered its legitimacy, subverted democracy and unilaterally extends its mandate? Really, really Susan? How did the gov’t subvert democracy and unilaterally extends its mandate when the US was the first country to reject the election to be held in May 2015?
Charles Twining, the charge de affairs at the US embassy in Juba, once said on 4th December 2014, “the donors do not expect elections to take place in South Sudan next year, despite the insistence from government” On 18th January 2015, he called a press conference in the US embassy and said: “We as the government of the United States together with other donors look at multiple issues and we feel that time is too short. As we look at the possibility of elections, we truly do not see how an election can be prepared in such a short period of time. The constitution calls for a census before elections. There is so much that needs to be done. There is also the insecurity in the country. Can everyone have the access to the ballot box?”
What else do you expect the gov’t to do giving what Twining said above? Do you want the gov’t to sit and fold its hands and waits for time to come when people will have access to the ballot box without extending the mandates? Why do you (Americans) like giving one thing a different color, calling it black today and white tomorrow?
Even the rebel rejected the gov’t call for election. “We don’t believe the elections the government is talking about will be free and fair because there is insecurity in the country and many people are displaced. We will not take part in it,” rebel spokesman Brig. Gen. Lul Koang Ruai once said.
Also the official opposition party leader Dr. Lam Akol rejected the election: “It is very clear that during democratic elections it is the people who will vote but due to war situation, people are displaced. About two million are displaced and areas are not secured – then who will vote? So elections can’t be held under these circumstances.” He went further in an interview on Jan. 14 2015, saying, “There must be peace so that elections are free, fair and credible. There is not a single requirement of a democratic process for holding elections before peace. We will not be part.”
With the above given statements, is there raison d’être that the elections MUST be conducted? Methinks not. I thought you would have congratulated President Kiir for implementing the Arusha agreement by revoking the dismissal of the G-10 and reinstated them in the SPLM. No wonder I knew the US won’t congratulate the president on implementing the Arusha agreement.
Is South Sudan the first country to extend the presidency and parliament mandates because of the insecurity? Are you aware that the Lebanese parliament has extended its mandates in Nov 2014 to 2017 because of insecurity? South Sudan has its own different laws and it is unbecoming for the US to dictates its law on South Sudan.
In conclusion, I want to make it very crystal clear to the United States and her allies that they should change their neo-colonistic policies and respect the sovereignty of South Sudan. The time when you dictate your conditions to the world has passed and there is a need to exit from axiom of assuming self-anointed role as “masters of the world” deluded by belief of exceptionalism. It is better to respect nations’ law than to scare them with sanctions and so forth.
The time of imperialism has long gone. It is high time for the West to start building relations based on equal rights, mutual respect and mutual consideration of interests not only with South Sudan but with other countries. Otherwise, the world will one day rise up against this imperialistic diplomacy of interfering with other nations’ internal affairs. South Sudan has its own law and it is imperialism if the US can apply its law on South Sudan.
–
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.
About Post Author
