We’re Pro-sign Mr. President!
4 min readMalith Alier, Juba, South Sudan
August 25, 2015 (SSB) — If the government had wished not to sign anything it should not have been commuting between Juba and Addis Ababa from the start of the conflict. Last minute change of mind is not good.
There existed opportunities which were unutilized by the government such as withdrawal from negotiations whenever rebels attack government forces.
What was the rush to Addis Ababa for, immediately from the early stages of the conflict? Many people see no strong reasons for the government the minute withdrawal from signing the Compromise Peace Agreement (CPA).
People around the country are crying for peace. Civil society, religious groups, women groups and huge majority want peace now.
Going point by point, the concerns raised by the government delegation are; power sharing, security arrangement, demilitarisation of Juba, federalism and other myriads of concerns.
Well and good. There are a small number of people in the country like those who demonstrated in Bor, Torit, Wau, Kuacjok etc. they cannot be taken seriously because they are not fully informed about the agreement. They’re also sponsored by the very government, which seems to hesitate or procrastinate on the accord.
This is true because a good number of the demonstrators can’t read and write to be able to decide independently from the government line (aye koc ke wun ci kuath) or people of moving camp.
They haven’t realised that the government uses them to achieve its objectives and discourages them when they demand their rights the government tramples on.
Remember what happened to Dok Chuor and her group when they demonstrated in Bor earlier this year. And then the 11 (eleven) people gunned down in Wau when they demonstrated against the government of that state.
I went through two articles about peace written by well known writers in South Sudan, David Ayarbior and Dr. James Okuk and concluded that those supporting signing have many good reasons than those opposed. The pro-sign argue that the CPA is for a limited time period of two and half years after which the people of South Sudan will decide on permanent arrangements.
Power sharing is fair and there is no question about that. If the government wants zero sum game, it should have vanquished the rebels in the last twenty months so as to retained absolute power in the country. However, since it has failed to do so, it should agree to the power sharing as stipulated in the agreement.
Juba and other Cities should have been demilitarised long time ago. The agreement just mentioned what was long overdue. Secondly, alternative forces exist in the towns to provide protection to civilians such as police, Wildlife, Prisons even Fire brigade.
Those forces are well armed and are capable to offer better security than the SPLA, which is usually brash with the law. For your information the demiliterisation clause is already omitted and is no longer an issue for not signing the accord.
Federalism mode of governance is deferred to the permanent constitution making and is not a big thing as we speak.
By not signing the CPA, the government finds itself on a frigid island without something to cover self. All conflict parties, witnesses and guarantors have signed. This is in essence a sign of isolation of the GRSS.
Forget about threat of sanctions they are tried elsewhere but prove ineffective. The real issue is the economic meltdown the country is grappling with right now. It is too obvious to talk about at length. Ordinary citizens know better.
Yes the rebels have split in two or might split in to many splinter groups but that is nothing to declare the rebellion’s demise. It had happened before. Right after the 2005 CPA, many militias joined the government at their choosing.
That is what is highly like of this rebellion. The government should be ready to sign peace accords, declare amnesties or lure some rebels using other means to join the government.
Chiefly to the no sign group, a compromise is what you get when you let matters get out of hand. Swallow your pride and let the government sign our CPA.
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