Ripples of a civil war – focus on South Sudan (2)
6 min readJoseph Lino Wuor Abyei, Cairo – Egypt
October 30, 2015 (SSB) — Civil wars have been known since time immemorial to be devastating. Sometimes they leave indelible marks on the social and political fabrics of a nation. Sometimes these wounds take a very long time to heal.
In the meantime, scars of the wounds of the civil war remain to be seen as a reminder on the scale of the damage it left behind in form of large scale destruction of the infrastructure and in loss of human lives. In the case of South Sudan, large parts of former Greater Upper Nile States were brought down to rubble. Think of the time and the resources it will take to rebuild them.
The impact of a civil war is usually reflected in strained social relations, and in very formal interactions among the citizens of the same locality often marked with high sensitivity and latent aggression. This situation may go on for a relatively short to a very long time. This writer has experienced situations of constant latent aggression against him in Juba.
The present “civil” war, if it can be called so, has made South Sudanese to look foolish in the eyes of the world and it has become a cause of a continuous concern to some people and some organizations.
While in Cairo, this writer is often questioned about the cause of the “war,” and this writer, with embarrassment, would do what he can to explain the reason(s) and tries to play down the destructive impact, and tries to sugarcoat the tribal sides.
However, this writer hopes that those “heroes” who caused this “civil war,” may live to regret it up to the end of their lives.
The point is that usually a civil war may erupt largely due to “mismanagement of affairs” as president Yoweri Museveni said last August in Juba, to local political misunderstanding or due to over assumed political rights or on genuine or imagined political, tribal or religious grievances and sometimes due to a desire to settle personal accounts.
Then foreign elements, who may perceive some gain in the broil, step in – in our case it is Sudan. Then a regional body like the Arab League or the AU – IGAD, which may mishandle the issue like the case in Somalia or in South Sudan, comes in.
Then the UN, the US, the UK, Norway step in with their agenda which should have been known by now to local warlords, that the UN and others are not genuine to help solve the problem, and often time these organizations become a problem. The writer hopes that it should have become obvious by now that the ripples and the scale of the “civil war” in South Sudan are very destructive.
However, after a solution, civil wars may yield some good results:
- The root cause of the civil war is finally taken note of by the warring parties.
- The optimum political modus vivendi is arrived at.
- Warring parties begin to respect each other.
- Citizens across the country begin to respect themselves.
- Citizens begin to realize that they have a lot in common.
- It will be realized that “my tribe” is secondary.
- That the country and not the tribe, comes first.
- That it does not matter who is in the driver’s seat.
- Finally the citizens begin to discover that they are truly “one people, one nation.”
This situation was seen in the wake of the American civil war, that the White supremacists realized that after all a black man is a human being and that black people are Americans of the first degree. Something similar has happened in South Africa, and in other countries which had passed through sharp civil strives.
In other civil war situations like Sri Lanka and Burma – Myanmar, Lebanon, Rwanda, Sera Leon, Liberia, symptoms of healing are still going on. Egypt is beginning to show some signs of a recovery after that bloody “Arab Spring” uprising.
As recently seen by this writer, Cairo is so calm and Egyptians, who are known world-wide to be a very jolly and free joking and free laughing people, appear subdued, each walks his/her way down the street quietly. A lesson must have been learned.
This may mean that a nation building is a long and hard process. It gets disrupted, but life goes on.
It is unfortunate that South Sudan is in a classic civil war dark tunnel. It may take a shorter or longer period to get out from the tunnel. But how does the world see South Sudan as a result of the present violent situation?
- South Sudan not a safe country,
- South Sudan not worth foreign investment,
- South Sudanese are a violent people,
- South Sudan a country ruled by “war lords,”
- South Sudanese leaders are irresponsible people,
- South Sudanese officials are “corrupt,”
- South Sudanese were not prepared for independence.
This is very serious. But, who determines that “these or those people are ready or not ready for independence?”
This is a very bad picture of a country which was received by the world as a “new born baby” who was hoped to contribute into world happiness and prosperity. To them the child has proved to be very sick and troublesome.
However, this writer hopes that soon this sick child will regain health and ceases to be troublesome. Then:
What will happen if an amicable solution is arrived at and the child gets healthy and ceases to be troublesome?
- There will be a degree of calm in the entire country.
- There may be a good measure of night time security all over the country. This writer is so concerned and obsessed about night time insecurity so much so that he wishes a miracle happens to night to spread security in Juba and in many towns which are experiencing insecurity.
- Then the citizens will begin to learn to respect each other as tribes and ethnic groups and individuals,
- They will begin to discover that all tribal groups are equal in rights,
- That all of us as individuals are equal in citizenship,
- That South Sudan comes first and “my tribe” comes second,
- That South Sudan is “our home and our tribe.”
- That truly we are “one people, one nation.”
- Investors may become convinced that South Sudan is worth investment in,
- The UN, US, UK, Norway may change their mind and re – extend recognition,
- AU/IGAD may re – respect the sovereignty of this country.
Then South Sudanese shall begin to learn the art of proper governance, and shall begin to learn to respect the constitution and shall appreciate the idea that the rule of law is above all. Then the writer hopes that “corruption, in its many faces, shall be practiced by very low level punishable officials only as done in many countries.
Other benefits such as:
- Intra and inter-tribal fights shall cease, hopefully,
- Cattle rustling may cease all together, hopefully,
- Child abduction may come to an end, hopefully,
- Amicable inter-tribal marriages shall continue and increase in numbers, hopefully.
After a solution is arrived at soon hopefully, South Sudanese may behave more or less like after civil war Rwandese or Egyptians and Lebanese; that is mind your business. These people have learned how to respect their ethnic, religious and sectarian differences. Hopefully, we too shall learn how to respect our tribal and ethnic groupings, because these tribal and ethnic groups are the building blocks of a country. In the end each single person and each tribe is very important by the way.
You can reach the author via his email: josephabyei@yahoo.com
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