33rd anniversary of May 16th: Peace and reconciliation are the solely rewards to South Sudanese martyrs
5 min readBy Deng Gai Gatluak, Istanbul, Turkey
May 16, 2016 (SSB) — It was Monday morning 16th May, 1983 when the first bullet for freedom of the people of South Sudan was fired by Kerubino Kwanyin Bol, the commander of battalion No.105 based in Bor Jonglei Province. This day commemorate the anniversary of 1983 that culminated in 21 years of Sudan’s brutal civil war that brought the hard earned independence of South Sudan on 9th July, 2011. The Sudan People Liberation Army SPLA Revolution that we celebrate every 16th May to commemorate when it was formed, was built on free will, free choice, by flesh and blood, by sacrifice and dedication, by commitment and unwavering contributions of SPLA brave heroes and heroines who dedicated their entire lives for the cause of the liberation struggle and indeed they freed us from Arabism and we are now enjoying our African identity as a sovereign nation.
It is unfortunate that, we voted overwhelmingly on 9th January 2011 to decide our own destiny and yet only two years later our beloved country is struggling to cope with an overwhelming humanitarian crisis. My dear citizens of the land! Is this the Country we opted to live and transfer to our posterity in decades to come? In the past two (2) years, the loving people of South Sudan have experienced all kinds of hardships especially in the dark days when so many children were killed, maimed, castrated and traumatized. We have also learned that this senseless civil war paid a very huge price of innocent lives.
Nevertheless, it is indisputable that innocent lives perished in 1991 and 2013 and such massacres implanted unpleasant tribal hatred that unfold our hard earned sovereignty, but if at all the dead could return, the tribal hatred could end, but is this realistic? For that reason, we must cease from advocating for war in the pretext of the dead in order to save the living souls and rebuild our beloved country in the spirit of love, patriotism, nationalism, peace and reconciliation.
My dear countrymen, patriotic South Sudan citizens, it doesn’t matter which tribe fought hard for our independence, the reality is that we are inclusively on the same boat under one umbrella as a sovereign nation and that is our unifying identity that we must all appreciate and protect. As an intellectual, my intellect quotient and conscience convinced me that, the only destructive devices that are tearing apart our social Darwinism and peaceful coexistence are our disastrous ancient ideologies of born to rule and must rule, tribal egotism, tribal extremism and tribal hatred amidst ourselves, predominately between biological brothers and sisters, the Nuer & Dinka.
We have to be honest to ourselves that such ideologies are inevitably harmful to our beloved Country. They are unfair to the 2.5 Million heroes and heroines who took an oath before the Supreme Being (God) and wholeheartedly dedicated their entire lives for the cause of the liberation. They are inevitably harmful to the mass majority of innocent South Sudanese children, women and elderly people in the UNMISS camps under extreme unpleasant severe conditions.
“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”. Consequently, for the sake of our hard earned sovereignty, innocent women and Children, elderly people, I would love to take this golden opportunity to wholeheartedly appeal to all South Sudanese including myself from this historic day 16th May henceforth to embrace peace and reconciliation and cease from complicating the potentiality of our beloved Country with greed and tribalism, owing to the fact that when complications are complicated, they invariably result to destructive complexities.
Therefore, let us think beyond our tribes and advance a sincere spirit of loving our beloved Country as the first priority before our tribes and leaders in order to save our country from complete collapse and disintegration.
Consequently, we shall have formal infrastructures like roads, schools, hospitals and afterwards the influx of investors on distinct sectors will create enormous job opportunities and stabilize our potential Country economy. This is the country we should all advocate for; a society free from tribalism, a country where a Dinka would enthusiastically vote for a Nuer on the basis of capabilities, political ideologies and road map for the Country prosperity. We are only approximately 11 million with a potential country full of abundant untapped resources. Hence, with the spirit of nationalism, patriotism, peace and reconciliation, I bet even a villager in Uror County would earn a monthly salary.
Long Live South Sudan! One People! One Nation!
The author is a public law lawyer: Specializing in public international law; Human Rights, International Humanitarian law, Constitution and administrative law. Currently pursuing Master of Laws (LL.M) at Girne American University, Turkey. Former Child Protection Coordinator at Dak Organization for Relief and Development-DORD and Can be reach via; +905338330664 or denggaigatluak@ymail.com
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