Riek Machar’s discrimination of the Nuer of the SPLM-IO
6 min readBy Gordon Buay Malek, Washington DC, USA
June 21, 2016 (SSB) — I want Riek Machar’s Ansars to tell me how Riek Machar could appoint Yiey Dak as IO DG for internal security bureau while he is junior to Gen. Thoi Chany. Within the security officers who joined the SPLA-IO after December, 2013, the most senior person (a part from Keat Gang) who should hold the position of DG for internal security of the IO, is Thoi Chany. If Keat Gang is not appointed as the IO DG for internal security bureau, the next person in line as per military norms is Thoi Chany. This does not need a debate.
Why did Riek Machar set aside the military hierarchy and appointed Yiey Dak if it is not the obvious fact that he is from Dok? We know that Thoi Chany is from Gawaar that is why he was not appointed.
Dok Nuer fighters of the SPLM-IO are not more than 150, yet they controlled most of the positions in the IO security organs and the office of the FVP. During the fighting, the people in the frontline fighting us the government were not Dok Nuer but came from other Nuer clans. Now the food has come, the share of Dok Nuer within the SPLM-IO positions is more than the share of Jikany, Lou, Gawaar and Lak combined.
The Executive Director at our President office is a Fertit and the Deputy Chief Protocol officer is a Nuer called Stephen Wichluol Gai. All South Sudanese are represented in the office of the President let alone the fact that the Director General of External Security is a Nuer (Thomas Duoth Guet).
The Dokenization of the SPLM-IO led Col. Benjamin Lual Nyarew to leave Riek Machar with eleven officers after serving Riek for ten years. Col. Lual Nyarew did not leave Riek Machar out of a blue. He left because Riek Machar has become a Dok Chief after landing in Juba. When he was in Pagak, he pretended to love all the Nuer. Now that he landed in Juba, all the food and the money of the SPLM-IO belong to Dok Nuer.
One may feel sad that people who stood with Riek Machar like Ding Lam Yuel are now jettisoned and replaced by Dok boys who were dinning in Khartoum during the war. Even Dok fishermen who were busy fishing in Khartoum are now the ones occupying the office of Riek Machar.
I believe in justice and Jikany and Lou Nuer who stood with Riek Machar cannot be abandoned at the dinner table because Riek Machar wants to give the food to his Dok Nuer. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to come to conclusion that Riek Machar is a sectionalist.
President Kiir has never let down people who stood with him unlike Riek Machar. The Nuer on the side of the SPLM-IG are treated better than the Dinka. But in the SPLM-IO some Nuer are more important than others. The worst part is that the Nuer who fought and saved Riek Machar are now rejected and replaced by Dok who never fought the war.
Truth must be told, that is, if it were not Lou Nuer, Riek Machar could have been dead by now. Despite their contribution, you cannot find a single Lou Nuer in the office of Riek Machar. Gen. Simon Gatwec Duel stays in a house that has no electricity let alone water.
Another sad thing is that the Jikany who hosted Riek Machar in Pagak as the Headquarters of the SPLM-IO are now treated like nobodys by Dok Nuer boys who surrounded their clan chief. Gen. Chayout Manyang is sleeping in a tent while Dok Nuer fishermen are in four star hotels. When Gen. Chayout became sick last week, he couldn’t afford to see a doctor in Juba. Riek Machar did not bother to see him let alone giving him money to treat himself.
I think Lou, Jikany and Greater Fangak Nuer of the SPLM-IO need to liberate themselves from Dokenization that has become the official policy of the SPLM-IO. Col. Benjamin Lual Nyarew, who served Riek Machar with all his heart and energy for ten years, left him because he was humiliated by Dok fishermen. The rest of Nuer need to follow him to avoid humiliation.
Riek Machar is now behaving like Longar who killed the Nuer in the 19th C by using them as poles to build huts. Had the Nuer failed to stop him, he could have wiped out the entire Gawaar Nuer clan.
The names of Dok Nuer staying in hotels will be published soon
I want the people of South Sudan in general and the Nuer in particular to see the contradictions within the SPLM-IO by publishing the names of the IO Dok Nuer who stay in four star hotels in Juba while Generals from Lou, Jikany, Gawaar, and Lak are suffering in the tents at Jebel Ngundeng.
The SPLA-IO Chief of staff, Gen. Simon Gatwec Duel stays in a house at Jebel that has no electricity and water. Is it fair that Dok Nuer fishermen are being accommodated in hotels by Riek Machar while the real IO fighters are sleeping in the rains?
What is happening within SPLM-IO is like a George Orwell’s animal farm. When Riek Machar was in Pagak, he declared that “all Nuer are equal”. After landing in Juba, he came up with a new decree, that is, some Nuer are more equal than others. If you go to Dahabshil in Suk Juba, you will discover that the IO Nuer who send dollars to their families in Kenya and Uganda are from Dok because Riek Machar gives them hard currencies. Gen. Simon Gatwec Duel cannot get $100 dollars to send to his family in east Africa while Dok fishermen get dollars from Riek Machar.
I want the Nuer in the Diaspora to tell me whether Riek Machar was fighting for equality or for something else because the way he is conducting himself is far from somebody who was fighting for fairness. I feel pity for Jikany and Lou Nuer because they lost a lot of youth fighting for Riek Machar who ended up giving positions to Dok Nuer. What was the reason for Lou and Jikany white armies to fight for Riek Machar if they could end up being treated like third-class members of the SPLM-IO?
Bangish Reat, the legendary Jikany Nuer singer, said in 1992 that “Riek Machar told us Jikany to support him as a Nuer against John Garang, but when you go to his compound at Ketbek you will only find Dok surrounding him”. He asked the questioned: “Where are the other Nuer clans?”
If a non-Dok Nuer from the Diaspora goes to Juba, Riek Machar will tell him to either live in the tents at Jebel Ngundeng or go to UNMISS camp. But when a Dok man or a woman visits Juba, he/she will be accommodated in the hotel.
Very soon I will publish the names of Dok Nuer being accommodated in hotels by Riek Machar. I will also publish the names of Dok Nuer in the office of Riek Machar who send dollars to their families in east Africa.
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