We all did it – time for a new liberation story in South Sudan
Happy 5th Anniversary to the Republic of South Sudan!!
By Daud Gideon, Juba, South Sudan
July 8, 2016 (SSB) — I am a proud citizen of one of the youngest countries in the world. My country, South Sudan, turns five-year-old this Saturday, the 9th of July. But there will be no public celebrations – all parades and festivities have been called off due to political tension and economic crisis. Our first five years of independence has been marked by violence, instability and infighting.
Whether it is the government of President Salva Kiir or the rebels under Riek Machar, both sides say, “We Liberated this country; therefore, we should rule it.” They are wrong. They are telling only part of the story about the struggle for liberation. No one group or faction or tribe can claim to have liberated South Sudan on their own. We all did it.
In fact, this one-sided narrative of who liberated South Sudan is the main cause of the current conflict between Kiir and Machar, which broke out in 2013. President Kiir has favoured his own Dinka people in filling government posts, handing out government largesse, and granting impunity, while Riek Machar has done the same as vice president with his own Nuer people. These practices only further cemented the exclusive narrative that their own tribes were the ones who deserved to reap the rewards of independence.
The narrative of liberation of South Sudan should be inclusive. The history of liberation of this country started long ago when people resisted any form of foreign aggression, whether it was Turkish, Arab, Egyptian or British. People in South Sudan resisted these foreign forces as a unified community. Every community did their part to resist foreign aggression.
Eventually, these struggles led to the first liberation war in South Sudan, which later became known as the Anya-nya movement. This movement started in 1955 in the town of Torit in Eastern Equatoria.
All South Sudanese people participated in Anya-nya movement. Some opted to take up arms to fight the government in Khartoum, but many contributed by providing shelters, protection and food for their armed brothers and sisters. They treated the wounded and took care of the fighters. Some took refuge in neighboring countries but continued in the struggle by alerting their host governments about the war in South Sudan and the scale of the suffering.
They lobbied these governments to support Anya-nya soldiers. Many countries assisted by supplying arms and training for our fighters. Israel and many other countries assisted our fighters. Are these people not among those who contributed to the liberation of this country?
During the most recent war for independence, starting in 1983 and led by the late Dr. John Garang, many people contributed in one way or another to the struggle. Once again, some took up arms to fight and some fought using other means.
Once again, many countries stood side by side with the people of South Sudan. Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Cuba, to mention just a few, provided an enormous amount of support to the struggle. South Sudanese in the diaspora contributed by putting the war in South Sudan on the agenda at the international level.
World leaders provided moral support by pushing for a peace agreement that guarantees right for self-determination, and this was achieved by the collective effort by all South Sudanese, including church leaders. Many Sudanese also joined in the war for creation of a new Sudan. People from the far north of Sudan, places such as the Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile, and Gezira, also contributed to the creation of an independent South Sudan.
Our leaders and communities never stopped supplying food to the soldiers. They shared the little food they had with the SPLA fighters. Many contributed their cattle, goats and chickens, their only source of livelihood, to the fighters. Can we say that these people have not liberated this country?
Women walked for miles to collect firewood and water to give to the fighters. Sometimes they cooked through the night to feed the soldiers. Can we say our women did not contribute in the struggle which led to the separation of South Sudan?
Last but not least, after suffering through decades of a bloody war, liberation was not achieved at the barrel of a gun but at the ballot box, through a national referendum. It was the people who voted for independence of this country. All South Sudanese, women and men, old and young, able and disabled, waited in long queues in January 2011 to determine the future of their country.
Those residing within South Sudan, those in neighboring countries, and those in the diaspora all came together to say “enough is enough, let us have a country of our own.” Can someone tell me that these people did not contribute to the liberation of this country?
In short, we all liberated this country – therefore, we all have equal right to live in and to rule South Sudan. This is the true narrative that needs telling and repeating. To do so, we need to bring all the narratives of the struggle together in one location. We need to document the experiences of those who contributed to the fight and those who remained behind. We need to document the suffering and the struggle to survive, the dead and the disappeared.
Those in refugee camps should be allowed to tell stories of their suffering and how they contributed to the struggle. Even those who went to different parts of Sudan should be allowed to share their contribution towards independence of this country including people they lost during the struggles.
We all liberated this country. Even those who were victims of our own freedom fighters, those who were tortured, raped, or lost their possessions after being accused of collaboration. Or lost their lives. They too were part of our liberation struggle.
We have seen enough violence. We should not need to fight an external force for us to feel united as one nation. Let us come together once again in order to build a South Sudan that lives in peace and harmony as one nation. Let us change the liberation narrative to include all of those who struggled. Let us tell the true story of the liberation of South Sudan.
You can reach the author via his email: Daud Gideon <daud.gideon@gmail.com>
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