South Sudan’s new first vice president is an agent of peace, not a Trojan Horse
6 min readBy Malith Jongkuch Kur, Ontario, Canada
July 29, 2016 (SSB) —- The appointment of Mr. Taban Deng Gai as First Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan will enhance a search for peace. His commitment to cooperate with President Kiir to implement the agreement has struck an accord with all South Sudanese except a handful of Machar’s supporters. Gai’s elevation to the position of first vice president is a dawn of a new era of a peaceful political discussion in South Sudan. He is an agent of peace.
But the opposition to the appointment of Mr Gai that Mr Machar and his supporters have expressed is insignificant because Machar has already shown that he is incapable of working for peace. Instead of working with President Kiir to rescue South Sudanese from the despicable suffering because of this unnecessary war, he was busy orchestrating his third attempt to seize power illegally. As a result, he does not stand for peace in South Sudan.
The fighting at the presidential palace in Juba calls for a new beginning in the search for peace in the country. The attempts to assassinate President Kiir on July 8, 2016, failed because of the sacrifices made by the committed defenders of constitutional order in South Sudan. Therefore, the country does not need more violent confrontational politics but cooperation to reduce violence and impunity.
Mr. Gai understands the needs of South Sudan. What the country requires at the moment is not political correctness but bold steps to establish peace and harmony among the people of South Sudan. One way to do this is to eliminate the symbol of a continued destruction the IGAD-Plus sponsored peace agreement has placed on the country—the existence of two armies in one nation.
Disarming the unruly elements is the only way to see South Sudan past the current violence. Mr Ateny Wek Ateny’s pronouncement that “South Sudan is better off with Taban Deng” is absolutely right because good working relationships between the peace partners will lead to a political and social stability of the country.
The abrogation of the provision in the IGAD-Plus sponsored peace agreement that has established two armies in the country is sound and reasonable. If it is done, it will take away power from the warlords and place it in the hands of the people. IGAD-Plus, the AU, and the UN need to understand this point very clearly: as soon as ordinary South Sudanese become the source of power, peace will definitely return to the country.
In the current political climate in South Sudan, the views Mr Gai has expressed about the ways to handle the military situation in the country govern a smooth transition from war to peace. His argument that “we can’t have two armies in one country” is simple, but it is at the heart of the problems undermining the peace agreement.
If the peace agreement was designed in the interest of peacebuilding in South Sudan, the first thing that should have been done was the creation of “unpoliticized” military structures instead of promoting warlordism. IGAD-Plus went ahead with the process of creating two armies despite opposition from South Sudanese expressing fears that the peace process centered on the fragile military guarantees would not work. They were right. The events at the presidential palace in Juba on the eve of independence’s celebrations have proven those fears to be genuine.
Two important things need to happen to salvage and keep the peace process on course. To begin with, the principle of centering the implementation of the agreement on personalities should stop. The reaction from the UN to the appointment of Mr Gai as First President shows that the UN believes Riek Machar to be the undisputed leader of the SPLM-IO.
The UN, however, has no legal right to determine the legality of choosing the leadership of the SPLM-IO. As far as we are concerned, Mr Gai was nominated through a process in which senior members of the SPLM-IO exercised their democratic rights to find a replacement after Mr Machar’s disappearance and absence from his duties.
Moreover, the peace partners and members of the Government of National Unity established per the peace agreement must comply with the public opinion and not rely on the international arbitration when it comes to the implementation of the peace agreement. The final say on the peace process belongs to the ordinary South Sudanese.
The other thing that needs to happen is that the Government of National Unity led by Kiir and Taban must move quickly to garner undivided public support in the implementation of the peace process. The success in the implementation of the agreement depends on the cooperation of the leadership of all the parties in the government.
The experiences of the last few weeks have taught us that there is no such thing as a government run by two opposing parties. “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” they say. This is what happened a few weeks ago in Juba. The internal cooperation between the parties to the agreement is the key to a lasting peace in the country.
If the IGAD-Plus, the AU, and the UN actually want to help South Sudan, they need to support Mr Kiir and his new First Vice President. The two men are on the right track to define the right formula for the success of the peace agreement. This is necessary because we understand that the IGAD-Plus, the AU, and the UN are not there to determine the leadership in the country but to work with those who have stepped lawfully into the shoes of leadership to move the peace process forward.
It would be detrimental to the whole exercise of peace building in South Sudan to make peace process dependent on some political leaders in the country. On the contrary, all political leaders should be made aware that their political future rests on their ability to unite the people behind supporting the smooth implementation of the peace agreement, and this is exactly what Mr Gai is willing to do.
A day after taking the oath of office, Gai has moved the implementation of the peace process forward. The new speaker of the national assembly has now been nominated, the process which stalled when Riek Machar was in charge of the SPLM-IO. Anyone who disagrees with this development actually wants to see the perpetuation of suffering in South Sudan.
Mr Gai’s initiative to dismantle the machinery of war is rallying the nation behind him and President Kiir. South Sudanese everywhere are supporting Gai’s proposal to speed up the integration of rebels into the national army because it is extremely difficult to see how two parallel military structures can actually bring peace to the country. It is an absurdity.
I keep repeating my opposition to the idea of two armies in South Sudan because I know it has never worked anywhere in the world. It will never work. It raises a lot of questions whether the agreement to resolve the conflict in South Sudan was actually negotiated by the parties involved in the peace process.
As far as we know, the majority of South Sudanese stand behind the new First Vice President’s initiative to deprive the warlords of their power to inflict suffering on South Sudanese. The international community should not go contrary to this initiative and claim that they want to help South Sudan. If they want to see peace in South Sudan, they need to support Mr Kiir and his new First Vice President in implementing the agreement. The two men are the real agents of peace.
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