Can President Kiir man up like President Nkurunziza of Burundi and say NO to regional forces?
9 min readBy Simon Yel Yel, Juba, South Sudan
“No Nation has the right to make decision for another nation; No people for another people” Julius Kambarage Nyerere, from his ‘A Peaceful New Year’ speech given in Tanzania on 1 January 1968.
August 14, 2016 (SSB) — When patriot South Sudanese look at the world, we see a swarm of threats and hatred. Threat that start from our region to the United States. Our neighboring countries including Uganda and Kenya are plausibly warming up for aggression against South Sudan any time at behest of the United States.
There is no doubt that the Washington and United Nations are extending their usual aggressions on the pretext of promoting democracy, humanitarian assistance, human rights and protection of civilians as means of ousting independently-minded governments to South Sudan. Washington did it before to the leaders of countries which had refused to show deference to the Washington such as Saddam of Iraq, Gaddafi of Libya and Assad of Syria.
What had happened on Friday night in the United Nation Security Council meeting is a rubber stamp of what IGAD countries framed in Ethiopia on 5th this month under the instruction of the United States. Regrettably, our foreign policy makers have spectacularly failed to solve the arithmetic of diplomatic courtship equation of convincing just one permanent member of the UN Security Council to veto the United States sponsored proposal.
To the surprise of many people, diplomats also failed to convince China. Many people couldn’t believe that China the principal beneficiary of oil investment in South Sudan has taken a neutral position and reservedly sit on fence folding its hands while earphone is on listening to music.
Meanwhile Russia, the possible potential partner looks to be fatigued of always vetoing several United States sponsored proposals against South Sudan has decided to take a neutral position also. The choice is now squarely up to the government to choose between rejecting the regional troops and face the arm embargo or accept the regional troops and there should be no arm embargo; in other word, it is a choice to choose between rock and hard place.
In fact, the IGAD countries have also a choice to choose whether to remain as a tool of the United States and bring their troops to invade South Sudan or follow the decision taken by the Sudan and Uganda governments not to be part of regional forces deployment in South Sudan. If IGAD countries choose to be a tool, they will possibly taste the bitter reverberations in their countries and the region will experience the worst deadly civil war ever of massive scale and indeed the IGAD and East Africa Community will dichotomize.
It is an open secret that Washington is not run by idiots. But by the political elites who have consolidated their power and became accustom to their status as the owners of the world. They act as they want; dividing the ruling elites of any country that they want to target and use money to bribe or buy the governments of neighboring countries of that targeted country; forcing unnecessary resolution on UNSC and handover its execution to those neighboring countries to achieve the desired goal of the United states.
They build coalitions based on principle “if you are not with us, you are against us” The self-speaking evidence is in Syria. The United States have used Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate and others to fight Bashar Assad and now the United States wants to use Kenya and Ethiopia to fight Salva Kiir.
When it comes to Africa, our ruling elites don’t see what American ruling elites are doing. There is no Coalition or Organization in Africa that can protect its targeted member state. Lamentably, the ruling elites in Africa laxly decided to let Washington dips its hands into our affairs.
Burundi is the only country in Africa which said NO to the United States’ interference in its affairs. For the ruling elites in Burundi, to go from being a country that respects the sovereignty of another nation and negotiates on equal footing to one that decides destiny for another country is intolerable. The ruling elites in Burundi have consolidated their power and they proved that they can’t be pushed by the United States and the United Nations whatsoever the case may be.
President Nkurunziza has bravely refused to be bullied by the UNSC and AU resolutions on sending troops to protect civilians. He tremendously proved to the Washington and its puppets in Africa that he is the president, captain of Burundi and once rebel leader whose military mentality had not faded away. He stood firm in rejecting the deployment of the regional troops and threatened to shoot them should they land in his country. Earlier this this month, he also rejected the UNSC resolution on sending 200 UN police to protect civilians. They are not bombed into oblivion and life is normal now in Burundi.
Contrast to our ruling elites in Juba, they failed to consolidate their power and they proved that they can easily be pushed back and forth by the United Nations and United States. Our ruling elites should leave off their current stance and try to excogitate how the ruling elites in Burundi are handling their affairs.
In fact, after the President Bush left the White House, Kiir’s troubles immediately started but with pride and determination, he safely sailed the southern Sudan to the Republic of South Sudan in conditions of Washington interference to cause power wrangling in the SPLM party to oust him. This interference is speculated to have been supercharged by the decision taken by the President Salva Kiir to continue with China as a contractor after the independence.
With the current unfolding state of affairs, Kiir must show the United Nations his military wit and proof to the world that he was once a rebel leader and President who can’t be aghast by war whatever magnitude it may be by rejecting the deployment of regional troops. Kiir must show firm stance on rejection of regional troops this time. Otherwise, he wouldn’t last for long.
Arguably, Kiir’s shifting stance on national and security issues is the loophole or ambiguity that many countries and the United Nations took for impuissance. If the phrase “The existence of UNMISS in the country is the first grave mistake” is an exaggeration, then the phrase “the usual unexpected shift of government’s stance on national and security issues nourishes the current state of affairs” reflects the current situation quite accurately in my opinion.
We are all aware that Obama wants to implement the Vision of New World Oder as he made it crystal clear on 24th March 2014 in Brussels when he addressed the EU leaders. He said “And for the international order that we have worked for generations to build. Ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs. That order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign.”
Unfortunately, our neighboring countries refused to see and comprehend this clear language of the Washington. Obama wants us to surrender our rights and hard-won sovereignty of South Sudan to the Washington to govern us. But over my dead body, as long as South Sudanese women continue to procreate and as long as there are youth like me, Gatkuoth, Lado, Kenyi, Omer, Poni, Nyaruech and Atong, we will fight the Americans and their puppets till the end of the world.
We are independent nation and we shall never relinquish our sovereignty to any nation even if it threatens or bombs us into oblivion.
It is very clear and apparent that the United States and United Nations have a long history of invading countries selling their aggressive wars to the people as “humanitarian intervention, protection of civilians or democracy operations”. From Yugoslavia to Somalia, from Yemen to Libya, from Iraq to Afghanistan, from Ivory Coast to Congo, and now in South Sudan, the United States and the United Nations have intervened under various false pretexts and the result is always the same, destroyed states, changed the regimes, killed the presidents by hanging or firing squad, arrested and jailed the presidents in the ICC, and massive casualties.
In other words, it is the implementation of the Washington “shoot-to-feed” program of looting resources. Washington invaded and destroyed Iraq, Libya and other countries purely because of the Oil they were bestowed with.
If African leaders don’t stand up to stop this budding American colonization and lust for other countries’ natural resources, such evil acts will never stop as long African leaders fear the United States as an undisputed hegemon.
One of the most obstinate about African leaders is that no matter how many countries the United States illegally invades, exploits, threatens, kills people, ousts the regimes or colonizes around the globe including Africa, they still cling to the delusion that the United States is a “ force for good” in the world and adore it.
African leaders must understand that that the serious threat to regional peace most certainly is not Nkurunziza, Salva Kiir nor Robert Mugabe but the United States sponsored aggressions through the United Nations targeting their countries.
In conclusion, it is worth recalling the joke that President Salva Kiir once said in 2014 in Rumbek. He said “during the liberation days when I was a commander of Tiger division, people used to fear me a lot. But now they don’t fear me again, I don’t know whether it is because I have hidden my claws of Tiger inside the paw or what? And if so, then I will remove out my claws”
I think this is a right time for the President Salva Kiir to proof to the United States, United Nations and our neighboring countries that he once has claws of Tiger and still he has them.
For the President Salva Kiir to conveniently proof to the United States and United Nations and indeed to South Sudanese to know that has claws of Tiger is only if he: speeds up the integration process of SPLM-IO into the National Army; makes sure that Riek Machar is six (6) feet down the ground in the shortest time possible; relocates the UNMISS 50 miles away from Juba; Never give in to deployment of regional troops; and organizes a nationwide massive youth recruitment into the SPLA.
President Salva Kiir must recall that we fought against Arabs for over four decades because of colonialism and South Sudan is not a donation from the UN or United States but a nation which cost 2.5 million lives to be a sovereign country. We shall never give a damn to whoever wants to colonize us, be a white man or black white-hearted man.
No nation has the right to make a decision for another nation. Can President Salva Kiir this time man up like President Nkurunziza and say NO TO REGIONAL TROOPS DEPLOYMENT ONCE AND FOR ALL?
Simon Yel Yel is the co-editor of the book of the President Salva Kiir’s speeches and essential writings published as “ Salva Kiir Mayardit: The Joshua of South Sudan”. He can be reached at maandeng2017@gmail.com or 0955246235.
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