South Sudan: Why Riek Machar must stay in Political Exile
By Deng Ajowk, Juba, South Sudan
September 3, 2016 (SSB) — Some domestic writers and circles have already extensively written articles expressing their opinions that call upon the former First Vice President of the Republic Dr. Riek Machar Teny to consider staying out of the country for the next few years of the transitional period and only come back home when the time for the elections that would follow after the full implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan arrives.
In solidarity with those calls, the author of this opinion piece would also like to add his voice begging Dr. Riek to respect the voices of the people and not of his entourage, whose eyes are only focused on ascending to and in gaining political positions when he (Riek) is in power. The country is currently heading towards stability in his absence. His return would only add salt on the wounds of the atrocities and mayhem that his appearance in the scene of politics seems to always bring.
History and events have proven that his quest for power always brings bloody competition instead of a peaceful healthy one that the people across the continent are yearning for. Relatives of the victims of his successful wars are too full of hunger to the brim and ready to land on him to quench their thirst for revenge. So it is advisable that he (Riek) should distance himself until the hunger and fury now exhibited towards him boil down in the land. He should be aware that the people of South Sudan are known for their quick resort to embracing forgiveness and reconciliation.
They forgave him in 2002 by letting him re-join the SPLM/A despite the atrocities his supporters had inflicted on the innocent civilians in Bor. Shortly before he launched his current rebellion, the very people of Bor, in a large gathering of reconciliation event, willingly pardoned him for the atrocities he committed against them in early 1990s following his fall out with the Founder and Leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army SPLM/A, Dr. John Garang De Mabior, who hailed from the area.
Down the line, Dr. Riek should have been mindful of not repeating the same mistake of inflicting atrocities against the people of Bor and its environs. Now is the right time for Riek to take as a lesson, the incidences of Emmanuel Jieng Parish of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, during which some section of the faithful in the church showed their unhappiness in the way he and his entourage always handle things.
To cool down tempers and nerves, Dr. Riek Machar must go to exile until that time the people of South Sudan would decide, through the ballot box, who they would want to rule over them comes the elections in 2018.
South Sudan is not an Island; it is a sovereign state that is a member in regional and international bodies, and as such the international community should accord it due respect and be mindful that, despite being new a nation on earth, it is like any other nation, capable of finding solutions to its internal problems that stem from political competition for power. Use of force through military intervention as witness internationally has totally failed to bring peace and stability to the people in those countries that the foreign forces were deployed in.
It is not a secret to point out here that attempts to resolving political wrangling over power through military intervention by a third party has only brought more suffering to the people in some countries in Africa and Asia. The only advisable intervention that the international community could do in the areas of political conflicts is to help create strong media, preferably the radio, to educate the masses , especially the youth on how positively and peacefully the competition for power should be handled.
The youth, especially the illiterate ones, who always champion the killings in support of their perceived political icon, need to be educated through effective media that peaceful exercise of democracy and not violence is the only means of ascending to power. The international and regional communities are kindly urged to understand and look at political developments in South Sudan through the lenses with which its people and leaders look at them.
Hence, the International community try to come out with tangible home-grown solutions that will work toward cementing peace and stability in addition to accelerating and enhancing restoration of social fabric that has been badly damaged by tribal politics exhibited by some power hungry politicians in both the government and opposition.
The author, Deng Ajowk, is an Independent Opinion Writer, Journalist and Political Analyst based in Juba. He is reachable at ajowkdeng@gmail.com
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