You cannot kills ‘Nuer’ without killing South Sudan
By Dak Buoth, Nairobi, Kenya
October 7, 2016 (SSB) —- The country of South Sudan is not the land per se, but rather the native communities that occupies the land; the individuals who live along the shores of River Nile; the valley of our mountains; including those at Savannas and the rest which are at the peripheries of our country’s borders, all form Africa’s 54th country. If there were no people residing on the land, obviously, it won’t be call a country, perhaps it would be termed as a zoo, forest or rice plantation et cetera, et cetera.
Over times, you heard church goers saying a ‘‘church isn’t the building but the congregants; that even if the worshipers pray in an open space or under the tree; they’re still regarded as church, i found this as nothing but the truth. Relatively, this applies to a country. The land and the people are two sides of the same coin which is the Nation and by extension the State. I have never heard a mere geographical territory being call a country without people living on it.
Back in early 2011, before South Sudan became bona fide member of AU and UN in July, we knew from the onset, that we were already a country; and as such, the AU and UN only affirmed our membership requisition to join them on our own volition. In light of the above, we should never misunderstand the fact that South Sudan is made up of people who inhabited the land at the moment. As such, we should never allow any human-force akin to President Salva Kiir’s regime which exterminates the civil population en mass, with a view to maintain his iron hold on power.
Quite frankly, these people who made-up South Sudan State are none other than the Anyuak, Acholi, Bari, Chollo, Didinga, Dinka, Nuer and Pari people of Labon and other 56 Ethnicities, and within these ethnic groups each has got clans and sub-clans
In spite of disparities in their names, I must say here and now, that the people of South Sudan are one indivisible people who for many years aspire to achieve great things in life through hard-work and harmony, nothing less than that.
I described south Sudanese as one people because their similarities override the differences that we may have. We’re one people because we had practiced inter marriage; as such we have blood relations, therefore when one group is being ethnic-cleansed as happened to Nuer today, I presumed it hurt other sibling communities because they’re dependence of each other.
We’re one people by virtue that we live and graze our livestock in the same field. Our geographical proximity enables us to trade and exchange goods and services since time immemorial. We drink and fish in the same water of the Nile. We’re one people owing to our join and shared struggle for independence so as to earn respect, dignity and equal opportunities among Nations.
However, handful cynics and critics says that, we have differences in term of languages, economic, cultural and political practices and so forth. As we know, those differences have caused inter -communal skirmishes which normally led to death and displacement of one community by the other, as the case be in other African countries and beyond.
In my view, such alleged disparities among south Sudanese communities are becoming insignificant day by day, in other words, these differences are fading gradually. As we converse now, there is no community whose dialect is not being spoken by other community. Wherever you travel across the interiors of South Sudan, if you waves and say ‘Maale to none Nuer’ you will certainly be responded to ‘Maale migoa’. To prove this right, if you visit the backyard of this writer in areas like Nyal, Nyandong and other environs across Panyijiar County, you will find nearly everyone speaks fluent Dinka without any slight stammer.
Moreover, if you stretch to Neighboring Yirol in Lake State, it is the same. Similarly, when you crosses via boat to the other side of Nile River in the neighboring Duk county in Jonglei state, on hearing people conversing, you will be tempted to believed, this is the ‘Nuer Zone’, because vast majority speak and write Nuer language correctly, so be the Shilluk and Equatorians.
In a nutshell, what I’m simply saying is that, the language barrier is no longer an issue that brings difference among us. Furthermore, if we examine the so call ‘economic differences’, to me I would say it has never existed from the onset. If you take a walk to greater Equatoria today, you will find people practice fishing as mean of livelihood, rearing all types of livestock as well as practicing crop farming like the people Upper Nile. Justifiably, you can see how we put those purported differences in to mincemeat.
Nonetheless, I’m aware of the existing animosity between Equatoria farmers and Dinka cattle Herders all over Equatoria regions. In my view, this contention is due to lack of laws and legislation that deal with trespasses and land rights. Handful of those who are drunk with power in Juba are to be blame, they often order their relatives to graze their cattle on the Gardens of Equatorian people, and President Kiir is the first culprit in this matter, first and foremost, he is guilty for grabbing the Equatorian land in Luri, central Equatoria where he keep his cattle leaving the land owners as squatters.
On the political aspect, I agree that people will always differ in one way or another. Politicians will try all possible means at their disposal to achieve or advance their personal interests. It is crystal clear, the SPLM government practices ethnic exclusivism, xenophobia, discrimination and marginalization of certain groups of people. Today, there is a flagrant nepotism and cronyism.
The former President Daniel Arap Moi once said ‘Siasa mbya maicha mbaya’ which simply means, bad politics lead to bad lives. The deplorable and dependable life we are experiencing now in South Sudanese is due to our bad politics. The war which unfolded in 2013 happened because the leaders devised and applied bad politics, and as such, the negative consequences are there for everyone to see and feel.
There is an old adage which I would like to paraphrase; it says you cannot remove one stripe on a Zebra without killing the zebra itself. The white and the black stripe on the skin of zebra are inseparable; you cannot pick a knife to skin out the back stripe and expect the Animal to rise up and walk again. If you do, the zebra will bleed to death. General Salva Kiir and his cohorts cannot continue killing Nuer and expect other communities to live without bleeding to death.
When politics of transition heighten and intensified in Juba back in 2012 and early 2013, President Salva Kiir and his boot-lickers decided to marked the Nuer Houses in Juba, prior to that, they went ahead to trained a special militia known as ‘Dut ku beny’ to execute Nuer-cleansing. Subsequently, when Dut ku beny was unleashes on 15th December 2013, it spread like wild fire, about 30,000 thousands Nuer were reported killed in the capital Juba, this is according to the international crisis group report. Around 2014 and early 2015, about 50, 000 Nuer were confirmed dead and score displaced. In early 2016, the entire Nuer areas were overrun by the joined forces of SPLA and the UPDF except both Lou and Panyijiar territories. This year, UNHCR report revealed that about ‘one million’ South Sudanese are displaced from their homes to other East African countries majority of whom are the Nuer.
Other than those who fled outside the country, thousands more are still frying in the scotching sun inside the internally displaced camps. On the other hand, soon after the crisis in December 2013, radical surgery was launched, and as result, all Nuer who previously work for Salva Kiir government were subjected to serious scrutiny. Vast majority of those who did not subscribed to the regime indoctrination were brutally purged. The Government forces are also killing Nuer humanitarian staff, the first to be killed was Michael Machot Deang Kai. In the aftermath of July conflict, Another Nuer Journalist who works for Inter-news Mr. Gatluak Maguet was killed in cold blood at his hotel room in Juba, even today, others are receiving death threat daily.
In 2014, at South Sudan Embassy in Nairobi Kenya, several Nuer staff was thrown out in the cold. Among those who face the wrath, include the longtime head of mission in Kenya Amb. Majok Guangdong, a Nuer. A week after the conflict erupted in 2013, he appeared on Citizen Television on Thursday at Cheche program. Shortly after the Interview, I think the government supporters and sympathizers began saying that he didn’t explain and defense the position government so well. From there the plot to oust him was hatched. A month later, he was neutralized and later thrown to Istanbul Turkey. Mr. Camilo Gatmai who then works at Embassy was also sent parking in the aftermath of the conflict; I can go on and on.
They were immediately replaced with Government bootlickers who passed loyalty test. In view of the foregoing, it must be told here and now, for the benefit of the next generation that; all those Nuer who were killed, maimed, displaced, and irregularly dismissed from their jobs were subjected to untold suffering without substantive reasons. We believe these perpetrators and planners must face the full wrath of the law in time to come. Those who were performing and subjecting Nuer to such heinous acts were not Dinka alone; there were also Nuer, Chollo and Equatorians who contributed significantly in these callous acts against the Nuer Nation in South Sudan.
At the beginning, The most regrettable decision made by other communities was when they got deceived by these Killers that they were out of this brutality against the Nuer, that they were only going to deal with Nuer alone squarely, that they won’t come for them’ On hearing that, they did listened, in fact some of them began dancing on the Nuer graves. I presumed, the rest of South Sudanese were too naive to know what happened in Germany during Adolf Hitler’s era. Little did they know, the SPLA was soon going to replicate the Hitler’s autocratic strategies to kills everybody one by one.
In 2015, Salva Kiir’s SPLA militia went for Chollo community, they killed as many as possible in Upper Nile, and they were forced out of their ancestral land in Malakal in the name of creating 28 states. Equally, Dinka too were not spared, they also felt the heat on ground that they were behind their man owing to the participation of infamous Dinka council of Elders (JCE) in defending the regime.
At the moment Dinka are being regarded as MTN. it seems all the ills being committed by Salva Kiir are being attributed on each innocent Dinka. Most innocent Dinka are dying every day on the roads, they‘re being punished for Salva Kiir’ political Sins
This excerpt must be conclude by saying, the ongoing killing of Nuer workers, Farmers, Students, staff, children, Mothers and fathers must stop immediately so as to rescue ailing State of South Sudan. The raping of Nuer females by President Salva Kiir forces and castrating of Nuer Boys must stop now, if not now right now. The ravenous lust for power cannot be the sole reason for doing all those inhuman stuff. It is so disgusting. If there is no will among the actors to stop such brutal acts against the Nuer people, we shall loss our moral flavor, and as such our country shall be left for the Dogs.
The writer lives in Kenya, he can be reached for comments via eligodakb@yahoo.com
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