The national dialogue constraints, famine and the way forward in South Sudan
By Emmanuel Ariech Deng, Juba, South Sudan
April 22, 2017 (SSB) — What has transpired to the national dialogue? Has it slipped into a quagmire? is it not being supported by regional and international community? Or does the government lack sufficient funds to trigger the dialogue processes? Are the clergy groups now convinced to embrace it now? Can it be effective to the offended South Sudanese without the involvement of the church groups. Can it be inclusive without a position of the remaining opposition forces?
These are the few questions vexing in my mind but with other analysis it may be a bit different depending on how best the national dialogue can be defined and understood by the parties in contention, experts and the country citizens. The willingness of the said parties and the general assessment of whether the immediate priority at the moment in regard to the tense situation in the country is dialogue or not, will determine its progress and its failure.
Chances of the national dialogue success and survival are string attached to the answers to the questions being asked by the citizens in the remote parts of the country, in the remote city suburbs of Juba as well as across the villages of South Sudan.
In 2005, the national dialogue declared by Dr. John Garang was well communicated to the people and received uniformly with war grievances dropped immediately because the main objective was achieved (peace with Khartoum) while the specific objective of self-determination remained on hold over the interim period until the end of six years autonomic government that presided over the referendum in January 2011.
In retrospective and to the present dialogue, the main objective is peace first and any other contentious political issue comes after silencing of guns in towns and villages across South Sudan. Although national dialogue is believed to be the only viable option in addressing what befell the country in 2013 and 2016, this is not the case now, the famine has over shadowed the national dialogue, the rising inflation has also put government in weak position to live up to their duties and responsibilities.
To be realistic, famine is no longer being faced in the villages, it is in towns, of course, all the towns in their physics and locations. It is also in Juba especially in if you want to bet with me for this matter. I made my local assessment in Guddelle, New Site, Mia-wu-Sabah (107), Hai Referendum, Gudelle Two, Gwure and Jebel Dinka and people in their faces are in dire need for food.
International humanitarian aids organizations should request the government to allow food distribution centres to be opened in Juba before it is too late to rescue the natural and man-made catastrophe. The WFP is aware of juba extreme need for food because the inflation is beyond reach and control, therefore, it is only the people in poverty to pay the price of the political crisis in the country.
THE PRESIDENT, GEN.SALVA KIIR MAYARDIT in his Kapoeta courtesy visit and speech irritated the importance of national dialogue in addressing our problems and putting of our country back on track. He has also acknowledged the famine with the delay of the rainfall this year in almost every part of the country.
The national dialogue constraints and debacles must be precisely spelled out by the committee to pave the way forward for optimal dialogue processes and what the immediate priority would be, between the famine, economic improvement and the national dialogue. My concern here is that, I am not against the national dialogue but extreme veneration of famine, insecurity and economic hardship could make it slip into a quagmire or die a natural death.
If the national dialogue is on top of government priority, then they should fund and launch the process so that it is well communicated to the ordinary citizens both in urban and rural inhabitances of the country and if the famine is what they are up to, then put on hold the dialogue processes and eradicate the famine, and if it is economy, then declare the efforts being exerted to control it and fix prices on basic needs of human consumption.
I appealed, to the government to reconsider its position on these four agenda, national dialogue, famine, economy and the continued insecurity and arrange them on first, second, third and fourth to create a room for successful accomplishment of these national agenda.
The writer is a concern citizen for a peaceful South Sudan and can be reached via ariechemmanuel2015@gmail.com
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