The Proxy war in South Sudan (Part 2)
6 min readBy David Matiop Gai, Juba, South Sudan
April 26, 2017 (SSB) — Is South Sudan conflict now a problem of the dead people or for the livings? Dinka says particularly Dinka Bor community that, “Kou gut wun Amok gɔɔl”, the thorn injure, hurt or inject the owner anus, which literally mean, whatever you do to others in secret turns against you in public. The poem became popular in Bor community, and they used to advise those who do wrong things that, “kou gut wun amok”, don’t plan things against others and also teach all members of the community to be more loving people.
As I want to discuss today proxy war in South Sudan part two, I want to explain what caused popular poem of kou gut wun amok as it becomes a storytelling in Dinka Bor community. Long time ago, few people used to build” Luak”, a local building used for keeping animals in Dinka, and Nuer communities. You keep your animals in Luak and it is a nice and cool place people stay in during hot season.
A man Luak had been made place for gathering by others who do not have, and a man who had Luak became jealously out of bashing within himself that why people came to destroy his ashes made by cow dung, and he decided to hide some thorns inside the ashes made by cow dung and that clean area was attractive for sitting so as soon as people come to sit on thorns and hurt them; that was bad heart of selfishness.
After few minutes as the man trapped his colleagues in hatred, envy, jealousy, bitterness, and murdering, then the people may come to sit in his Luak in the afternoon and join him for discussion, the man forgotten what he had putted down in ashes, or what he had plan against within few minutes, he came and set on thorns putted there by himself and he was hurt seriously. A plan turned on him, he barned or carry the pain on him and he was not happy on that day, and what I mean about this short storytelling are what taking place now in South Sudan.
In South Sudan politics, the four years conflict is a proxy war instigated by major states that do not involved the way they want to participate directly but indirectly through inciting languages, harassing talks, reports, researches, and many proposal about our country on tables for telling they are loving vulnerable people of South Sudan, but they are not loving or concern about them.
For example, in UNSC, issues of South Sudan sanctions, arm embargo, and many other pending issues against government of South Sudan are issues laid down for regime change which sound thundering, but this regime change in such a way in South Sudan is too much painful.
In New York, the war in South Sudan is over ragging or decorates effects of what solution based on the each supper power countries interest. The US ambassador to United Nations with their alliances proposes series of ways possible to table sanction on South Sudan government but china, and Russia ambassadors rejected the decision several times.
It conjures images of cold war in South Sudan. As I putted it before a war fought on behalf of third parties in part one of this article, the war started as strong internally by targeting the same people whom any leader can come and rule over them, but proxy war fuelling much of war to burn more and more, and people are singing songs of ethnic groups as it was started with Dinka and Nuer as all media put it for what they know, then slowly move to other tribes in 2015, 2016 and 2017, but few nationalists ignored that misleading exercise as they tried to lead South Sudanese into brink of genocide like Rwanda in 1994.
It is not because that genocide never happened, genocide took place already but those whose their members were attacked, single out in public places, have decided to took heart and spirit of nationalism, and decided not to revenge.
This conflict in South Sudan is a proxy war and it had involved many countries economically, politically, militarily, diplomatically, and as a result, parties and individuals in South Sudan opposing each other and substitutes for fighting one another inside and outside South Sudan.
As a researcher, I have discovered some politicians in South Sudan are endanger their political career and future by encroaching fear of other communities championing home politics, and incited insecurity so that those communities lived unrest thinking over their source of self defence mechanism, I don’t think one can rule this country with rode of divide.
The differences between proxy war and cold war are not as far as meaning concerns, but the two terms are used purposely for regime change by South Sudanese and their alliances. A proxy war is war which powers are fighting against each other while cold war is an indirect war strategies laid out to deal with one in power, and these strategies are increased in all forms of human suffering in South Sudan.
As I speak now, what South Sudanese done in 2013 to create violent resulted into unbearable situation. Few leaders or politicians who were thinking to create a war against President Kiir Mayardit have dug trap of citizens suffering, unable, vulnerability, and flourishing area of corruptions.
There are no schools, no hospitals, no roads and transports, no clean water, no food, no development, no electricity, and no other human needs for social development. The sons, and daughters of the land are destroying their country because one seat has becomes a football match everybody is chasing here.
It is simply South Sudanese are suffering now for what they were made; economy is so worse, inflation is too high; children drop out from schools in foreign countries, Juba teaching hospital and other states hospitals lack medical facilities, and other essential requirements are nowhere to be seen, so did all these plans rise against Kiir alone to leave the seat or they become our problems as citizens?
I think people were beating drum of death unknowingly but now “kou ee wun gut amok gᴐᴐl”.
The author is a co-founder of South Sudan Mental Health care Organization, (SSMHCO). He holds Bachelor degree in Social Work and Social Administration from SSCUST, Bachelor of Theology from CLT, Bungoma, Kenya/Kalispell, USA, and a fellow researcher. He can be reach at david.matiopgai@gmail.com.
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