Marked for Death: The “Fake” List of the South Sudan United Front’s Leadership Structure
5 min readBy Lucy Ayak Malek, Nairobi, Kenya
April 10, 2018 (SSB) — Yesterday, the 9th April 2018, a press statement signed by my husband Gen. Paul Malong Awan, was released, officially announcing the creation of a liberation movement, the South Sudan United Front/Army. To that effect, I have no further comment in whichever capacity because he cleared articulated his position. After numerous behind-the-scenes struggles to bring the regime in Juba to sanity, he, like the rest of world, has been flatly disappointed to the point of disillusionment. He has now come to the realization that the Kiir regime is not whatsoever interested in finding a solution to the crisis in our country, and instead concentrated their entire effort towards consolidating their comfort zone, to the detriment of the suffering population.
My point of contention, however, that has prompted me to issue this statement is the quick maneuvers by regime apologists in Juba. Almost immediately my husband’s press statement was released, a fictitious list of names was released, supposedly spelling out the command and administrative structure of the South Sudan United Front/Army, my name inclusive. I must point that my husband has NOT AT ALL made any appointments to the command and administrative structure of the movement, and I was taken by surprise when a friend called me to inform me about my name being paraded among the leadership of the movement, along with various other names.
On my part, I completely understand where my husband is coming from. This is a man who has seen through the struggle over the years, witnessing deliberate efforts by the Kiir regime machinery to frustrate the peace process on numerous occasions, with complete disregard for the suffering of our people, witnessing countless people targeted for elimination on mere suspicion, including himself (when he was kept extra-judicially under house arrest). Every attempt, both public and private to engage the Kiir regime towards peace has been flatly manipulated by regime apologists and those who spearhead the peace effort put on the hit list. Anyone who mentions the need for peaceful engagement is branded an enemy of the state and is targeted for extra-judicial assassination.
Therefore, I completely understand my husband’s position and sympathize with him. However, I DO NOT hold any position whatsoever within the movement as concocted by the regime plotters in Juba. I understand the danger that comes being associated with a peace effort, as I have seen many colleagues assassinated by the regime’s security services on mere suspicion. I know that just by being Gen. Malong’s wife, I automatically qualify as a target for the bloodsuckers in Juba.
My only concern and one that has prompted me to issue this statement are the other people mentioned in the fictitious list. The Juba regime will concoct any falsehood to justify the killings that are happening on a daily basis. Am reliably informed that this fictitious list was released by the security services, which I can only suspect was meant to entrap people they deem as enemies. The Kiir regime has been killing people for the slightest of suspicions, and I refuse to let them use my husband’s name to justify killing whomever they have “marked for death” on that fictitious list, because am quite certain that was the intention.
If you intend on killing people, whether innocent or otherwise, please do not use my husband’s name or his newly incepted movement as an excuse, because neither myself, nor any of those other people mentioned, are associated in whichever capacity, with the South Sudan United Front/Army. Which liberation Movement would publish the names of its loyalists knowing very well the grave danger that would put them in? Gen. Malong was the Chief of General Staff of the SPLM for goodness’ sake, you want the world to believe that he is that stupid?. But the blood hungry junta in Juba is so desperate to justify their murderous hunt that they will ignore something as ironical as that.
This actually proves that the Kiir regime will stop at nothing to target its own people, and everyone should take note. Whether you are a peace-seeking individual (interpreted as an enemy of the state), or just an innocent bystander, nobody is safe. If it’s not Gen. Malong’s Movement, it will be something else they accuse you of or someone else they pin you to. The junta will always find an accusation to pin on those it intends to kill. For them literally, everyone is either with them (meaning support their senseless murders) or against them.
South Sudan is now at a breaking point and requires our collective effort to put our motherland back on track. The suffering does not segregate between tribal loyalties or political leanings, it affects us all. As Scott Trahan put it “if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” I refuse to sit idly and be part of the problem eating away our country. If I may paraphrase the words of Edmund Burke, the only thing necessary for the evil regime in Juba to triumph in its barbarism is for the rest of us to do nothing. Let’s all rise up and make our voice be heard, let us send a message to President Kiir and his junta that enough is enough.
For a Peaceful and prosperous South Sudan.
The author, Lucy Ayak Malek, has a Bachelor Degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Cavendish University Uganda and currently pursuing Masters in Leadership and governance in Nairobi University. She previously worked for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) Aweil East State as a coordinator. She can be reached via her email: ayakmalek@gmail.com
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