Yasir Arman Deportation to Juba in Perspective
3 min readBy Malith Alier, Sydney, Australia
Tuesday, 11 June, 2019 (PW) — Get it right. This is not Jubba, Somalia, it’s Juba, South Sudan where Yasir Arman and lieutenants have reportedly been deported to. Deportation according to Wikipedia is defined as expulsion of a person or group of people from place or country. Notable reasons for deportation or expulsion include: serious crimes, illegal entry in to a country, overstaying visitors’ visa, and loss of legal status to remain in the country.
I have no idea which criteria the junta in Khartoum used to expel the long time Secretary General, now deputy chairman of the SPLM North. Yasir Arman, Ismail jalab and Mubarak Ardol calculatingly entered Khartoum days after ouster of long time president Bashir on April 11, 2019. The outsiders may not know the exact reasons that prompted the SPLM North under Malik Agar to take this dangerous path in the absence of peace accord.
Nobody at least in South Sudan is counting years of liberation any more. The SPLM North was originally part of the SPLM which was purported to be fighting for the united secular Sudan. The 2011 separation of the Sudan compelled those who geographically fall in the north to either continue the fight or adhere to the CPA terms and remain under the unjust system of the old Sudan. They chose the former. Therefore, the SPLM North has been fighting the government of Sudan for close to 29 years!
Twenty nine years is a long time. It’s a generation. The SPLM North leaders like Arman who joined at a young age are now getting older. Malik Agar, the defacto leader is too old to continue the war for another, say ten years. The Movement risks being kicked into oblivion by natural attrition of time and scourge of war forces. That is challenge number one.
The challenge number two is the already cracks in the movement where Nuba fighters broke away and are now bivouacked in Kauda. This has wrought a major weakness in the movement. Lastly, nobody is born to fight unending war for life. There is time for everything – time for war and time for peace.
Then the big question is, why did Sudan deport Arman and lieutenants to Juba, South Sudan and not Egypt, Ethiopia or any other country in the region? Sudan on several occasions accused South Sudan of supporting the SPLM North even after the September 2012 cooperation agreement. Though Juba went to great lengths to deny the accusation, the arrival of Yasir Arman, Ismail Jalab and Mubarak Ardol smacks in the face.
Does this mean that when they landed in Khartoum they boarded the plane from Juba? That would be the logical thinking. If that is the case, who is looking after them in South Sudan all these years? South Sudan is a country marred by war and has over two million people scattered across the borders. Will South Sudan reject rebel support accusation next time when there is evidence supported by deportation?
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