In Quest for Freedom: A History of the South Sudanese Liberation Struggle
William Deng Nhial, Abel Alier Kwai, Joseph Lagu, Samuel Ghai Tut, Joseph Oduho, Dr. John Garang, William Nyuon Bany, Arok Thon Arok, Salva Kiir Mayaardit, Martin Majier Ghai, (Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, Akuot Atem de mayen, both not shown)
By Manyuon Dhieu Chol, Duk Padiet, South Sudan
Tuesday, July 21, 2020 (PW) — Dear Martyrs, heroes, heroines and the freedom fighters, I am grateful to you for the act of bravery, determination and resilience in you. Your names have gone down in history of our liberation struggles over the foreign invasions, since the Arabs tribes migrated into the Northern part of Africa (Sudan included) as traders in the 7th century and introduced Islam and slave trade – practices which continued down to the early 20th century.
And the Arabs started to destabilize our African traditional religion, heritage and ways of age by abusing us as ‘Kuffar’ (Arabic word for unbelievers), practice forceful slave trade and forceful Islamization which challenged our roots and our traditional practices!
We, the liberated are very thankful to you all our stars for your lengthy resistances and struggles against the Turco-Egyptian rule from 1821–1881 (which dominantly practiced slave trade), the Mahdists’ regime from 1881 – 1899 and the Anglo-Egyptian condominium from 1899 to 1955.
Yes, the Anglo-Egyptian condominium faced it rough under the leadership of our daringfighters: King Akuei, Kon Anok, Tok Mac Miir, Guek Ngundeng Bong and King Gbudue who stood against the following forms of enslavement and exploitation: heavy taxes on livestock, Forced and unpaid labour on roads, ports and rest houses and mistreatment from the British officers.
I am thankful to you our martyrs and freedom fighters for removing the yoke of oppression that was imposed on us by various colonial powers, burden of inhuman practices (slavery) and forceful introduction of Islam upon us _which aggrieved you so much. This is what triggered you to take up arms against the oppressors and waged the prolonged wars of liberation struggles that lasted for centuries in order to attain dignity, self-rule and freedom!
“Riel de Pion-dun” (your courage in Dinka) our martyrs, heroes and heroines made us achieve our ultimate goal of attaining South Sudan’s independence on July 9th, 2011 after 184 years of fierce fighting between the colonial powers of the Turco-Egyptian rule from 1821–1881, the Mahdists’ regime from 1881 – 1899 the Anglo-Egyptian condominium from 1899 to 1955 and the Arabs’ oppressive regimes from 1956 to 2005.
We are indebted and filled with gratitude for what you have done for us and the generations to come! The vision and mission of freedom fighters within the SPLM/A was, and still, is to establish a democratic, free, just and prosperous South Sudanese state. Our martyrs needed a state where all their children, grandchildrenand fellow citizens would live happily among themselves.
We are proud of our martyrs, heroes, heroines and freedom fighters, for your outstanding achievements and notable qualities of courage and resilience in taking up arms and fought the oppressors for eras because of the following alarms:
1. Establishment of a monolithic Arab and Islamic State
The sequential regimes in Khartoum since independence in 1956made several attempts to Arabize and Islamize the whole country and that scenario triggered negative reaction from our dear uncles, brothers and sisters to take up arms.
2. The monopoly of political power by minority clique in Khartoum
The Southern population were not contented with the Northerners’ claims that Sudan was an Arab’s state. And this was a point of contention where the Minority in Khartoum clung to power for decades and they used the country’s resources to develop the North. And after studying those trends, our uncles, brothers and sisters took up arms and fought for our freedom and liberty.
3. Economic marginalization
The Northern regimes subjected the people of the South to unprecedented economic marginalization. The Northern regimecontrolled both the country’s public, private and financial sectors. This scenario left the people of South Sudan extremely poor while the few controllers greatly benefited on the expensesof the majority. And this was why the Southerners took up arms and fought for their freedom and liberty.
The directive of our freedom fighters under the SPLM/A was to destroy their common enemy using all forms of struggles and to establish South Sudan under the below strategies in order to realize its vision: intensive dialogue and education for a national liberation movement to succeed, building of alliances, armed struggles, diplomatic struggles and information and economics struggles.
The most hated drivers by our martyrs, heroes and heroines were political, economic and social injustices in nature since the Sudan gained her independence from the Britain on January 1st, 1956. As citizens of this beloved country, we are grateful and thankful to our martyrs, heroes and heroines who made us stand tall after witnessing this light of liberty after fiercely liberation struggles __ the struggles that dragged and rugged generations through painful excursions!
We are all humbled by the tenacity showed by our fallen martyrs, heroes and heroines whoeventually led us into attaining our beloved state, and to stand proud with our unique features in the World.
We call on all our civil servants, the youths’ groups, civil societies, politicians from all political parties, business groups, the press and all the armed opposition groups to be patriotic enough by working together in order to save our dear nation from drifting back into political and economic deteriorations and instability.
Fellow citizens, let us salute our martyrs, heroes and heroinesand freedom fighters for their selfless in fighting oppressive regimes for centuries until we attain our independence. Their self-sacrificing will remain in us always in the history of ourliberation struggles!
Long live our freedom fighters! Long live our martyrs! Long live our heroes and heroines! Long live Dr. John Garang De Mabior! Long live H.E Salva Kiir Mayardit! Long live our traditional chiefs! Long live South Sudan! Happy Martyrs’ Dayfellow South Sudanese!
Best Regards, Manyuon Dhieu Chol is an Economic Analyst, Cultural Anthropologist, Author of ‘The Dinka Folktales: A Collection of the Dinka’s Short Stories and Mythologies’. He is reachable at Tel. 0913342014, E-Mail: manyuondhieuchol@gmail.com
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