A cry for the beloved country: A glimpse on the Political past, Present and unpredictable future in South Sudan
By Emmanuel Ariech Deng, Wunkuel, South Sudan
Wednesday, January 13, 2021 (PW) — In a nearly ten-year old country drawn on the world map, South Sudan hardly thrives on its own feet and continues to struggle for political, economic and security stability in the region. As a predominantly Christian nation, the republic is marred by dangerous political conflicts, systemic corruption, underdevelopment and mistrust since the inception.
The landlocked mineral rich country battled its worse economic turmoil and now stuck on course to prepare for general election towardsthe early months of 2022, the only mandated and presumed time designated to conduct the parliamentary and presidential elections since the principal architects of the crisis are both unwilling to hold fair and creditable elections.
It is so far predicted by many observers and analysts that the transition period would be pushed beyond 2022to serve the interest of the conflicting forces or chance to create more chaos to avoid the forth-coming elections. There are already clear indications that the time for general elections would be shifted further more than what the refugees, internally displaced people and other economically deprived group’s ’ desperatelyneeded and what is actually the time frame stipulated in Revitalized agreement.
Despite a concrete national foundation laid, the iron-fist leadership demonstrated and the struggle courageously managed by the Late Dr. John Garang De Mabior for two decades in which SPLA/M waged a fierce Gorilla War with the North that culminated into the birth of South Sudan as an independent country, efforts to rebuild the political image of the country after the war of 2013 and 2016 in the region and at the internationallevels.
There remains a big task and brushed aside responsibility by the revitalized government and its ragtag diplomacy as well as the choices to run a country like an island and that of looking for strong allies, new partnership and new bilateral relations in the globe, is also absolutely the choice of the incumbent power-sharing revitalized ARCSS subordinated by the five vice presidents.
While the country persisted to be characterized by a long-standing political grudges, ethnic inclined orientation, interest-based regionalism, prehistoric cold wars and pandemic disintegrated internationalism, the willingness to work for common good, multipurpose cooperation, nurturing of the baby nation to catch up with the standards of the world economy, global order, international development, security and counter-terrorism remain at the stake and only the intransigence waned while the attempts to build trust among the elites to advance the national agenda keep evaporating over again and again.
Notwithstanding the uncertainties ahead, the country national security in recent years had displayed harshness, unwavering gangsterism and finally becamea draconian organization with a miserably loss of public trust and obedience. It has become no longer reliable to be entrusted for any abrupt political stalemate in times of dishonored agreements, failed dialogue, unnecessary deadlocks if not the disgruntled dreadlocks.
The similar situation prevails in the under-paid national army which is being sophisticated with stratagempolicies bound to easily undermine the constitutional jurisdiction, scope and limits within the wide-ranging rank myriads capable of creating mistrust and possible confrontation. Therefore, reliability and uncertainty there stand at high probability for both and what the institution is constitutionally mandated for in quelling down any uprising political tensions in the country. They currently operate under unscrupulous disregard of the constitution.
Even now, the slowness seen in the national government formation and that of the States pertaining the provisions, shows a clear signal of feet-dragging attitudes against the time frame as stipulated by the peace agreement. In some African governments when itcomes to implementation of peace accord, the practical processes never go with the contents or key references in peace document.
As the revolutionary party SPLM stay forth and more leaned on communities rather than party hierarchy, its credibility must depend on reforms in order to reclaim its position as a historical party otherwise, at the moment it is axiologically dead but ontologically on survival to live.
The four inevitable years of Trump administration in relation to US bilateral relation to South Sudan political, security and economic development, there have been devastating consequences despite Trump win in 2016 celebrated at magnitude and locally exaggerated in Juba to show the impartial support to the American people which didn’t yield any fruits.
Now the incoming Biden’s administration in the US is projected to be more pressing than the previous one since South Sudan in all aspects had been driving on non-democratic values with a complete disregard to human rights in whatever they have been doing duringthe last fifteen years. Six years of interim period and nine years of independent South Sudan without any single tangible infrastructure development while billions of dollars went missing with no proper accountability leaving the country in a large budget deficit for consecutive fiscal years in financial bankruptcy.
The impoverished citizens currently composed of more than 70% youths have now placed their only hopes to impact change through the exercise of their voter rights and willingness if the elections would at all be fairly conducted in the upcoming 2022. This is the same event the people of South Sudan across the country would desperately demand the internationally funded elections, strong international election conduct, monitoring and observation to allow the citizens to freely express their choices for members of parliament and President, like we had done in 9th of January 2011 to attain the existence of South Sudan.
Let us continue to endure in solidarity the years of pains, agonies, disease and death of our fellow South Sudanese in silence in our hard-woncountry.
The cognoscente in the bewilderment, the author is a columnist, an independent analyst and a freelance observer in South Sudan political, economical, security and territorial integrity! Reach the writer via, ariechemmanuel2015@gmail.com
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