Taking the War to J-1, The Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) Message Builds on National Dialogue
By Malith Alier, Kalgoorlie, Australia
Saturday, February 20, 2021 (PW) — Interesting to read the latest Jieng Council of Elders, JCE, position (available on this website) on matters affecting South Sudan. July 9, 2011 is the cutoff date for the sovereign existence of our beloved country. With high expectations and international goodwill, very few expected the country to come down, like we recently witnessed, in a jiffy.
The JCE came to existence about 2013 at the time when the country was marred in active state of war. It has therefore seen enough to adopt a particular stand as is the case right now. JCE was initially accused of being part and parcel of the conflict ravaging the country. It was thought to support a regime headed by a son of Jieng, President Salva Kiir.
JCE, until late last year, had been tacit on these allegations perhaps for a reason. The “silence, golden mile” has now been crossed. Burying the head in the sand like ostrich is only for the fainthearted!
The five member JCE clearly frames its discourse on: revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan, R-ARCSS, the National Dialogue, ND, leadership failure and political deadlock, corruption, insecurity in the rural areas and institutions of governance.
The council believes that R-ARCSS is headed into a blind alley. This position is evidenced by the fact that the government machinery was grounded to a halt immediately after the signing of the agreement. The small steps taken by the agreement parties areusually after urging and prodding by the guarantors or other bodies like UN.
To actualize the implementation of the R-ARCSS,states and local governments were dissolved more than 4 months or so ago but so far, nothing is instituted to replace those defunct structures. A political vacuum has been created in the states,counties and payams.
The Council seems to be in agreement with ND resolutions as these deliberations came straight from the grassroots. The ND committee led by wily men covered everything from economy, governance, international relations and even social aspects of the nation.
It only stopped short, in its resolutions, of calling for unconditional retirement of the conflict sponsors; Kiir and Riek – something JCE is now unequivocally floating before the whole world. Kudos on JCE for taking the initiative. The rest of the world might have been waiting for the victims of maladministration and conflict to take the lead in this fundamental shift.
South Sudan is now infamously known in the region as the most corruption country in the world – second only to Somalia according to Transparency International, TI, and other reports. Corruption is a by-product of weak institutions or leadership. The reawaken JCE also cites the Sentry reports including the “ Taking of South Sudan” to support this assertion.
Some rural areas are now deserted because of insecurity. In the centre of it all, is the rampant and illegal gun ownership by the youth across the villages. A major enabler of this situation is the absence of effective government control to enforce law and order. Most of the crimes committed in rural communities go unreported, hence promoting impunity.
The enduring cycle is that those who are aggrieved take the law onto their own hands. JCE accepts that the legitimacy of any government and its functions is measured by the authority it exerts through the territory or jurisdiction.
Institutions and structures of governance at all levels are believed to be dead, stalemated and unworkable according to the council. The SPLM as a party was fractured and rendered dysfunctional from 2013 to date. Even the SPLM faction in government has no Secretary General ever since.
Its organs such as National Liberation Council, NLC, and Political Bureau, PB, no long hold meetings. From the party and all the way to government, every undertaking is through decrees of the SPLM Chairman!
If you believed that the reason why the national parliament and state governments are not formed is because of the agreement, what is the reason the SPLM, which is running the government has no functioning organs? These organs are in a state of paralysis because there is no political will to organize systems that work.
JCE believes that South Sudan is in a serious crisis that requires urgent solutions. It noted that R-ARCSS is totally inadequate to address this serious state of affairs. Leadership failure and power struggle are at the centre of this crisis as correctly identified by the ND.
The ND solutions provide a leeway out of this crisis and they must be implemented in record time. The only safe exit from the spectacular state failure is a democratic transition short of Kiiriek.
The writer can be reached at: alierjokdeng@gmail.com
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