Why the Love and Craving for Riek Machar is Fading Drastically among the Nuer Community
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The Love and Crave for Dr. Riek Machar Fades Drastically Among The Nuer Communities
By By Gatwech Puoch, Juba, South Sudan
Saturday, August 21, 2021 (PW) — There hadn’t been in the Nuer story a single leader or any other known prophet that stolen the hearts and minds of this community, even late prophet Ngundeng was rejected by Eastern Jikany Nuer( Gajaak), where his father belonged to, except Dr. Riek Machar. He has been framed as the beacon of hope for hopelessness, as well as the second Messiah after making the infamous Nassir declaration in 1991 against the dictatorial leadership of late Dr. John Garang.
During the 1991 split, the Nuer had sacrificed lives and joined him enormously with an attempt to help him succeed in his quest for leadership change in order to transform SPLM/A into a democratic Movement. Garang must go was Machar’s slogan! However, with reasons until today not understood by many, Riek Machar decided not to fight the war head-on, instead softly approached the war against Garang, which culminated in so many died from the Nuer society coupled with other unhappy ending stories of his rebellion.
To make the matter worse; Machar, at the end of the year 2002, lost the war to Garang, and all his forces were left in disarray and only to be branded “Unconfirmed Nyagaat” to join the SPLA when Salva Kiir took over the chairmanship of SPLM after the death of John Garang in a helicopter crash in 2005.
To be correct, only a few Nuer made it to the ranks and files of the SPLA army, but the majority were integrated through the political card of late Paulino Matip Nhial. Dr. Riek sat comfortably as the country’s vice president for 8 years and done little to see why his army was left out from the national cake.
After the Nuer genocide in 2013, the majority of Nuer joined him hoping to see a change from the way Riek Machar used to manage his Movement. Though few Nuer politicians who knew him were skeptical and reluctant to join him and preferred to stay with the enemy in Juba, citing what they termed: “Riek’s weakness and won’t be able to fight Kiir according to their experience while working with him during the 1991 split”.
For the young Nuer intellectuals who didn’t know much about Riek’s political mischiefs and failures thought the old men were just full of hatred and dream for love for money to find reasons to remain with the regime in Juba. The majority of these Nuer seniors were nicked named “Nuer-Wew”. However, as the story repeats itself, the old chaps were proven right by Riek Machar by failing to adequately arm his forces to fight a full-scale war as the Nuer community had wished.
The majority of his Generals whom he had dismissed were arguably pressing him to fight the Juba regime, such that him/Machar could easily unseat Salva Kiir and sit on the high throne as the president of the country. To Machar’s world, this warmongering kind of advice didn’t go well to his ears and his wife due to fear of facing ICC or other justifications they may have.
It’s this failure to fully equipping his forces that led to his defeat at so many frontlines, and not only that, he was at the same time robbed of his position of vice president by General Taban Deng Gai who later on jailed him in South Africa for almost two and half years.
SPLM/IO Army spokesperson Simon Gatjiath Deng told SBS Dinka RADIO
After his release from house arrest in South Africa, most of his supporters and commanders advised him not to go to Juba unless security arrangements are properly put in place and fully implemented. Again and again, he was wrongly advised by his special adviser, which is none but his wife/Angelina Teny, and had only to listen to her. His going to Juba and time spent over there unanimously without consulting with his supporters and army is what is today causing this division and mayhem in the camp of SPLM-IO. A huge and serious detest against him by the majority of the Nuer community in the contemporary story.
The Nuer community feels that they lost the war against Dinka in the 1991 split, 2013, 2016, 2021 due to lack of seriousness and poor leadership by Riek Machar. Machar’s detest doesn’t only emerge from within the region but the diaspora front has unequivocally denounced him. A rejection that Machar had never experienced in his lifetime in the political arena.
Unlike the past internal splits within the SPLM-IO, the claim and takeover of the SPLM-IO under the Manganese declaration by Gatwich Dual saw another nail on Machar’s political coffin. It looks like this is totally a new political paradigm for the Nuer community to say enough is enough to the person whom they perceived as their second Ngundeng for over thirty years. The very same person that turned to bring them shames of war defeats after defeats, plus other humiliations after humiliations from the Dinka community.
The dislike of Riek Machar by the Nuer community is growing like a wildfire unless his small gods and Ngundeng will do him a miracle.
In sum, what the Nuer detest about Machar is not just about his personality but the way he has been holding them hostage of being Dinka slaves for years. The Nuer has finally come to realize that Machar is an anti-Nuer progressive agent who has been sent to them by illusional forces to disarm them in the land of Kush. The agony, hardship, and suffering this community has been enduring through the years of Riek’s failed political mischief is unthinkable.
The Nuer community has lost thousand of thousands of lives, let alone properties destruction, economic losses, and generational loss to illiteracy which are all attributed to ‘Riek the Black.’
Dr. Machar, you owe the Nuer community a big apology. Yes, the lack of security arrangements in Juba is not your making but the work of the enemy. However, the Nuer charged you fully for your miscalculation to accept going to Juba without the security arrangements being first implemented. This may not go down well with you, as you may think; who cares after all eating your retirement dollars with Kiir in Juba. But guess what; the Nuer community will not forgive your children, and this will haunt them for generations coming. Otherwise, pray to your gods to show you a miracle to save your respect from the very community.
Note: An article elaborating 300 reasons why Riek Machar must relinquish power to competent Nuer is coming out in few days.
In a Nutshell: What is behind the Nuer and the SPLM-IO divide? (Part 1)
By Eng. Chuar Juet Jock
“Together we stand, divided we fall” are words of gold and strength. I personally don’t know the name of the wise person who said these wise and powerful words. Still, they had a value of gold and a thorough effect in the most victories and successes that have been made throughout the history of humankind and by many different political or social entities. Unity and internal cohesion are all necessary ingredients to win a war, to keep the peace, and to achieve all the objectives set forth by a nation, a country, or an organization. Any great and wise leader that is seeking victory and success in his/her organization cannot ignore such a fundamental fact.
A case in point in this particular piece of writing is the current sad state of affairs in the Nuer community at large and the SPLM-IO movement. They are both rocked by internal divisions, which are mostly caused by rivalries and wrong decisions from their top leadership. United, sound, and effective leadership are very crucial for the well-being of people, the stability, peace of a country and nation. While the Nuer is a social entity and not necessarily political, the IO is a political organization forced by the circumstances on the ground in South Sudan to take arms rather than opt for a political option to achieve its political objectives.
The SPLM-IO, born out of an ethnic conflict, the 2013 Nuer targeted killings conducted by the government of President Kiir Mayardit, a Dinka by tribe and a long-time political rival to his deputy Dr. Riek Machar, a Nuer by the tribe. As a result, the Nuer rebelled and formed SPLA-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) under the leadership of Dr. Riek Machar while the government under President remained under the SPLM-in-Government (SPLM-IG). The relationship between the Nuer and the SPLM-IO is intertwined; IO was born as a result of the Nuer 2013 Juba targeted killings, which brought the Nuer with all their different sections, clans, and political differences in a rare unity to defend themselves.
No one in his right mind can deny the mere fact that Dr. Machar was both the leader of the Nuer community and the SPLM-IO and the main reason why his rival, President Kiir, targeted his Nuer tribal base. The conflict brought the Nuer to the climax of their unity, and this was also a rare asset to Mr. Machar and his IO that if he invested in it wisely, he could have hit two birds with one stone, having the strong base for his political ambitions while in the same time achieving unity, aspirations of his community, the Nuer. No leader in the history of the Nuer people that have enjoyed support, love, and admiration as Mr. Machar since the 1991 split of SPLM/A, the Nuer stood by Mr. Machar, giving him the necessary political and military boost that he needs to face and fight his rivals in the main SPLM/A and hundred thousands of Nuer people sacrificed their lives for just that in his many wars with his political rivals.
While the Nuer is a social entity and not necessarily political, the IO is a political organization forced by the circumstances on the ground in South Sudan to take arms rather than a political option to achieve its political objectives. The war raged on in the first years as a Nuer and Dinka war, but also both had their own allies from here and there, some Dinka allied themselves with Machar, and some Nuer remained with Kiir in the government and who gained the label of “Nuer Wew” or “Nuer of Money. “
The true divide in the Nuer community and the SPLM-IO started in 2016 in the wake of the J1 dogfight, and when Mr. Machar was pushed out of Juba and Mr. Taban Deng Gai, who was the chief SPLM-IO negotiator by then overturned tables against his boss Mr. Machar and declared himself as the new chief of the SPLM-IO and later he was appointed to replace Mr. Machar as First Vice President (FVP) and as a result, we now have two SPLM-IO and two opposing groups of Nuer community, one that supports Mr. Machar and another that support Mr. Taban. Such a dramatic change shifted the war and political wrangling to be a Nuer vs. Nuer war. Mr. Taban waged war against Machar’s political and military base, capturing most of Machar’s controlled areas, including his headquarters, Pagak. Machar, who was being hunted in the bushes of Equatoria, survived and later ended up as a prisoner in South Africa.
The divided Nuer and SPLM-IO continued to fight the war of Mr. Kiir, and despite his military victories and suppression of Machar’s political supporters within South Sudan and neighboring countries, Mr. Taban proved that he could neither stop the war nor bring the needed peace and finally he ended dissolving his SPLM-IO faction and joined the camp of Mr. Kiir, SPLM-IG. Now, without peace insight, a new push for peace has to be initiated in the form of the current revitalized peace agreement that brought Mr. Machar back to his post as First Vice President and Mr. Taban as Vice President (VP). However, the irony of the matter is that both men are from one family and the same state—the first blow to the quest for balanced power-sharing among all states and people of South Sudan.
But another blow came as Machar form his government and his distribution of the allocated positions to his SPLM-IO. The expectations were that Mr. Machar, a man who is still in the fight with his main rival, Mr. Kiir, would keep the unity and cohesion of his political and military base intact in case Mr. Kiir changes his mind overnight as he always does. That would require Mr. Machar to be wise enough by giving everyone who fought for him and his IO a reasonable piece of the cake and particularly the heavyweight politicians who represent clans and seizable mechanical majorities and who fought the war tooth and nails. Let us take, for example, Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, CDR Koang Ranley, Hon. Duop Bichock and many countless others. But he came by surprisingly, disregarding this fundamental fact that would keep the balance in the organization and the community; Machar instead allocated most if not the whole cake to his family members, appointing his wife as defense minister. It is said that the rest of the positions also were given to people who are related to him in a way or another. The defectors accused Machar of transforming the movement into a family business.
While Madam Angelina Teny, the wife of FVP Machar, has the necessary educational qualifications and leadership qualities, her appointment as a defense minister was viewed as politically incorrect, and this sparked anger that caused mass defections from Machar IO and caused another rift in the embattled Nuer community, the backbone of IO support base.
A political organization such as SPLM-IO is formed by group(s) that has conflicted interests but are united in purpose such as winning elections or changing the regime through armed struggle. As a leader of such an organization, you have to keep those interests in balance for the organization to reach its goals, united and strong. Any kind of favoritism or discrimination against any group could lead to drastic results, and you have to distribute the positions and the resources of the organization in a way the will keep its balance, unity, and internal cohesion. Political parties movements are formed by the alliance of leaders on the basis, “I bring my people to support the party or the movement, but what do I get on the table”…
To be continued in Part(2)
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