Military Governor Gen. Aleu Ayieny Aleu has Runout of Ideas in Resolving Communal Conflict in Greater Tonj of Warrap State
Military Governor Gen. Aleu Ayieny Aleu
By Kwek Deng Kwek, Tonj, South Sudan
Friday, January 07, 2022 (PW) — Firstly, I would like to give a little explanation of what Warrap State is, Warrap State is one of the States in South Sudan which was alienated in 2015 using a Republican order on the creation of 28 states which later grasped to 32 states in South Sudan which got reverted by the President of the Republic of South Sudan H.E Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit in 2020. It was divided into 3 states namely, Tonj, Gogrial and Twic states respectively. Now the state has six counties explicitly, Gogrial West, Gogrial East, Twic, Tonj, North, South and East respectively.
When the President reverted the country back to 10 states and three administrative areas as per the revitalized peace agreement on the resolution of conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. Governor Bona Panek Biar was appointed who later got fired within 6 months before he did not even form the cabinets, and his dismissal was in relation to his failure to quell the communal violence in greater Tonj.
However, Gen. Aleu Ayieny Marialdit was appointed with the anticipation that he is one of the powerful generals to manage the conflict in Warrap State. Conjecture what happened, it is almost a year on now, but nothing has altered in terms of conflict management in Warrap State. Now the thing is when Governor was appointed, he said he was the last person to be appointed in relation to the issue of insecurity in Warrap State and that President Kiir told him that he is the last man and if he fails, then President Kiir will go himself to Warrap State and become Governor there.
To be explicitly clear, I have seen that Governor Aleudit has not accomplished or abated the Tonj conflict and therefore, isn’t the right time for the president to go and govern the state or else President appoints another person that would do that? It is distinguished that the conflict in the Bhar El Ghazal region has been only in two states namely, Lakes and Warrap, the case of Lakes was the shoddier of all, because conflict engulfs the whole state but for Warrap the conflict is in only three counties that affected by the conflict, why did Governor Rin manage the Lakes conflict while Governor Aleudit has botched to mitigate the half state conflict?
To justify why I said that Governor Gen. Aleudit has run out of ideas is because of the following reasons:
- He seems to be very arrogant whenever anybody make exposition about his failures, he will rush to arrest that person immediately, a leader that does not appreciate participatory democracy, freedom of expression and so on and so forth is not a leader, Prof. Makau Matua once says that the democracy itself is a fragile one because it encompasses the divergent views and there are always decenters in democracy why would you think in your rightful head not be criticized when things are not going well in your administration and when the decisions you make affects the lives of the people.
- Look when Governor arrested politician and a lawyer by profession Molana Achuil Malei for exposing his bad deeds and for committing extrajudicial killing which later was reaffirmed by the United Nation mission in South Sudan Kuajok base, why did he fail to rest administrators of UNMISS in Kuajok? And gain when he arrested a Law Maker who visited his house on an official invitation by him the governor. A law maker in person of Hon. Molana. Mark Anei mading was unlawfully arrested.
- His code of dressing in the civilians’ meetings is quite unbecoming for instance, putting on military attires with military ranks and a pistol outside is a pure intimidation and scaring of civilians to talk to him openly about their issues. They civilians always find it very stiff because they simply feel intimidated and therefore, they will not elucidate to him properly why they are fighting.
- The fact he fears intellectual forums by banning the Communities, youths and women associations of Warrap State in Juba under the pretext that they have to first go and register in Warrap as if they are governed by Warrap State laws in the national capital. I think in Warrap State there is a need for somebody who will engage the communities in a very social way, encouraging homegrown solutions like peace conferences, community dialogues, comprehensive disbarments and engaging the youths on socioeconomics activities, creating skills development centers, like vocational training centers where they can acquire life skills and other things like football tournaments where people from all communities can meet and play together to change their mindsets from conflicting views to social views just like how Gen. Rin is doing it in Lakes State. He even opens ALP centers for accelerated alternative education for disarmed youths. This is the kind of thinking that is desirable in our state but now with Gen. Aleudit I don’t think it is going weightlifting because Gen. Aleudit is not open for criticism not even a constructive one. How would he achieve lasting peace when intellectual views are looked at as incitement words by him the Governor?
Lastly am of the view that President Kiir appoints another person in order to rescue the lives of our people in Tonj. It is time for Governor to come and rest and allow other people to go try that state conflict in Tonj. That is my humble appeal and I hope I will not be looked at as somebody who is fueling or making a political thing.
Not at all, am a citizen who is thinking our people need to be salvaged from these senseless conflicts and it is the responsibility of the government to be bring peace to its people especially at the grassroots level as the time of election is approaching actually, we have now remained with 11 months to 2023.
The Writer is a South Sudanese Citizen and can be reached via kuekdengkuek@gamil.com
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