30th of July: Martyrs’ Day in South Sudan: Marking 17 Years Without Garang

By Deng Kiir Akok, Juba, South Sudan

Saturday, 30 July 2022 (PW) — The South Sudanese have just celebrated the 11th anniversary of their country’s hard-won independence on July 9 this year. But once again, we look forward to July 30 to commemorate our fallen heroes and heroines who paved the way for the independence of our great nation. It has been eleven years since we commemorated this day on July 30 each year.

It is an important day for South Sudanese to celebrate as it’s the day that we remember their loved ones that perished during the struggle for this country. On this day, South Sudanese commemorate and honour the martyrs of Sudan’s two civil wars from 1955 to 2005.

However, this year marks 17 years since Garang, co-founder of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and former First Vice President of Sudan, died in a helicopter crash in 2005, leaving the marginalized Sudanese without hope.

Until in the 90s, while living deep in the village of Awan Chan in Gogrial, when I sensed the world around me and came to hear about the visionary leader, Dr. John Garang de Mabior, and what he was doing.

Though it was old news, about seven years ago, to hear that Garang and his other comrades, including Salva Kiir from our Muorkua village, went to the bush in 1983 to fight the Islamic-minded government in Khartoum. I was in the bush too, for our area fell under the liberated areas, but I was not yet an active member. They used to call me a Red Army. That was how the young were referred to; I was eight years old.

Our village learned from hearsay that Garang was born alone on the day of his birthday. This phenomenon made him different. When his mother was giving birth to him, no other human being or animal on planet Earth was giving birth that day. It went on to say that God had set aside a day for his birth because he had an important mission for him. And that assignment was to free his people from oppression.

Our childhood brains grew later to analyze any information that came to our disposal. We got to know Garang’s personality and dismissed some stories. We learned about Garang’s characters that reached far parts of his liberated areas of Bahr el Ghazal and embraced some of them later in life.

Fourteen years later, in 2003, in Rumbek, when I was there for a school at Rumbek Senior Secondary School. I had a handshake with him twice on different days. It was my pleasure to have handshakes with such a leader like him. Having a handshake with Garang, I observed that he was very energetic and looked like a young man, although he was in his 50s. Although there were many people on the landing airstrip, he wanted to shake hands with them one by one, which surprised me.

The first one to meet him face-to-face and shake hands with him was at the Rumbek airstrip. Another Sunday at church meant another chance to shake hands with a leader of the Freedom Fighters. After having had such opportunities, I came to prove his greatness and good personality.

While in Rumbek and before schools opened, I worked for Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association (SRRA), which changed later to Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SRRC), now South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC).

I was lucky to be in a convoy that left the compound with Dr Riek Machar, who was then the Garang’s third commander and who was receiving him at the Rumbek airstrip while returning from his first ever Bahr el Ghazal tour since he rebelled against the Sudan government. His deputy, Comrade Salva Kiir, was in Yei on a mission he and his commander-in-chief were most familiar with. Dr. Riek, the current first vice president, welcomed him and followed him while greeting the attending masses, before he proceeded to the Rumbek Freedom Square to enlighten the people of Rumbek about the peace that was ongoing in Naivasha, Nairobi, Kenya.

While at Rumbek square, he told the attending crowd that if the ongoing peace in Naivasha was fruitful, southern Sudan would govern itself for a six-yearperiod in the semi-autonomy government. It would also choose whether to vote for separation or unity with the north. The President of the semi-autonomous government in the south would be Sudan’s first Vice President.

He went on to say that he had not fought this long and had simply accepted the position of deputy president to Omar al-Bashir, but it was a more powerful deputy.

Garang maximized the opportunity to answer the long-time rumour that was lingering in Bahr el Ghazal that said that Garang had said about Bahr El Ghazal that the region was just the far side of his farm, referring to the outsides of his liberated areas. It did not worry him even if something bad happened to it, including various attacks from Messiria militias and Sudan armed forces.

However, he denied this and said that the region was a vital one among the areas under his control. In a minute, he brainwashed the present crowd, who were listening to his long-awaited response to this poisonous rumour. He was such a wise man that he could convince anybody at the earliest opportunity.

In those few days he spent in Rumbek when he saw the people by the roadside while passing by in a heavily guided convoy, he could have wanted to stop and get off his car to greet them. Garang had a lot of things to remember about him by now, especially on Martys’ Day.

Garang, as you may roll in your grave, that man who threw a rotten egg at you in London, United Kingdom, and continued to yell at you about who told you to free them. If you recall well, his name is Martin Elia Lomoro. He has a tiny speck of grey hair on his forehead. Otherwise, it may be difficult to identify him if the man developed that look after you died, but with our help, we can identify him for you if needed.

That man in London is now a cabinet minister in Salva Kiir’s government, your former deputy and double as your successor and the President of South Sudan, the country that you founded for us and Lomoro.

The man is now the first minister in the so-called revitalized transitional government of national unity, which Salva Kiir formed with his comrades in the opposition after concluding a deal in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2018. That government has many Vice Presidents. Almost half a dozen. That man who embarrassed you has partnered with Egypt, the water hunter, to work on the relaunching of the Jonglei Canal project, which you opposed and fought the Khartoum government until you stopped it.

His partnership with other invisible individuals on the revival of the canal drove Egypt to think that we were fools and wanted to steal our water in broad daylight. We are now his victims in our attempt to resist his projects. He referred to us, the youths of your country, as social media criminals. And this came after he learned we had expressed our views against the revival of the canal and the dredging of the Nile and its tributaries.

The Red Army, or young people, as you might call them if you were alive, are what Mr Lomoro calls criminals. It’s unfortunate that you’re not here to witness the once-London-based opposition and that the man we confirmed to have stabbed you in the back during the liberation period is currently enjoying the fruits of the country that took your life, yet we have you in our hearts. 

We have no regrets about creating this nation for ourselves. Regardless, Lomoro is benefiting more than any other South Sudanese. Let him eat the way he likes. If you see us with these disorders, remind him of what he did to you last time in London. No matter that you’re not here with us, you have freed us and Mr. Lomoro from Arab slavery, which was the most important part of the struggle, and not to forget to mention having got Africa’s newest country, which Mr Lomoro is now eating with joy and love.

If you were alive, you would have added more for us and taught Lomoro an unforgettable lesson for working against you and the people’s party, the mighty Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. Because without him, our country will prosper the way you promised. Based on your deep expertise in agriculture, you thought this country could thrive. And last but not least, ask him to leave us alone if there is no way to send him back to London, which was his stronghold.

And more than anything, you would have punished your old comrades for their corruption. I wish you’d visited us someday to see their mess. Also, bring to their attention that they have lost their minds in the middle of the way to dreamland or taking this nation to the next level. 

Education was your first order of business. Not unlike today, when attending school is a waste of time and witchcraft is the best way to live in Juba these days. If you do not know, they request spear-masters from the countryside to come up to Juba and perform spiritual powers for them. It is to get a job with the government or to cement them in their positions if they’re already working in a livelihood office.

Much to our dismay, everything in our country is in shambles today. There is no better institution. The worst of them are the military, the police, and other organized forces. At least, promotion in the ranks and files of the South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) and organized forces requires brokering, lobbying, and relationships. Otherwise, except for the son, daughter, or in-laws of a powerful general, routine promotion is out of order until further notice.

 If there were promotions, they would go to untrained militiamen or through community balance, which was supposed to be done during recruiting. This idea is primitive and must be discouraged in the modern armed forces. They do too much to replace the old Garang policy, which was to balance tribe member officers.

It was not about the balance of community officers. Even ranks have lost their value. We knew in Garang’s time, one could not get a word to describe the powers of a mere sergeant, who in today’s army lacks powers and is as soft as an ice cream seller. In those days, it was a problem because Garang was a tough leader and his men should also be tough. Such an officer had more duties and was better protected than the present-day South Sudan army general.

The spear masters and witches have invaded our capital city, Juba, with a mission of no return and are working hand in hand to let their clients get what they want in the city. They dress in suits just like everyone else, if not better than them. Back in the day, they loved to wear red clothes, thinking they were untouchable and that no one could manipulate them. They resembled fans of the Al-Merrikh SC fans of Sudan when they were not. If they looked like this, anyone could identify them. Some of these spear masters and witches are government employees and occupy key positions in the revitalized transitional government of national unity.

If anyone follows the daily news from South Sudan, you may have heard of Atenydior at one of the social functions in Juba. A senior government official used to preach Atenydior, the god of his father and of Pakuein clans all over the world, as he says while attending his or his boss’s invitation opportunities. The social gatherings are frightened by the unlimited powers of this god. According to him, Atenydior is useful because it can get his sons and daughters employed in J1 and keep them there for years, if not for their lives.

These practices result in a government in which illiterates or academic license thieves outnumber literates and claim unjustified loyalty among no-ABC guys. Another problem with such people is their belief in witchcraft. They believe nothing can win over their gods on this planet.

The government institutions where senior public servants are the laws that govern these institutions, leaving behind their rules and regulations.

We have wasted eleven years with no real infrastructure. The government continues to operate within Abel Alier’s former regional government infrastructure and has not yet constructed a single office since 2005.

The South Sudanese Pound, with your half-image on it, was issued by your successor’s parliament. This currency is now dying for US dollars and has become worthless.

The same leaders, in keeping their promise of seeing the face of the country’s father, do not even bother to carry that money in their pockets for it could not buy anything at the skyrocketing market prices of South Sudan.

 I will not mention the fact that his ex-comrades, as I know to the best of my knowledge, are incapable of keeping Garang’s legacy alive. Their current and unique program is to plunder the few resources available by granting invisible projects to their children, friends, and in-laws in businesses. 

After all, I understand Garang more than any of his former comrades and more than I did while he was alive when I first met him twenty years ago, plus watching the 2013 crisis. Now, each day brings me closer to him.

I understand him, though he is no more. We still celebrate his fallen life and the lives of those who shared the same destiny with him on this day, July 30, to remember them as our martyrs. May you, Garang, and the others who shared your fate continue to rest in peace.

The author, Deng Kiir Akok, is a South Sudanese journalist and blogger, who graduated from the University of Juba with a degree in mass communication, and can be contacted at his email address: dengkiirsouthsudan@gmail.com or visit his blog at https://dengkiirsouthsudan.blogspot.com. Tel: +211912186333.

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