By Ustaz. Morris Mabior Awikjok, Nairobi, Kenya
Monday, October 10, 2022 (PW) — No doubt that Gen. King Paul Awan Anei is a liberator and freedom fighter. When Gen. Malong was on the front line, our future President was a humanitarian worker in Tonj, and I was a teacher by that time. Gen. Malong cannot be compared with a Humanitarian worker in military attire who got promoted to the highest rank without going to the front-line one day until we got our independence.
Without the efforts of Gen. Paul Malong in 2013, an attempted failed coup d’état, President Salva Kiir Mayardit would not have still been a sitting president today. This is not how we can pay back our great sons who have made history. The current government should have treated Gen. Malong with dignified honour instead of humiliating him and denying his efforts in favour of a humanitarian aid worker who turned powerful military general after independence.
Gen. Paul Malong was among those great leaders who sacrificed their lives with fearless courage to bring freedom to the people of South Sudan. They faced pain, exploitation, immense torture, and hardships to get freedom. So, people considered them the epitome of patriotic people. The Khartoum-led government ruled over Southern Sudan for more than 50 years. Many Freedom Fighters adopted various ways of fighting against Arabization and Islamization to attain the freedom we enjoy today. Their unimaginable sacrifice, hardships, pains, and hard work gets an eternal salute from the people of South Sudan.
Gen. Paul Malong Awan Anei, Gen. Garang Mabil Deng, and Gen. Pieng Deng Kuol are a few surviving heroes and great freedom icons we should be proud of. They struggled to make South Sudan free from the Khartoum-led oppressive government and have an independent country of their own. The list of freedom fighters is endless, but I chose Gen. Malong as a symbol of heroism in the Greater Bahr El Ghazal region. Why do we allow humanitarian workers to destroy freedom fighters on our watch? Great leaders in the person as Gen. Malong Awan, Gen. Garang Mabil and Gen. Pieng Deng are known, while others quietly sacrificed their lives to protect their motherland.
Our government should avoid the notion that when a Bahr El Ghazal son parted with a system in a very slight mistake, we made took the decision to kill them quickly. When a Nuer guy rebel killed thousands of innocent lives, our government rushed to make peace dialogue with them, rewarding them with positions, and received them in Juba International Airport with a red carpet and in dignified respect and honour.
At present, whatever convenience and freedom we got in our life is just because of these freedom fighters. Some other famous freedom fighters are the late Gen. Anthony Bol Madut, Lt. Col Manyiel Ayuel, Brig. Gen. Joseph Matem Bak, Cdr. Chol Muorwel and the list continue, who sacrificed their lives fighting for their country. Why do we allow Humanitarian workers to abuse and humiliate our iconic leaders? Gen. Paul Malong is not an evil enemy to the system and people of South Sudan.
The government should sign the Rome peace accord with Malong, bring him to Juba, and let the Humanitarian worker go into exile. He is a total shame to the system and the people of South Sudan. To conclude here: Gen. Paul Malong Awan Anei is not harmful to the design and people of South Sudan more than the current Director General (DG) of the Internal Security Bureau (ISB).
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