Tribalism: The Malignant Cancer Corroding the Soul of South Sudan
By Deng Bol Deng, Kampala, Uganda
Wednesday, 05 June 2024 (PW) — The greatest privilege of a people is to have their own nation, a cherished symbol of their identity. A nation is not merely a place where people reside but a representation of their collective identity. It is thus crucial for a nation’s people to realistically and cautiously perceive their national identity as an inclusive one, encompassing all peoples and cultures within its borders.
One of the gravest mistakes a nation can make is segregative identification. No nation in which identity is politicized and used as a tool of oppression can ever succeed in its development and nation-building efforts. Identity is a critical aspect of nationhood that must be strictly considered in forging a nation-state, one of the most arduous tasks in the art of statecraft. It is for this reason that South Sudan has failed in its attempts at nation-building.
Forging a nation out of a country like South Sudan, where the consciousness of most of the population is tribal rather than national, requires capable and skilled leadership to implement the foundations of a nation-state. To understand the art of statecraft, we must define what a nation is, what constitutes a nation, and how a nation is forged. A nation is a group of people united by a common history, culture, or language inhabiting a particular territory.
South Sudan is a nation; however, there is a difference in how nations like South Sudan and most African countries are formed compared to their European or Asian counterparts. Most nations in Europe or Asia are primarily inhabited by homogenous ethnic groups. In simpler terms, in a country like Germany, most of the national identity is of the German ethnicity, the same as in France, Poland, Italy, and others.
This scenario is also true in some Asian countries like Japan, Korea, Thailand, and others. Most of these nations were formed as a result of natural interaction, expansion, or settlement of a major ethnic group centuries ago. They, therefore, have a much longer history preceding modern times, enabling a closer attachment between their peoples owing to the homogenous nature of their societies and their lesser ethnic diversity.
On the other hand, almost all African nations, including South Sudan, had no older history as unified entities before the colonial era. The dominant history was that of Nilotic and Bantu tribes. There was no unified entity or nation called South Sudan. In fact, a unified history of South Sudan began during the Turko-Egyptian occupation and colonization of the whole of Sudan, as South Sudan’s recent history is intertwined with that of Sudan. It was British colonization that created the unified political entity of Sudan. It is no coincidence that a people who were living independently and forced to form a nation in a few decades would have conflicts.
As much as the people were happy to gain independence, in reality, it was a new union to which they had no attachment. As soon as problems arose from issues of identity, loyalty would shift back to the tribe as the source of authority and solutions. The entire solution to avoid the tribalism that was to explode immediately required action from the new government of the new nation.
This meant realistically solving the issue of national identity of Sudan by being inclusive and non-segregative in national development. Unfortunately, they had no appetite for addressing the reality of identity, which was crucial for the foundation of the new nation of Sudan. The failure of the racist and segregative leadership of the new state to comprehend the sensitive issue of identity is what resulted in the bloody civil wars that ensued and the suffering of the South Sudanese.
Their attempt to forge an Arab and Islamic state on a diverse population is what led us, the South Sudanese people, to fight for independence as a separate state. Thus, we must understand that even if South Sudan is officially an independent nation, it does not mean it is free from what it escaped to become a nation. The civil war that began in 2013 only turned deadly once it was tribalized. The horrors that happened are only a fraction of the true dangers of tribalism.
Inter-communal conflicts that still occur to date are one of the reasons we continue to suffer as a divided nation. We must all learn that tribalism will benefit no one apart from those who sponsor it. If we want a better future for ourselves, we should realize that it is only through unity and cooperation that positive change can happen. It mostly comes down to the leadership taking responsibility and accepting its duty as those responsible for forging the nation of South Sudan from its ashes.
If the leadership fails to do their duty, as they have by neglecting the people’s suffering and exploiting the nation’s diversity to ruin our country for their own benefit, then it is up to patriotic citizens to embrace unity and reject tribalism, uniting in solidarity for a revolution against injustice. A patriotic citizen, proud of South Sudan’s long history that shows the perseverance, bravery, and patriotism of the common folk, should never be involved in the cancer of tribalism.
It is a potent weapon used by the traditional elite in cooperation with the nation’s mafia tyrants to keep the nation, and especially the youth, divided. The power of the mafia tyrants and the traditional elite rests on the disunity of the nation. It is those among the youth who blindly follow their traditional elite by obeying their senseless and divisive views who not only help divide the nation but also hasten their own suffering.
The traditional elite, together with the mafia tyrants, have never had an inch of sympathy for the suffering of the average citizen, even though it is the citizens who suffer from their corrupt and greedy policies. The youth should strictly avoid toxic tribalism, for a youth is the nation and the future and hope of a nation. A nation with a poisoned youth is a dead nation, no matter how rich or poor.
The only way a nation free from tribalism, the greatest cancer, can be forged is through progressive national development that is equal and non-discriminatory. A nation that takes concern for the equal welfare of its citizenry, with free education, free healthcare, national infrastructure, and equal distribution of resources regardless of tribe.
Only then can peace and harmony come into existence with the unity of the nation. A nation should not only be founded and restricted to a negative history of suffering and humiliation but also deserve to be forged on a positive and shared history of development, happiness, and dignity.
The author, Deng Bol Deng, is a South Sudanese university student currently studying in Kampala City, Uganda and can be reached via his email address: Lord Scipio <lordscipio6@gmail.com>
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