Brave New Sudan Sudan: A Bold Proposal for a New Government from Tumaini Initiative
Pagan amum, Paul Malong Awan, Thomas Chirillo, Chirino Hiteng and Oyai Deng Ajak launch the South Sudan Opposition Movement in the Netherlands
Monday, 10 June 2024 (PW) — It was a chilly night in Nairobi, Kenya, when the leaders of the South Sudan Opposition Movement (SSOMA) put pen to paper to draft their bold proposals for a new government. Gathered in a modest conference room, the air thick with tension and cigarette smoke, Pagan Amum, Paul Malong Awan, Thomas Cirillo and Stephen Buay huddled over the typed pages, furiously editing and revising. They knew this letter to the Chief Mediator could be their last, best chance to alter the course of their nation’s destiny.
As Pagan Amum read aloud the section laying out terms for President Kiir to remain president during a transitional period, voices rose in heated debate. Under their plan, Kiir would be flanked by two vice presidents culled from the current five – Dr. Riek Machar representing the SPLM/A-IO and Wani Igga for the Equatorian region. Pagan Amum himself would serve as prime minister, heading a technocratic cabinet.
The thorny issue of military leadership drew particularly fierce arguments. Dethroned King Paul Malong, the former governor of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, insisted he be named chief of defense forces to oversee the unification of troops under regional oversight. His fellow generals listened skeptically, all too aware of the danger of concentrating too much power in one man’s hands. Some argued President Kiir must be granted a complete amnesty to ensure his cooperation. Others insisted he could not be absolved of alleged war crimes.
The air was blue with curses in Nuer, Dinka and Arabic as compromise positions were floated and rejected. Finally, as the night became morning, an agreement emerged – President Kiir and his family would be exempt from prosecution only if he accepted a three-year transition ending with his exit from politics. A wary calm settled over the room as the exhausted men saw a path through their impasse, tenuous though it may be.
Pagan Amum called for Ethiopian coffee and sweet Juba tea to be brought in as they pressed on, hammering out the remaining details. The opposition’s radical vision took shape – a streamlined presidency and cabinet, with Pagan Amum as prime minister governing alongside the two vice presidents. State governments would be empowered under a new federal system. Perhaps most critically for these would-be nation builders, a Kenyan-hosted constitutional convention would be convened to draft the permanent laws enshrining their democratic ideals.
As dawn’s first light crept through the curtains, the draft finally took its form – a breathtakingly ambitious roadmap to remake South Sudan from its very foundations. A new power-sharing arrangement in Juba with Pagan Amum as titular head of government and President Kiir as head of state. The military’s command structure upended, with Paul Malong granted control of the unification process under watchful regional eyes. Economic reforms putting oil funds in an internationally-controlled escrow account during the transition. And that constitutional convention, the centerpiece of their grand scheme for a re-founded republic.
With a final flourish, the four leaders initialed the document and handed it to a waiting courier. As the sun rose over Nairobi’s smoggy skyline, the proposals began their journey to the negotiating table in Kenya and the hands of President Ruto, Chief Mediator Sumbeiywo, and the fate of history. For this unlikely amalgam of battle-hardened comrades and one-time bitter enemies, it was a moment six decades in the making – their grandest vision yet for a re-made New (South) Sudan finally put to paper and put to the test.
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