Endorsing Somalization Because of South Sudan Independence!!! Reply to Dr. Justin Ambago

By Dr. James Okuk

It is said that when frank intellectuals debate on an issue, it is unlikely that the truth gets lost within the propaganda. Come on Dr. Justin Ambago! Unless you have an ax to grind with Dr. Lam Akol, your article portrays a real struggle between the evil and the good deep inside your heart. Your are saying that Dr. Lam’s concerns and worries about the current SPLM bad governance in the South is correct but at the same time you are running away from logic by saying his warning is a suicide to himself as far as the rhetoric of pleasing the separatists is concerned. I am a separatist myself but I don’t believe that any means can justify the desired end of South Sudan independence.  

We want independence of South Sudan with dignity not suffering. Our dear people have suffered enough from the bad past of wars and we don’t want repetition of this bitter history even in the name of mere independence of South Sudan from the unjust hegemony from Khartoum. It is not wise for Southerners to go through Somalia chaos in order to arrive to South Sudan Independence.   Yes, most of us desire independence but not “banana independence” because this shall not have any value of what is properly known as independence. The wisdom says that it is not bad to take some steps-back-with-pause if this can give you more strength to run with more steps forward in order to jump over a danger successfully and with a longer distance for a finishing-line’s victory.

Any way, let us not crack our intelligent heads here because at the end of the day, it is not Dr. Lam Akol not Mr. Omer Al Bashir, nor any politician who is going to decide the future of the South. It is the very suffering Southerners inside the South and around the urban suburb in the North who are going to determine the future of South Sudan in the referendum as agreed in the CPA and the law. It is the total of their votes in the referendum that shall declare the Independence of South Sudan and not the single vote of Dr. Lam or whoever is eligible for the plebiscite.

Dr. Lam did not use the word “suicide” in that press interview; it was the biased reporting journalists (who aim to put Dr. Lam at odd with South Sudan separatists like Dr. Ambago) who put this term into his mouth and out of context of his massage. Dr. Lam only used the term “Somalization” not “Suicide” in that press encounter. Go and check the original source of Dr. Lam’s words far away from reported speech and you will totally agree with me.

Also we should differentiate between the phrases “Call for Independence” and “Working for the Right to Independence”. The CPA and the law have already granted the “Right to Independence of Southerners” through the agreed Referendum Act. Therefore, the referendum for self-determination of the people of Southern Sudan is no more a mere “Call for independence” as wrongly reported by the journalists who are trying their level best to tarnish Dr. Lam’s political image and turn Southerners against him. The referendum is now “a right” to Southerners not” a call” and no political party or individual can pretend or impose himself on the people as their custodian here.

The same reporting journalists have realized that the term “traitor” doesn’t qualify for Dr. Lam and thus they are looking for something else to make Southerners angry at him by any costs. These journalists know that Dr. Lam is clean from the shits of corruptions and many Southerners are now taking him seriously as the very one who will save the South from collapse and leadership bankruptcy.

Majority of Southerners have now realized that Dr. Lam is the trusted one because he is courageous to challenge the evils of Kiir’s his SPLM bad rule in the South so that Southerners are not pushed against themselves to pass through Somalia in order to arrive to South Sudan only after all things have fallen apart.

Let us face the truth and state the facts about the destiny of the South as they are right now; we don’t want regrets! It is better to be slow and sure than fast and breaking. A political philosopher in the 17th Century when reflecting on French revolution said that the Will of the people is similar to God's voice. I believe that the very Will of the suffering and disappointed people in the South is like a voice of God too; it shall prevail over incompetent and heartless dictators.

There is no miracle in politics; only chance that has to be utilized intelligently to the maximum. Now the chances are high to defeat the SPLM and force Kiir to go home from public office in the GoSS after April 2010 elections. Let Dr. Ambago’s political party that stands for independence of South come out from internet virtual campaigns to real campaign on the ground in the South because politics does not live on words alone in a foreign land like London, United Kingdom! I advice Dr. Ambago’s party to join Alliance of South Sudan Political Parties so that they could work jointly to safe the South from collapse and Somalization and for the sake of sure independence without insecurity, total corruption, foolish tribalism and dictatorial incompetence.

With Dr. Lam in our lead and the lead of Alliance of South Sudan Political Parties, and perhaps of some independent candidates coming in now as they got disappointed by the failed SPLM leadership, surely the victory is certain as the SPLM-DC delegates sang it in the Friendship Hall in Khartoum last year. In truth we trust!!!

Dr. James Okuk is a concerned separatist for the South and can be reached at [email protected]