Gen. Joseph Lagu's Appointment: The Right Thing to Do!.
By: Daniel Abushery Daniel (USA)
“When we go to vote in the referendum come 9th January 2011 – it is not about choosing between unity and secession. It is about liberty – and walking out of servitude and second class citizenry”. Said by Dr. David De Chand
Without a shadow of a doubt, Sudan has and continues to go through one of the toughest times in its history. Evidently, the largest country in Africa awaits its divulsive moment to integrate into two countries, if the people of South Sudan vote for secession in January 9th, 2010 referendum.
Now, the obvious questions that are being frequently asked these days in the political spectrum is: Will the South Sudan nation make it to the choir, after such a long wait to secede from the whole body of the old Sudan, and do so in a peaceful manner, and without bloodshed? And will the current insecurity activities in the region continue, or the situation will dramatically improve?
In my judgment, it's time for all Southerners to start having an open-minded intellectual debates about those concerns as soon as possible. The NCP is campaigning hard that South Sudan will be a failed state. But we have an obligation to prove them wrong, by organizing ourselves early enough. Of course, we can't deny the fact that, there are some elements within our communities who will be helping our enemy to destabilize the security situation in the region. We must not allow them to do so.
“Those who cannot learn from history are doom to repeat it." George Santayana.
The relentless surge campaign for the so-called “Attractive unity" by the “Jallaba" is nothing short of trying to fool us into another Addis Ababa Accord, which was filled with empty promises. We know better now to allow the NCP/NIF repeat what former dictator Jaafar Numeri Said: “Addis Ababa is not the Quran or the Bible."
Nevertheless, our solidarity should take the front seat, and spot the light and the attention, should now focus on the current situations with militias of renegade and fugitive, former deputy chief of staff, General Athur of Kurfolus, who has given up his long term membership with SPLM, and the rank of deputy chief of staff of SPLA, to contest as independence candidate, which led to that miserable defeat at the hands of his opponent, Governor Koul Manyang Juuk, who was the SPLM candidate.
Further more, Gen. Athur Deng has, and continues to commit treason against the authority of the GOSS, and by turning his guns on his own comrades in kurfolus, killing SPLA soldiers, and ultimately joining hands with the enemies of the South Sudan, of the likes of Bona Malwal Madut, Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin and the purported professor, the so-called David De Chand, who keeps changing his position twice a day. His (De Chand) statement in Uganda that “South Sudan is not ready for a statehood" was despicable, bizarre, and treacherous, to say the least. All of a sudden he has forgotten his previous position, (which I promptly quoted at the top of this article).
More so, South Sudan should not be an exception in dealing with those who commit treason. In all of the countries of the world, if one commits such acts, he/ she receive the harshest punishment there is. And in George Athor's case, he should be court-martialed, for literally murdering his own soldiers in a cold blood manner.
Hence, the longer he takes at large, the worse the SPLA reputation becomes, not only in the eyes of the Southerners, but also the international community, and most disturbingly the “Jallaba" army.
In addition, Gen. Athor's involvement with the NCP has been established by the capture of the Airplane that was carrying his culprits, among whom one of his senior deputies has confessed to the fact that Khartoum was behind the plot. The question is, what more are we waiting for, especially as the referendum is only about four and a half months?
Gen. Athor's file is full of bloodshed. He was one of the few notorious SPLA officers, who became famous for all the wrong reasons. He was guilty of murdering innocent civilians in Waat and Fangak, respectively, burning woman, children and villages into ashes.
Decides, during campaign trail, Athur was asked by the families of his victims as to why he performed mass murders on helpless innocent people? "I was instructed by koul Manyang Juuk," he answered. But he simply forgotten that, in Criminal Justice System, a guilty plead will not omit the crime, even though it might reduce the sentence!
“It’s not a shame to commit mistakes, but its shameful repeating the same," Dr. Toby Madut.
And on a personal note, I would like to seize this opportunity to thank and salute our uncle, the permanent politician of all time, and the Chairman of SANU, Dr. Toby Madut, for recanting his position, and by publicly declaring his full support for the secession of south Sudan, in the up coming referendum in January 2011. We hope the rest will follow suit.
Also, the wise decision made by H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit, appointing Uncle Joseph Lagu Yanga, as his political advisor, couldn't have come at the right time, indeed. Now, the following step should be a call for a comprehensive summit for all of the Southerners, so as to put aside our differences before the referendum.
Finally, Dr. Justin Ambago, one of the most active writers on South Sudan issues wrote: “Don’t let your tribal and personal differences overcome your decision, but look at the bigger picture of South Sudan."
I couldn't agree with him more.
We need to remind ourselves, constantly so, with the fact that, in deed, people do come and go, but the great land of South Sudan, will forever remain right where it is today. Shalom.
The author holds a BA in Criminal Justice, and he can be reached at [email protected], or [email protected]
