Is South Sudan’s Referendum Up For Sale?

“ The referendum will be stolen by the SPLM; We will not accept that,” Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin.

By: Luk Kuth Dak

You better believe it. Now, virtually, Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan has turned out to be the potential destination for those greedy people who seek to cash in for opposing the referendum and the right of the people of South Sudan for self-determination, which would be decided- supposedly- in the general referendum in 2011.

What else to explain Khartoum’s harboring of all the enemies of the people of South Sudan, both domestic and foreign, that it has now become the undisputed “ Automated Teller Machine” (ATM) capital of the world, not only for the well-known terrorist organizations like Hamas and al Qaiada, but also the regime’s Southern golden boys accomplices headed by the disgraced kingpin of betrayal, Dr. Lam Akol, Purported Professor, David de Chand, Pharmacist, Riek Gai Kol, Mr. Ali Tamim Fartak, to name very few.

Thus, if you examine their names very carefully, you will find out that some of them have never really had any career, or have any other tangible sources of income that would justify the amounts of wealth that they have now accumulated in a blink of an eye. So the question that lingers whenever their names are mentioned is, where then the money surfaced from, especially in a country where 90% of its citizens live bellow poverty line?

The answer to that legitimate question is, the National Congress Party (NCP) of tyrant fugitive President Omer Hassan Ahmad al Basher. This is not just my opinion; complete strangers have felt the need to assure me of that. Consequently, the regime is really in a desperate situation, and it will never hesitate to spend whatever money it takes to bribe just about anybody and everybody, who is willing help them achieve their goals. It’s so true also that those NCP pit bulls cannot comprehend or entertain just the thought of losing the oil revenue, which has allowed them- in the first place- to cement their grasp on the power for over two long decades and counting.

Therefore, it would be too naïve and indeed presumptuous for anyone to think that somehow the NCP’s wolfs would willfully and honestly allow the South to have its way in deciding its future in the up-coming referendum in 2011. Truth is, no easy road to travel. Therefore the only obvious choice we have is to keep on fighting until our independence emerges.

Honestly, I want nothing to do with the NCP’s “ Southern golden boys”  nor should any other genuine South Sudanese out there. They are too toxic to have around, particularly at this critical juncture in the history of our nation. We should not reward those thieves by letting them anywhere near us, because their evil acts are contagious, heartbreaking and divisive to say the least.

But that’s not all!

As I mentioned in my previous article “ Is Sudanese unity beyond repair?”  the epidemic virus of getting rich at the expense of over half a century of sacrifices by the brave sons and daughters of South Sudan, has now reached far beyond the borders of Sudan. It attracted even some heads of foreign countries and  regional organizations such as dictator Iasias Afewerki of Eritrea, the  Chadian tyrant, President Idriss Debby and of course, not to mention the top African Union Chief.

In his recent visit to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, Mr. Debby not only wasted no time to reiterate his firmed opposition of the referendum and the independence of South, but took it upon himself to become the spokesman for his mentor Omer al Basher after whom he named on of his beloved children.

“ It will be a total disaster for all of Africa, if South Sudan is allowed to break away from the mother Sudan,” he wailed with a faked sadness to the Egyptian media.

… Said Plato “ I shall assume that your silence gives consent,” Plato.

The most ironic and intriguing thing in all of this betrayal campaign by Debby and Afewerki is that it has been met with an absolute silence by the leadership of The Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM). Perhaps because the SPLM thinks that silence alone will ultimately break down the will of those two ruthless tyrants and return to their previously well- documented heroic stances in support of South’s right for self-determination.

Big mistake. Like al Basher, the only language that they understand is confrontation. You literally have to stand up tall in their faces and tell them to cut out this nonsense. After all, who needs a friend with whom you cannot even count on in the time of need?

Keep the faith.

The author’s a Sudanese journalist and former anchorman at Juba radio. He can be reached at [email protected]