Opinion | South Sudan at the brink of a full-scale war

OPINION — I was at a Starbucks in Frankfurt, Germany, yesterday when I saw the news on the bombardments of Nasir, Longechuk and Ulang counties by the government of president Salva Kiir Mayardit, the same man, who “called for calm” and PROMISED to “never take the country back to war” just a few days ago. So what happened to that promise? Was it just a lie or another war tactic to lure the untrained youth to put down their arms so that he can attack them unguarded to wipe the whole community out?

First, I was disgusted by the used of the highly flammable and explosive ethyl acetate atomic bombs on innocent civilians and their properties. The timing of the bombardments alone, bombing civilian villages at 10 and 11pm, could tell you the filthy-evil hearts of hatreds and how cowards and inferior the so-called “the government” and its tribal militia clothed as the “South Sudan People Defense Force”(SSPDF), solely to warrant themselves constitutional authority to hire foreign mercenaries to wipe-out the ethnic groups they perceive as their enemies, could be.

This evil act alone justifies beyond a reasonable doubts why the civilians had to retaliate to fight the tribal militia in Nasir with light guns, sticks and stones, defeated them and annihilated almost 2000 well trained and equipped military- because they had tolerated enough marginalization, annihilation, destruction and war crimes committed against their women, children and elderly by the tribal force of occupation for 11 years.

This was demonstrated by how they had to kill the commanding general and tripped him naked. The same general stripped thousands of Nuer generals and their soldiers of their guns and ammunition when he was in command in Wau and Mapel in 2014 and killed all of them after they peacefully obeyed his orders. As they said those who live by the sword, die by the sword; it was unfortunate that a military had to be humiliated this way by the civilians they meant to protect but at least a soldier consciously signs up and trains for the duty to protect civilians and knows fully well that when they failed their constitutional authority they could face public uprising or unrest and death on duty could be imminent.

So, in an ideal sovereign state, the best course of action to restore peace and tranquility, and to hold the culprits accountable in an event of unrest like what happened in Nasir, was to call for calm and dialogue like what Salva Kiir attempted to do. Unfortunately, President Kiir has never been sincerely with his “call for calms” and false promises “to never return the country to war”. If there were to be accountability for the annihilation of his tribal military in Nasir, Kiir would be the first culprit because deep down in his heart he knows that the forces he deploys and officials he appoints are not meant to represent or to protect public interests but his own interests which is to maintain power through military means at the expense of civilians and those who oppose his leadership. In simple terms, the war in Nasir was engineered in J1 and it is being funded by J1 to escalate to a full-scale war that will soon engulf the whole country.

The Hiring of Ugandan Mercenaries!

Notwithstanding that the entire leadership of the main armed opposition, the SPLM/A-IO, both the military and political leaderships, are arrested in Juba and the president, who has been falsely claiming to have liberated the country, has been regularly training thousands of his tribal militia under the disguised banner of the SSPDF at the outskirts of Juba in Luri and also in Bhar el Ghazal (Mapel and Aweil), Salva Kiir had to hire a whole military and heavy war equipment from Uganda to come to protect his government when he has not paid his more than 200, 000 military for over a year.

This is a disgrace of the highest order to the false history of liberation. How would you claim to have liberated a country of 12 millions people from the more sophisticated governments of Khartoum that represented over 32 millions people and supported by the whole Arab world when you can’t even defeat the “white armies” from 2 counties of the Nuer’s 16 counties of less than 2 millions people?

Definitely, from how the White Armies fought in all the retaliations they have had to engage the government so far, be it the 2006/7 disarment wars, 2013-15, 2016-18 and the recent Nasir battle, the white armies, despite their light weapons and lack of training, are still better than the so called government that is planning nothing for the country but war in J1. As such, the white armies should not panic because of the Ugandan mercenaries like Michael Makuei Lueth threatened today.

Should the government continue to fan the flames to a full-scale war, my plea to the white armies and other marginalized groups, who may retaliate in self-defenses, is to never attack your neighboring communities to kill other civilians and loot their properties but collectively match on Juba to face those who are planning all the evil against your communities and innocent civilians. Two wrongs do not make a right, don’t annihilate another ethnic group(s) but focus on your self-liberation from the yolks of a failed government whose intention is to eliminate your ethnic groups and destroy your properties.

Recommendations to the government of Salva Kiir.

1. Please end the war ASAP and implement the peace agreement.
2. Instead of trying to redeploy your tribal militia, the SSPDF, to Nasir and other areas, deploy the Unified Force and fully implement the remaining mechanisms of the security arrangements and R-ARCISS
3. Release all the opposition leaders in Juba and allow Dr. Machar and the whole SPLM-IO leadership to travel freely, within and outside the country, for peace and reconciliation to hold.
4. Release all the foreign mercenaries back to their countries. You do not need to be protected by Ugandans and other foreign forces. Let’s your people decide to keep you or to dispose of you.
5. Stop all military promotions until the forces are fully unified and the peace agreement is implemented. Promoting military generals violates the R-ARCISS and fuels conflict.

Recommendations to IGAD, African Union and the International Community.

1. Sanction the government of Salva Kiir and their Ugandan allies.
2. Sanction individual leaders, political and military, who are fueling the conflict starting with the South Sudan Chief of Defense Force, Gen. Dr. Paul Nang, South Sudan Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs, Chol Thon Balok, Minister of Information and Government Spokesman, Michael Makuei Lueth, SSPDF Spokesman, Maj Gen. Lul Ruai Kong, Former SPLM Secretary General, Peter Lam Both, and others, and similarly to Ugandan Chief of the Ugandan People Defense Force(UPDF), their military spokesman and others who supported the unconstitutional deployment of the UPDF who are committing war crimes in South Sudan.
3. Sanction President Salva Kiir and open his files at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the bombardments of civilians in Upper Nile which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
4. Call on TROIKA, EU, AU and partners to impose asset freeze and other austerity measures to weaken the governments of South Sudan and Uganda to accept and allow the implementation of the peace agreement that expired 3 years ago or initiated a new process that must be implemented.
5. Stand for the innocent people of South Sudan just like you did to innocent people in Ukraine and many other countries around the world. If you can’t step boots on the ground, then help vulnerable civilians to defend themselves and their properties!

The author is a lawyer and a journalist. He is the founder and CEO of Nyamilepedia. Follow him on Facebook by following THIS link.

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