By Luk Kuth Dak
January 9, 2010 (SSNA) — I failed to understand the preposterous notion that somehow the Comprehensive Peace Agreement CPA and the right for self- Determination were a gift from National Congress Party NCP and its radical wing the National Islamic Front NIS to the people of South Sudan, and therefore, they (Southerners) should be grateful and simply go along with the NCP/NIF violations of the accord, is absolutely disingenuous and a misconception, to say the least. However, it wasn’t much of a surprise for me to hear that nonsensical claim from the NCP and NIF.
Unfortunately, sadly so, there have been some vocal and suspicious political voices in South Sudan who still live under the misconception that the CPA can be implemented without fighting for it, and vehemently berated the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement SPLM and the government of South Sudan GOSS, for taking a stand against the NCP/NIF’s tangible violations of the CPA and unwillingness to honor their obligations in moving forwards with its implementation, on the timely manner which was clearly spelled out and stipulated in the agreement and the constitution.
It’s crystal clear, no doubt, that those people do not really know anything about the mentality of the Northern Sudanese, in general, and the NCP/NIF in particular. Truth is: if you have lived long enough among them, like I have, you must undoubtedly come to a conclusion that the only way, literally so, to get anything done with the NCP/NIF, unfortunately, is to give them the taste of their own medicine, which is confrontation and engagement. That’s the only language they seem to understand better.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit should be commended for committing himself to our just cause for self-determination and self-worth after half a century long and counting of the Arabs’ oppression. I cheered him when he told Southerners that their right for self-determination cannot be downplayed. (Sudan Tribune, December 6th, 2009).Yet, it’s tragic, really, that we could have some people in our society who are actually content with notion of being the second class citizens in their own land. They seem to believe that things are just going too well, and cannot fathom why the rest of us are making all this (fuss) with the NCP, which – in their ill-thinking- has given us what no other northern government has ever done. In there short-sighted judgment, the struggle has ended the moment the CPA was sign into law in 2005.
Dead wrong!
“The SPLM is increasingly becoming more and more problematic to the partnership instead of being grateful to the NCP, for allowing it the full control of the affairs of the South,” screeched one member of the notorious “ Jallaba Southern golden boys” club.
That’s as treacherous as it gets. Indeed, that sentiment is nothing but a direct insult to the struggle and the sacrifices made by the brave people of South Sudan, who have given it all they have for a little over a half a century of heroism against the forces of evil and bigotry. However, one of the bright spot in this debate is the fact that, apart from those (sell out) traitors, (all of whom we know), the whole world flat-out knew that the NCP and NIF were bitterly defeated and have only adhered to the reality of the situation, after it became abundantly clear that the war was soon going to be fought not only in jungles of the South, but in their own peaceful neighborhoods and backyards.
Therefore, if you’re a South Sudanese, you should not allow anybody telling you that it wasn’t a victory or a small victory. Because it was a historical and a monumental victory, and a great achievement- we should be proud of- by our brave warriors, alive and fallen.
Final Thought:
“We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.” Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr.
The author is former anchorman, Juba Radio. He can be reached at: [email protected]