By: Justin Ambago Ramba
Marc 18, 2012 (SSNA) — One can only thank God that the perpetuators of the unfortunate Kōmiru Massacre {northwest suburb of Juba Town] has been identified as members of the regular SPLA [the national army of the Republic Of South Sudan]. In this incidence women and children were indiscriminately targeted. And as many were killed in cold blood, dozens more sustained various types of physical and emotional injuries together with massive losses of properties and self esteem.
What followed thereafter was just typically of South Sudan politics. In fact not much was left out in the way the incidence provoked sentimental and political debate the countrywide with spill-over across the South Sudanese communities in the Diaspora. And many have expressed themselves just as they do over everything else, where issues in South Sudan are fundamentally analysed on tribal basis.
The media on its side did much to present the incidence as Dinka-Nuer versus the local Bari community. And although many others for their own ulterior motives obviously wanted it projected as SUCH, however it is now clear that what took place on that unfortunate evening was not an inter-tribal conflict, but rather an act of savage lawlessness carried out by a bunch of ill disciplined soldiers regardless of whatever provoked them in the first place.
If we were a law abiding nation, most of today’s lawlessness, insecurity, banditry, cattle rustling, broad day robberies or even the much talked about financial embezzlements practised by the government officials would have long been brought under control or none should have even started in the first place. Our society seems to suffer from a collective wickedness for often falling prey to ethnic politics where on many occasions’ justices have been under served and the public opinions on crimes have been polarised in favour of one ethnic group or the other, regardless of how heinous a committed crime was.Let’s understand that crimes have always been there and killing of human life is as old as human existence itself. Those who confess faith may trace it back to the two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain the elder son was envious and jealous and Abel. Cain eventually killed his young brother. Despite all this the human life remains sacred and should be preserved by all means unless of course the law says otherwise.
As a society struggling with crimes on daily basis there is nothing to benefit if we are going to promote and protect criminals. Law and justice should be our resort to guarantee a crime free society for we cannot claim to be a people in search of peaceful co-existence when we all knowingly justify criminal acts, even when the victims are none but the weakest members of our society – the women, the children, the elderly and the disabled.
We all know how vulnerable our new born country has become and there is no way that we can turn things around to achieve stability without first being law abiding ourselves. Our law makers have done the initial bits especially on the KōmIru incidence; hopefully diffusing what was otherwise an explosive situation and could have easily spiralled into total chaos.
Now we are all made to understand that committees have been formed to investigate this brutal incidence. But let us remember that, Juba Town since 2005 has been a home to all kinds of brutal crimes. Over the same time period many lives have been lost at peace time than during the war. To make it worse still, traditionally justice under the current leadership has always been either delayed or largely denied to the majority of the victims who are now in their thousands.
But given the very nature of what took place in KōmIru, the background on which it occurred and how it was received and perceived by the wider cross-section of our society, it can be said that much of the dearly valued national unity amongst our people now squarely rest on how promptly and impartially justice is served in this particular case. There is already much at stake in as far as this case is concerned and the last thing maybe we would want to see is yet another ‘Jonglei type’ conflict being replicated in Juba Town or its vicinities.
Let’s hope that this time around our judiciary system will exceptionally elevate itself above all the local politics and see the KōmIru incidence purely from the legal point of view. What we have here are a group of criminals regardless of whose relatives they maybe and irrespective of their ulterior motives, they are soldiers who took the law into their hands and cowardly turned their rifles against innocent women and children. This people have intentionally killed innocent lives in cold blood and deserve capital punishments.
Author: Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba. He can be reached at: [email protected] or [email protected]