Bor Community in North America Accuses Kiir’s Government of Rampant Violence and Intimidation; Calls on Citizens to Work Together to Save the Nation

Dear Mr. President

SHOCKED by the recent senseless cold blooded assassination of Major Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol and by the massacre of peaceful demonstrators in the City of Wau as well as by the killings and harassments of journalists, human right activists, innocent citizens and foreigners;

DISCOURAGED by the deteriorating security situation in rural communities of our “free” homeland of South Sudan without an end in sight;

MINDFUL of the sacred promise we have to our martyrs like Major Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol who continue to give the ultimate sacrifice to show the importance of holding one’s government accountable for its own failings;

RECALLING the original founding principles and timeless creed of the SPLM/A to commit itself to guaranteeing freedom of expression including criticizing one’s own government;

BELIEVING that in an independent South Sudan, every South Sudanese deserves freedom of expression without fear of retaliatory measures including cold blooded murder;

CONGNIZANT of the fact that few elements within the national security apparatus  are  substantially suspected to have  murdered  Major Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol and are creating havocs among the fearful citizenry in the Capitol of Juba;

RECOGNIZING the indispensable role all South Sudanese need to play as stewards of our society; and

PROUD of our Community of Greater Bor which prides itself of an all-encompassing human virtue of self-restraint “Kon Madang” when reacting to tragedies;

We hereby resolve to send you, Mr. President, an unambiguous message with clear and unmistakable demands.

I. Introduction

December 21, 2012 (SSNA) — Mr. President, in the midst of unbearable tragedies and difficulties, we the people of South Sudan remained firm in our pursuit of peace, equality and justice for all. The brutality of the last 21 years of conflict in Sudan bears tragic evidences of an immeasurable destructive war. Our long for justice and equality was spontaneously confirmed by our Nation unanimous endorsement of C.P.A, and your unwavering commitment to lead our nation through a well-executed south Sudan Referendum in 2011.

Despite your successful guidance and vision in leading our nation through Referendum and Independence, the people of South Sudan and of Greater Bor by and large believe that you have knowingly abandoned the nation’s founding principles of freedom, justice, equality and prosperity. Mr. President, your government is currently at its worst state of affairs, evidenced  by rampant corruptions, violence, oppression, mistreatment of citizens, poor delivery of services to our people, and worse of all, bad governance across the board. Thus, the assassination of Major Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol cast a final verdict for a deteriorating security situation in South Sudan. Major Isaiah Diing was brutally murdered on December 5^th, 2012, an act we unequivocally condemn.  We also condemn the killings and harassments of other citizens of this country as well as foreigners who are peacefully residing in the Republic of South Sudan. Sadly, the tragic assassination of Major Diing is undeserved, unwarranted and certainly should not go unpunished. The perpetrators of this intolerable heinous crime against humanity should quickly be brought to justice. Major Diing was a man of great accomplishments; among them he was an SPLA/SPLM decorated war hero, and a patriotic man who has given the Republic of South Sudan all his dues.

Guided by the principles of a religiously devoted mother, Rev. Rebecca Nyalueth Wel Akau, and a fiercely admired chief from Kongor, the family of Chief Chan Awuol is amongst the very first families to suffer from the painful grief by losing three of their sons during the liberations for the country they so dearly love.  His mother is a devoted pastor who prayed hard for the freedom of South Sudan and peace amongst all South Sudanese people. In fact, on the day of her son’s assassination, she was on a mission to Rumbek to pray for peace in Lake State when she had to be rushed back to Juba for the news of her son’s death. Several written articles showed that Diing received several threats from unknown telephone numbers before his death. He knew that he was being threatened because of his criticism of the government for its failures. He also understood that he had a responsibility as a citizen to criticize government policies that would take the nation in a wrong direction. His death in the hands of his own people is a national tragedy!

II. We cite a few incidences of worsening security situation and crackdowns on freedom of expression

In the wake of Isaiah Ding’s assassination, there is an acute need of concern for your attention to address issues that are affecting our new country, issues that may very well derail our fragile and infant democracy. Since our independence, there have been mounting evidences of brutality by security forces and rampant ethnic violence that has elevated alarm to an unquestionable high level of fear. However the government in Juba under your direction fails to do anything as a matter of resolving our most serious issues namely: insecurity, freedom of expression and human rights violations. The fact that these incidents, stated below, are carried out by security forces show someone in the administration has either approved the executions of these actions with your knowledge, or you have lost control of your administration.

Mr. President, our bottom line is a complete accountability. We ask you to hold those who carry out these heinous acts to account for their actions so that others who are inclined to follow their suits are deterred. We are focusing on the big picture. And here, we only highlight a number of selected key incidents to capture the gravity of the situation now in the Republic of South Sudan.

1. Since independence, about 2,400 people have died due to ethnic violence mostly from Jonglei State, according to Al Jazeera. We appreciate your administration’s bold step launching disarmament in Jonglei early this year. However, it is not enough as cattle rustling, child kidnapping and killing of innocent civilians are still continuing as witnessed recently in Alian village in Bor County. A major problem is that South Sudan’s security forces do not intervene when elements of one tribe attack another. For examples, militias from Pibor have on numerous occasions raided and killed people in villages in Bor area while the SPLA in Bor Town never intervened to protect the civilians. Last year, about 8000 armed Lou Nuer attacked Pibor but the SPLA did not intervene. Before that, Lou Nuer areas had been attacked by Murle Militias but the SPLA did not intervene to protect the innocent civilians. The fact that 8000 Lou Nuer youth went to Pibor for revenge was due to the failure by your government to protect the people and have monopoly over the use of force in apprehending criminals;

2. Another one of the most damming brutality of security forces came just three days after the assassination of Major Isaiah. Security force shot and killed about 11 innocent people while peacefully protesting on December 8, 2012 in Wau. Their crimes were nothing less of raising their voices and matching on street in demand of something in the practice of  freedom to protest as a citizens of South Sudan, the very idea to which you fought for your entire life;

3. In 2009 alone, about 2,500 people were killed, and more than 350,000 were displaced by inter-tribal conflicts, according to small arms survey report released in October 2012;

4. The recent abduction and torture to near death of human right activist, Deng Athuai, for protesting against corruptions by asking for the firing of 75 current and former government officials responsible for stolen $4 billion;

5. Regular mysterious killings in Juba (it will not do justice to even give any specific example because this happens regularly). In the week in which Late Isaiah was assassinated, Miraya FM had reported 50 people were murdered in Juba under various circumstances. This means the security forces are either responsible or they do not protect the people;

6. Mading Ngor Akec Kuai was harassed and thrown out of national parliament and had been receiving threats from the national security for hosting dissenting voices on his radio talk show and he has now left the country to protect his life;

7. Mabior Garang de Mabior has been assaulted by members who identified to be from the security forces and has been threatened on numerous occasions for his political activism (freedom includes freedom to exercise political right and right to freedom of expression);

8. Professor, Jok Madut Jok, of Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), on leave, was tortured by security forces last year. Many people believe he was targeted because of his critical views of the government in the media, especially his interviews with Al Jazeera TV;

9. Dr. James Okuk was arrested, detained and tortured on accusation of writing articles critical of your government;

10. Wiyual Manytap has disappeared without trace;

11. Mayol Kuch Duoi was tortured to death by the SPLA soldiers (many sources believe the soldiers were jealous of his US citizenship or the anti-diaspora sentiments played a role in Mayol’s death because the SPLA soldiers started torturing him after his identity documents showed him as  a US citizen);

12. John Akuach Jook, a law graduate from Makerere University was killed in a mysterious car accident and the killers have not been brought to book. Akuach was a vocal critic of the government and many people believed he lost his life because of that;

13. Dengdit Ayok, a columnist and Ngor Arol Garang, Editor in Chief of the Destiny Newspaper were arrested, tortured, detained and their paper was suspended by the South Sudan National Security on charges of publishing an article which criticized you for allowing your daughter to be married to an Ethiopian. We agree with you that any South Sudanese is entitled to marry whoever he/she loves but the use of state authority to stifle freedom of expression puts the very freedom we fought for into jeopardy and those columnists shouldn’t have been dragged to Security Station for questioning and detention without you immediately intervening to save them from being tortured in jail. And neither should their newspaper have been suspended;

14. Richard Mogga, managing editor of the New Times Newspaper, was briefly detained on January 13, 2012 by security forces for allegedly writing an article that questioned security organ’s knowledge of the South Sudan cabinet;

15. Badru Mulumba, a news reporter with the New Times, was arrested on January 18, 2012 and briefly detained for writing an article that allegedly defamed Nunu Jema, Minister of Housing and Physical Infrastructure;

16. Three Citizen Newspaper Journalists were arrested in January 2012 by police officers and beaten and detained and released after five hours. What is so alarming is how the security forces start treating people guilty and begin torturing people even before they are proven guilty. Didn’t we fight to achieve rule of law and to achieve freedom from torture?;

17. Citizen Newspaper Editor, Nhial Bol, has been warned on several occasions about what not to write about and what not to publish. This is a Khartoum style media censorship and should stop;

18. SPLA Military Intelligence beat up the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Onyati Adigo, during South Sudan’s Independence Day Celebration for “hanging posters without permission” and a senior security official told newspaper editor, Nhial Bol, not to write about the incidence. If your security forces are so ashamed of the incident being read by the public, why do they commit such an illegal act in the first place? Hanging posters is part of freedom of expression. Why should anyone ask for permission from security to post an information material? This is Khartoum governance style which we fought against;

19. Security officers beat a driver from the Citizen Newspaper and raided the paper’s office after the Editor, Nhial Bol, wrote details about how police had not received their salaries for three months;

20. Manyang Mayom, a Rumbek based journalist, has been detained by police three times on various occasions. What is mindboggling is how these incidents of freedom of press happen so often and the culprits are not warned by the top authority not to repeat or apprehended;

21. Nasir Fazol, a Citizen Newspaper reporter, was detained in September 2012 by security and later released without charges, according to South Sudanese media and the Committee to Protect Journalists;

22. 35 Eritrean citizens have been killed in Juba, according to Deputy Chairperson of Eritrean Community quoted by the Sudd Institute;

23. As of the end of September 2012, about 15 Kenyans have been killed in South Sudan within duration of one year, according to Kenyan Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister. This included Ms. Tabitha Musangi, a teacher at John Garang International School, who was shot dead for not stopping for the lowering of the South Sudan National Flag. This is a shameful act, why would someone take away a human life just for not stopping for the lowering of a national flag?;

24. And several Ugandans and Ethiopians have also been murdered in Juba.

These are disturbing incidences but they do not account for unreported cases since we just listed those that are out in the public domain. Mr. President, the best question to ask you is what have you done to ensure that these things never happen again? Of course, nothing! Another question is will your government change the course if we do not fight for the reform? No, especially now in the wake of assassination of Major Diing Chan Awuol in which your administration has shown a lukewarm response. The only way your administration will change the course is not to shut up but loudly demand a meaningful reform now rather than later. Our nation is taking a wrong direction and we, the governed, must rescue it!

III. We know your failed governance is a South Sudanese problem

We the South Sudanese, as one people, must understand that the above mentioned incidents are cases of individuals who stood up to the most powerful for the sake of all South Sudanese to have a nation that is worthy of their sacrifices. They are as well cases of citizens being killed in their villages and in Juba with your government doing little to protect them. They are cases of individual journalists and civil rights activists who are doing their parts to ensure South Sudan is on the right track. We aspire to raise our nation up to a more perfect union where freedom of expression on all sorts of issues important to our nation are respected and valued. We aspire for a nation in which the citizens can independently express their views including sometimes using incendiary words without fear of overreach by the State. For example President Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair and many others were called idiots, yet they had successful administrations. Why not you too President Kiir because this is what it means to lead a democratic nation in which freedom of expression is cherished and protected?

We want to say no to borrowed bad governance styles from Khartoum, Nairobi and Kampala. Please, import only the good stuffs! We are seeing a nation in which enough material resources have been looted and innocent lives have been taken away without your administration holding those responsible accountable for their actions. Once accountability and freedom of expression are prohibited, your administration and its inner circle will live in a bubble and groupthink and you will only be told what you want to hear instead of what you ought to hear and that is a national problem for all South Sudanese.

We are taking a stand now rather than later for the sake of freedom from your autocratic rule. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: with rampant innocent killings, a red line has been clearly crossed and the people of South Sudan are setting a zero tolerance on your autocratic rule and failed policies of your administration.

IV. We believe elements within the security apparatus are key suspects for Major Diing’s assassination

The politics of intimidation rooted in the philosophical attitude to silence political opponent or critics, is not a secret practice by your security personnel.  As we look at this case of deteriorating security situation in South Sudan, we have to look at no other entity but security personnel of your administration as the suspects of killings and harassments of innocent civilians, South Sudanese and foreigners alike. Incidents prior to the assassination of late Diing make us to believe some elements within your security forces are major suspects. It is worth noting that Major Diing wrote several opinion articles which criticized you including an opinion piece critical of your administration’s foreign policy decisions particularly on the Malwal Dinkas’ 14 miles land corridor conceded as a demilitarized zone although it has never ever been contested by the North before because it is Malwal Dinkas’ Land right inside South Sudan. The piece was well liked by South Sudanese across the board but hated by your Morons, Mr. President Kiir! Here are some of the evidences why we think your security personnel are the suspects and as someone in charge, you should arrest them:

• Major Diing received death threats from individuals at the national security with warning to him to stop or face elimination;
• He was shown his printed articles by the security personnel and warned to stop writings against the president or he would be eliminated;
• After these warning from your security forces, a few days later, Major Diing was shot dead. The public, including this committee, think that this is not a mere coincidence.

South Sudanese have also seen you as someone who has increasingly become intolerant to the freedom of expression. Not arresting those suspects would make South Sudanese believe you have a hand in the incidents of suppression of freedom of expression because of your reaction or lack of action. For example, during the demonstration against Mile 14, you appeared in public and geared your anger at the returning diaspora with a hate speech making the case that the demonstrators against 14 mile land concession were returning members of South Sudanese diaspora instigating lawlessness in South Sudan. Mr. President, how dare are you to insult the intellect of all protesting South Sudanese who never set feet on foreign lands? Don’t you think that they get it when their land is being conceded to the North inch by inch? How about the returning South Sudanese diaspora’s right to protest South Sudanese government’s incompetence to negotiating favorable terms for the South Sudanese? Are they only South Sudanese when they protest against Khartoum in foreign capitals? Major Diing’s assassination was a tragedy that shook the whole world but what was the reaction from your administration? A lukewarm and crocodile tears to say the least! There were cases of weird reactions by your administration’s officials and by you, Mr. President, that raise a question as to whether or not the administration might be more knowledgeable of Major Diing’s killers; for example:

1. The Minister of Information, Marial Benjamin Bil, confirmed and we paraphrased here that there was 70 percent chance that Major Diing’s unfortunate pointblank fatal shooting was an assassination. How and Why? Well, Mr. Minister, you have to make elaboration more on the assassination thing because it appears as if you could say more right there about the culprits of this unfortunate assassination of, Major Diing Chan Awuol, one of the most outspoken administration’s critics. Are we pointing fingers at Minister Bil? Of course, not but 70 percent is a heck of a probability that someone must be closer to being sure about such an eventuality;

2. The Minister of Interior confirmed that it was due to the inexperience of the police officers that this incident happened. But Minister, can you tell South Sudanese under whose authority are these police officers? What have you done in the recent past to reverse the lawlessness and senseless killings in Juba and other major towns across the Republic of South Sudan? The responsibility to keep law and order rests squarely on no other person but you;

3. Then we had this example, Mr. President, where you were coolly telling the police force to the effect that “This is what I have been telling you……” Telling them to do what? And now that they have not been listening to you in order to keep law and order, what happens next? Mr. President, don’t you know that nobody else has power if your security personnel are made all powerful to override everybody? It is now clear that your security forces are focusing on silencing South Sudanese than confronting David Yauyau and other security threats facing South Sudan;

4. Then, Mr. President, you who should have called the press conference and not only condemn this senseless assassination but also promise to commit yourself to bringing those who committed this heinous crime to book had to be chased down by the media to make comments on the incident. But to add a salt to the injury, Mr. President, you never showed up at Major Diing’s funeral a few days ago. The question we ask is why didn’t you come to Major Diing’s funeral, Mr. President? You had nothing to be afraid of; otherwise your absence raised eyebrows. We don’t kill; if we do, Bashir couldn’t have come to the funeral of Dr. Garang and left safely last time, remember! What we would have liked to see is you coming and explaining to the nation what has just happened; that is all! Really, so, what picture do you think your absence showed to the United States ambassador? We had the same observation during Jonglei ethnic violence last year when Johnson of the United Nations had to be the one to visit the area and you neither showed up nor said a word! What a catastrophic leadership! Mind you, in the state of panic and hopelessness in a nation, it is the president of the republic that has to appear and show courage and comfort to the whole nation — not the other way around. Just look at your video screen to see President Obama shading tears at his press appearance following the senseless massacre of little children in an elementary school in the State of Connecticut, USA. Why didn’t you show up for heavenly sake, Mr. President? Your incompetence reminds us of 1991 Gilo River’s debacle following the relocation of South Sudanese out of Ethiopian border when lots of South Sudanese and Nubians drowned and you had to be rushed to the other side of Gilo River to escape being captured by the advancing Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Forces.

The takeaway from those few examples regarding the assassination of Major Diing is we have a reason to believe he was assassinated by security personnel close to your inner circle, Mr. President. It is either you have lost control over the security personnel or they are committing these crimes with your full backing. The only way South Sudanese could be convinced otherwise is if you actually bring these individuals to justice for your inner circle cabals know who these culprits are, period.

V. We believe concentrated power in the presidency stifles checks and balances

One has to question our strong indictment of the president’s inner circle wondering if we are being balanced and sensible. But what else could we say especially if the power to govern the nations rests with the president and his inner circle? Mr. President, nobody else shares the responsibility with you and your security apparatus.

In our November, 2011 position paper on cabinet appointments, here is what we concluded as far as the balance of power was concerned “There is no question, the three branches of the South Sudan government: the legislature, executive, and judiciary are not independent from each other as the executive seems to have veto powers over all the decisions to the detriment of the other two branches.”

We then recommended that “The constitution needs to set up a system of checks and balances to help ensure that no one branch can be more powerful than the other. Each branch has powers that it can wield to keep the other branches in check. If the system of checks and balances were in place, the executive would have arranged to have all the president’s cabinet and judicial appointees scrutinized and confirmed by the legislature.”  

Unfortunately, our recommendations fell on deaf ears and we are making a further conclusion that in the days when government’s critics such as Major Diing are cold bloodedly murdered with impunity, the power now rests with your inner circle cabals and security personnel, Mr. President. We now can categorically say that the assassination of Major Diing is a tip of a bigger iceberg. It is a wakeup call to all South Sudanese; what happened to him is an indication of fate for every South Sudanese who walks in Isaiah’s shoes. It is an indication of a turning point in South Sudanese history from a true democracy that so much blood has been spilled to a one man’s timeless dictatorship. Mr. President, this is the beginning of the implementation of the plans that you put in place when you formed your first cabinet a year ago and aggregated power within your circles and championed a constitution that gives you absolute powers to be able to commit blunders of this nature and still get away without accountability. It is a first sign that billions of dollars spent in South Sudan every year are being used to build a system that is dangerous to humanity and the world over. We have to ask you to change course and lead as people’s president — Not as your inner circle cabals’ and security personnel’s president!

VI. We ask you to change course now rather than later

You have and will have a very hard time convincing the people of South Sudan that you are the man we knew during the liberation struggle. The Commander Kiir we knew was calm, patient, laid back and loathed vengeance. Your personality during struggling years made people forget your colossal strategic and tactical errors such as River Gilo’s tragedy we already alluded to. But President Kiir we know today is clearly different in terms of personality and governance! Mr. President, you seem to have been spoiled by money and lust for unquestionable powers. As we stated up front, we are unmistakably asking you to commit yourself to correct the ills and wrongs that have been done to South Sudanese on your watch if you are serious about reestablishing your credibility and reassuring the wronged and victimized South Sudanese. Mr. President, we reiterate, the following must happen in order to rescue this hopeless and anarchic state of affairs in South Sudan:

1. Establishment of a rigorous system and culture of accountability that ensure those who commit crimes are brought to book and those who abuse power and fail in their duties are fired;

2. Establishment of an independent tribunal to work with the FBI to investigate the motive behind the assassination of Isaiah Abraham and apprehension of culprits as well as delivery of justice.  We ask for a maximum cooperation and restraint from interfering with the investigation;

3. Establishment of an independent committee composed of South Sudanese known for impartiality, sound judgment and level of expertise to investigate the Wau Massacre and restore peace;

4. Suspension and prosecution of those suspected to be responsible for the disappearance of 4 billion US dollars;

5. Removals of chiefs of internal and external security branches (Akol Khor Kuch and Thomas Duoth as well as Brig. Gen. Mou Thiik (Internal Security) and Brig. Paul Nang Majok External Security)). Why? These individuals are responsible for all the intelligence and failure gaps as well as deteriorating security in our major towns and troubled states such as Juba, Wau, Lakes, and Jonglei respectively. The case of Isaiah Abraham is one among many failures or stark involvement of death/hit squads affiliated to these institutions;

6. Immediate removals of Police IGP – Acuil Tito Madut and CID chief and replacements with credible individuals betted by the parliament of the Republic of South Sudan;

7. Dismissal of those in the presidential protection unit and replacement with fresh members and leadership team;

8. Urgent reform of the security sector – especially the armed forces and notorious Military Intelligence. This will include enforcement of accountability on the security forces. For examples, officers who take law into their hands such as torturing and beating people should be fired and punished in accordance with the law to deter others;

9. Immediate passage of media and access to information bill including protection of freedom of expression with illegalization of media monitoring and censorship by the national security;

10. Establishment of a clear roadmap on nation-building and peace and reconciliation in the country in order to foster unity and national cohesion;

11. Clear definition of division of powers between executive, judiciary and legislature as well as between states and the federal government. This will promote checks and balances and will promote efficiency in services delivery and security;

12. Reshuffling to accommodate for power sharing within the cabinet and the re-examination of the constitution to balance the powers of the government branches;

13. Enacting of a law to combat child abduction, cattle rustling and tribal killings. The law should declare any armed tribal elements who engage in child abduction and cattle rustling and killing as criminals who should pay the harshest punishment possible;

14. Protection of civilian population in Jonglei State by the SPLA forces by preventing attacks or fighting those who attack civilians regardless of where those attackers are from;

15.  And passing a law defining the role of national security and what constitute a threat to national security, of which freedom of expression is not one of them.

Mr. President, once these changes are effected, South Sudanese and the world over may give your administration a second look and there is always a period of redemption. Your legacy which is what should be your most important focus may be redeemed. But it is up to you to choose to make those changes on the timeline provided. This is the final and last chance we give you and your administration before we bring the issue to the international stage. And it will be your foreign policy nightmare. Mr. President, if nothing changes in the foreseeable future, we have the recourse to wage a diplomat campaign against your administration and it will take different forms noted in the following section of the paper.

VII. We will resort to peaceful recourse if you do not change course

Mr. President, we say we have the recourse to campaign for changes within your administration because we know where you stand on the international stage. You are very close to isolating yourself already. It is now a known fact that the sour relationship between you and our important allies in the west is an indication of your failures in governance across the board. Mr. President, you need to be reminded that gone are the days when, you and other government officials were greeted with flowers when you come to the West. Those days will be over until you change the course of directions of our country. You will be greeted with voices, signs and all sorts of expressions through peaceful protests that will make you so uncomfortable. So, you have two choices, change or don’t and our peaceful protests against you begin immediately. Mr. President, if you do not change the course within a foreseeable future, we will no doubt resort to the following measures, among other peaceful options:

1. We will start to demonstrate in Washington D.C. and New York City and other western centers of power against the dictatorial system of government put in place by you in the Republic of South Sudan;

2. We will begin to talk with our Congressional delegations from our own states and write our petitions to the entire Congress, White House, and the United Nations asking them to put pressure on you to change the course of governance in the Republic of South Sudan;

3. As we alluded to earlier, we will protest at any of your public gatherings should you come on your official visits to the Western Capitols;

4. We will begin to consult our lawyers to think about an ICC option for suspects responsible for assassinating innocent South Sudanese including Major Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol;

5. And Egyptian and Tunisian like protests and demonstrations will be options to consider as well.

We will not rest until you change the way you and your security personnel are running the country today. It is a cause larger than ourselves and we, South Sudanese, are entitled to call for another revolution. Why, not? Even the Egyptians that brought down the regime of Hosni Mubarak are now back on Tahrir Square asking for Mohammed Morsi to step down because his dictatorial signals weren’t apparent when they went to election booths this year to elect him the President of the Republic of Egypt!

VIII. Concluding summary

We conclude our position paper with message to all South Sudanese. Dear South Sudanese, we need to reflect on what we told the disaffected South Sudanese Youths in our November, 2011 position. We told our Youths that “[B]e reminded that you are the conscience and stewards of this very young nation. Our fervent plea to you is this: Let us be the generation that saves South Sudan from the wraths of tribalism, where leaders and communities, large and small, are constantly set against one another. A nation does not belong to those in power. Let us not wait for all leaders to come and empower us to help our people and communities. Start wherever you are to help children and the elderly in whatever small way you can. Such a small measure inspires hope. Plus, you know it takes sustained activism to bring about social change. If the entire youth fraternity works in our communities by sharing all the ideas for increasing opportunities and reducing poverty, our nation and the way of life can surely change.”

Given what we have seen so far since the formation of the government of the independence of the Republic of South Sudan when we had to make a stand on cabinet appointments, we were right then and we are still right today because things have even gotten worse than when we wrote our position paper. We now modify our position to argue that not only the Youths but also all South Sudanese must work hard to force the administration to reform and make meaningful changes within its ranks and files as laid out in the above demands.

Dear South Sudanese, what we now face is a clear demonstration of complete autocracy that knows no tribes or clans. It is our problem all of us as South Sudanese and it is us who will force the government to make meaningful reforms. It is not our desire to cause the disintegration of the little progress that has been made since CPA but common sense tells people of South Sudan that it is better to fight this corrupt government now rather than later when it takes roots and becomes stronger and harder to fight. That is why we are going to work with you, the peace and democracy loving people of South Sudan and the world, to make sure that this government changes for the better or get out of the way to give the people of South Sudan a long overdue prosperity. We will have to establish a solidarity networks for democracy among ourselves as people of South Sudan around the world and work tirelessly to empower the grassroots citizenry and will never stop working until democracy reigns in the Republic of South Sudan.

PREPARED AND SIGNED BY:

Governmental Affairs Committee

Advisory Board to Governmental Affairs Committee

Board of Trustees

Reuben Guguei Panchol, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, [email protected]

Committee of county Presidents