Press Release—For Immediate Release!
July 3, 2014 (SSNA) — As her term end draws closer, just near here around the corner with only hours to go. We, the Nuer Youths Union (NUYU) in South Sudan would like, in this statement, to register our honor, thanks and appreciations to the outgoing UNSG’s special Representative in South Sudan, Hilde (aka Nyatehka) Johnson for the tremendous job well done. This statement will briefly centered on instrumental roles Hilde had played, before and after Independence, undeniably for the betterment of all South Sudanese people and how UNMISS under her impartial leadership saved the lives of Nuer Civilians after 15 Dec, 2013. This is our first farewell press statement in an honor to Ms. Hilde Frafjord Johnson. Saliently, to start with, Ms. Johnson actively and personally participated in processes led to the former Sudan’s Southern regional Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed on 9 January 2005, in Niavasha, Kenya.
We can brilliantly acknowledge that she, H. Frafjord Johnson in her capacity as Norwegian’s foreign Minister by then, was among the Southern Sudanese’s International—Western Helpers who exerted remarkable efforts on Khartoum in order to negotiate what South Sudanese people wanted. Indeed, she diligently as Norwegian official, in charge of foreign issues and other influential dignitaries from developed countries like UK, France, the US and Canada, had to midwife the CPA. The today hijacked Republic of South Sudan as well, thereafter had to midwife by the same Western successful politicians including Hidle Johnson. This is memorable good thing Ms. Hilde Johnson had done to South Sudanese as a country. Again, when the UN’s Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon appointed her as his Special Representative in South Sudan on 8 July 2011, she also ethically started nursing the new born child “The Republic of South Sudan”. Ms. Johnson did not just nurse the Child and sat in the office idle. She speedily, however, embarked on showing the new born Child leaders how post independent or post—war traumatic obstacles could be purposely avoid. All these were for South Sudanese people to preserve unity in diversity among different ethnic groups in the country. That is, literally, to mention Ms. Hilde Johnson had been a peace—broker and really done her part in seeing to it that South Sudan after independence become modern and progressive like any other countries in term of styles and peaceful. The UN and her personal advices on how to avoid this unspeakable present chaos could widely be heard in South Sudan. These above sentences are the significant features which in brief manifested Johnson’s pivotal roles that she had played before and after CPA. In the post Independent issues either and all those achievements she has been doing all along.
On 15 December 2013 South Sudan embroiled in a deadly political violent which caught our dismay, when it turned against one ethnic group. The Nuer civilians brutally killed in Juba for an obscure reason. In that first black days, started on Monday 16 Dec through 17, 18….20th Dec the innocent civilians who were stranded in their houses or just try to hide around unhide able suburbs of Juba city. Where they were susceptible to death and lost thousands lives as a result of knowing nowhere to go or get safety. Most innocent Nuer elderly, children, women and civilians who lost their lives didn’t actually know where they could get safety in the first week of that indiscriminate conflict. While those who knew UNMISS compounds had been block by well armed hunters. How to reach UNMISS camps wasn’t only so difficult but also deadly routes. This is how Nuer could lose over 20,000 people to the national special organized forces. Hence, if there are to be survivors of Nuer civilians the world can see today in Juba UNMISS IDPs camps, Bor, Malakal, Bentiu as well as other areas, must be because of UNMISS, under Hidle Johnson who wasted no time but quickly took responsibility of protecting civilians. When, Hildle swiftly instructed the UNMISS to open its doors for all civilians, the Nuer, who were being hunted like gazelles in the forest by those murders.
Accordingly, as they were ordered, UNMISS’s conventional forces took up their jobs by protecting vulnerable people. The UN civilians’ vehicles or buses were decisively and responsibly deployed to fetch any vulnerable civilian found stranded in Juba NINE main suburbs and other three states of Greater Upper Nile. In Juba alone within that very short time, over twenty thousand innocent Nuer people increasingly counted to have lost their lives. Therefore, that is why we can say, the survivors now in Juba UNMISS’s IDPs camps and elsewhere are still alive there because of Ms. Hidle Johnson. For this obvious reason Ms. Hidle Frafjord Johnson has been (nicknamed) given a new name “Nyatehka” by this Union, the Nuer Youth Union (NUYU). “Nyatehka” in English literally translates as a “daughter—girl of peace or a lady whom managed to save the lives of people from what kills them”. So, the first name, Hidle is changed and famously now known by the Nuer people she saved as Ms. Nyatehka F. Johnson. Thus, in any conversations about her, Ms. Johnson, you can hardly now hear them, the Nuer people, saying Hidle F. Johnson. When referring to Hidle, we say Ms. Nyatehka F. Johnson. Moreover, we are calling upon Ms. Frafjord Johnson to accept the new name given to her by our community, the Nuer. Frankly speaking, the NUYU is not all that happy to have Nyatehka Johnson changed as UNMISS mission head/leaves the country by 9 July 2014. It is only because UN is a global body with fixed rules and periodical term limit given; otherwise, NUYU and South Sudanese people would have requested Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the UN’s Secretary General to have Ms. Johnson’s term in office renewed as South Sudan UN mission head. Shockingly, on 17 April in Bor’s UNMISS protection site over three hundreds (300) Nuer civilians in front of the world were murdered and slaughtered by the same organized forces. We never call that an UNMISS’s total failure to protect vulnerable civilians but we termed it as one of the sitting megalomaniac leader’s circumvents.
In conclusion, we would like once more to reiterate our thanks and appreciations to UN Mission in South Sudan under the successful and impartial leadership of Ms. Nyatehka F. Johnson for those splendid achievements. We can also compliment all UN staffs for their being consistently cooperative to Nuer Civilians under UN protection sites. Squarely, to the UN military forces battalions and police who have been valiantly protecting our families members, mothers and children in UN bases over the last six and half months, across the country. We also want, gladly, to extract from the bottom of our hearts, endless appreciations to reach all UN humanitarian Agencies and International Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) for having been relentlessly helping our community in relieving it from horrific situations of deadly diseases and starvation. We counted all these successes on Ms. Nyatehka Frafjord Johnson’s tenure in UNMISS’s top Office worth remain mandated if..!. We wish peace had returned to the country earlier, months ago, for we, the Nuer Youth Union (NUYU) would organize national farewell celebrations in an honor to the UNMISS’s outgoing Chief, H: E Ms.Nyatehka Frafjord Johnson in the National flat form. Anyway, Ms. Nyatehka F. Johnson can stay blessed!
Thank you very much.
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