By Dr. Peter Kopling
December 3, 2014 (SSNA) — Contrary to Kiir’s supposed quest for peace in the war torn South Sudan, our nation is made to understand through a graduation speech delivered by the country’s failed defense minister Kuol Manyang Juuk, whose name in most circle is synonym to blood bath. Indisputably, Kuol Mnyang killed single handedly more southerner than any single Jalaba has ever done in the war of liberations and he lives to tell it.
It must be recalled that the violence in Jonglei state started when Koul Manyang was the state Governor, He failed miserably at state level to broker peace and his state became the most violent even before the outbreak of the current war. He did nothing to address the unrest; instead he exacerbated it by arming his Dinka tribesmen and disarming the Murle so that his kin can penetrate and strike freely, and to commit genocide against the minority Murle tribe.
Juuk’s speech is not only despicable and must be condemned by all peace loving citizens of this great nation, but it is also advocating for more bloodshed and violence against Women in particular and children who have suffered disproportionally in this genocidal tribal war initiated by Kiir.
His disgraceful speech has revealed that it is all lip service and to draw wolf in peoples eyes when, the Kiir’s government claims the 23% of ministerial and other posts in his government are allotted to women. Something that is clearly to fool the world and to portray to the world that this oppressive regime abides by and protects issue of importance to women and their rights, but in actuality the speech by the blood drenched defense minister reveals to the contrary and made it crystal clear that women in South Sudan amounts to nothing.
According to Koul Manyang, simply because they, the Women, wear skirts and walk around with braided hairs, they are the lowest of the low. He said in no uncertain terms, that his tribal government has no ability to protect the vulnerable and that only those with guns matter and if you cannot kill in South Sudan, you amount to nothing! If you refused to kill in South Sudan, you should be arrested!
On Saturday 29 November at a graduation ceremony attended by both, the defense Minister Koul Manyang, and the belligerent south Sudan’s general chief of staff Paul Malong Awan, the failed Defense minister Juuk urged the 3000 graduates mainly from his Dinka tribe to defend the so called constitution of the country, but at the same time he instigated the youth to violence against the vulnerable, by equating them to women if they do not want to fight, thus he called for more of the genocidal war, absolutely unacceptable view coming from someone occupying a very responsible position that of the defense Minister.
In the speech published by Sudan tribune on 29 November, the defense minister made despicable utterances, he warned that youths who attempt to escape from the army would be punished while those who decline to join were “merely women”.
This is an insult to all women of South Sudan to include his mother, sisters, and daughters not only that but also including the acting secretary general of the SPLA Dr Ann Itto, and other prominent women like Gamma Nunu Komba,Nyandeng Malek Deliech, the governor of Warrap state just to mention a few great females of our nation.
In his mind these are all decorative objects!
However the defense minister continues with his abusive language against women by saying “If you refuse to join the army, let your hair be plated and we will buy you a skirt. It means you will no longer be a man, but a typical woman”.
This is utterly pathetic and backward remarks coming from such an important position of the Minister, while some women in our country including those in uniforms of which Koul Manyang is their boss continues to take bullets on daily basis in the frontlines to protect the narrow minded individuals like the defense minister.
Moreover this is also violation of Article 2, of UN convention of December 1948, the universal declaration of human rights; article II clearly stated “No inflammatory discriminations.”
These rights belong to everybody, whatever the gender. In fact what this article is saying is that all man and woman have equal fundamental rights regardless of their sex, race, age, career etc.
In traditional Scotland, men wear skirts and that do not make them women whatever being a woman is supposed to mean by the derogatory remarks of the defense minister. What about when the defense minister was growing up in cattle camps wearing nothing, running around naked after cows, was he still superior to any women as naked and primitive as he was?
This uncalled for inflammatory and discriminatory speech by Mr. Defense minister is intended to provoke, and instigate the youth to kill anyone opposed to the government including women, because if they don’t do or join the army in the view of the Minister, they are women!
Since the Minister undermined the women of South Sudan and considers them worthless in his words, this includes some of the prominent women as already stated, the likes of Dr. Ann Itto herself, a member of high SPLA organs the “ political bureau and national liberation council,” but yet in the eyes of this government they amount to nothing simply because they are women, or because they puts on skirts, is it any wonder then, these women are ineffective in guiding this government to a better path?
The women in South Sudan then better start wearing trousers and cut their hairs short instead of braiding them! Oh and start killing like the mindless, primitive tribal men of South Sudan who have become agents of death and killing machines, whose existance is converted to soley keeping these bigots in power, than of development else they will forever remain “Typical women” and amounts to nothing leave alone respect and right to life!
The UN convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women/CEDAW, during this extra ordinary convention adopted by many nations in 1979, agreed on article 2, quote here “For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "discrimination against women" shall mean any Distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of Impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital Status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field”
These forms of rhetoric is nothing more than an intentional design, to undermine the great contribution made by women in our nation, it is a common knowledge if Women where in charge of our nation we shall not see this kind of blood bath. Instead of appreciating and encouraging woman in peace finding and nation building, the defense Minister acted in violation of women’s right as if he was not born of a woman.
Are we hardly surprised by this attitude of one whose place should have not been the head of the ministry of defense but rather indicted in international criminal court /ICC in The Hague, for murdering hundreds of innocent Fellow Southerners during the war of liberation to include by some report the murder of his very own biological mother who had refused to give her cows to feed the SPLA, if he can killed his own mother, is it any wonder he disregards women?
The defense minister’s view is not compatible with life in 2014, it indicates he still thinks women are properties of men; as such their duties are to do domestic works including milking cows as is in his cattle culture.
I urge all intellectuals, men and women, to protest again the devaluating remarks of the defense minister. We cannot allow such attitude to prevail in our nation, and we must strongly demands apology and the resignation of the defense minister for encouraging crimes against women.
As of recent when the head of civil society, Mr. Deng, declared “ those who are paying the cost of the war are the grassroots, the leadership do not feel the weight of the war because the president and Riek have no sons in the army” he was forced to apologized to the president, if the civil society leader can be forced to apologized to the President for what is plain fact and truth, then why can’t the blood drenched and the failed defense minister quit his post for insulting our mothers, sisters, daughters and wives? What he said constitutes, discrimination and abuse and inflaming the culture of violence against our women including his own wife but also that of President Kiir’s wife or wives.
"He who maintains silence in the face of massacre is murderer himself"
Dr Peter Kopling Josep, MD, lives in the Republic of South Sudan. He can be reached at [email protected].