By Margaret Akulia, Canada
“The independence of South Sudan from Sudan, which occurred on July 9, 2011, did not come out of the blue. All the Southern Sudanese participated in it, and the credit must be given to all of them whether they are majority or minority. Their equal participation from battlefields, negotiations, and the referendum should be acknowledged, as all those phases were necessary in bringing about an independent South Sudan nation”.
“The Rise and Fall of SPLM/SPLA Leadership—basically refers to the old SPLM/SPLA leadership, or, most importantly, the nine founding members of the SPLA, many of whom were murdered by their colleagues in the SPLA in cold blood for their fight for an independent South Sudan instead of a united Sudan.”
“I have no ill intentions toward any of the nine founding members of the SPLM/SPLA, whether alive or dead, but I am furious about many of their misdeeds, which actually derailed the progress of the South Sudan struggle for independence and created a strong hatred among our people in general, which will take a long time to conciliate.”
February 18, 2016 (SSNA) — Those are the words of Daniel Wuor Joak in his jaw-dropping book “THE RISE AND FALL OF SPLM/SPLA LEADERSHIP” (http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-SPLM-SPLA-Leadership/dp/1519374879/). Dedicated to Samuel Gai Tut, a prominent Southern Sudanese separatist murdered in cold blood by John Garang and Salva Kiir’s SPLM/SPLA after being enticed with a false promise of reconciliation and merger between his Anya Nya II movement and the SPLM/SPLA, Daniel Wuor Joak’s “THE RISE AND FALL OF SPLM/SPLA LEADERSHIP” and his upcoming Biography “TRUTH MUST BE TOLD” lays bare the fact that Salva Kiir and his cronies could not be trusted at the time they murdered Samuel Gai Tut and they CANNOT be trusted now to provide security for Riek Machar, his cronies, South Sudanese and foreigners alike! Consequently, they should not, cannot and must not be aided and abetted with a shoddy implementation of the August 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS).
Outlining the history of Sudan and Southern Sudan from the liberation struggle ignited in Torit on August 18, 1955 through to the independence of South Sudan and the massacre of innocent and unarmed South Sudanese citizens from the Nuer tribe in December 2013, which was what impelled the sadistic war preceding the August 2015 Agreement, “THE RISE AND FALL OF SPLM/SPLA LEADERSHIP” (http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-SPLM-SPLA-Leadership/dp/1519374879/) underscores the precarious nature of the August 2015, Agreement. This is because it provides sufficient content to fully understand and shed extra light on the modus operandi of the SPLM/SPLA.
Trickery and treachery rank very high in the SPLM/SPLA method of operation, along with cold-blooded murder and the most abhorrent forms of lawlessness. These were what characterized the SPLM/SPLA at the time its members killed Samuel Gai Tut, the other Southern Sudan separatists and innocent and unarmed civilians and they are the same maniacal behaviours that typify the anarchic party’s actions now.
At the centre of Daniel Wuor Joak’s “THE RISE AND FALL OF SPLM/SPLA LEADERSHIP” (http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-SPLM-SPLA-Leadership/dp/1519374879/) is the adage “if it looks like a dog, walks like a dog and barks like a dog, then it is a dog!” In other words, the same SPLM/SPLA that continues to murder South Sudanese with impunity will never be anything else but the heartless and destructive scheme it has been since its rigged inception. The only difference between the time its members killed Samuel Gai Tut and the other Southern Sudan separatists and their current alleged plots to assassinate Riek Machar and members of the SPLM-IO by luring them to their lion’s den without implementing the security arrangements stipulated in Chapter II of the August 2015 Agreement in their entirety is that the SPLM/SPLA is no longer able to hide its malevolence and depravity because the vile behaviours of its members now occur in plain view of everyone thanks to the internet and social media.
Fresh off the press and now available through http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-SPLM-SPLA-Leadership/dp/1519374879/ “THE RISE AND FALL OF SPLM/SPLA LEADERSHIP” speaks compellingly to the critical reason the August 2015 Agreement must be implemented by the book! This means that the laissez-faire stance that is currently condoning and exacerbating Kiir’s unconcealed infringements of the August 2015 Agreement must be brought to an end at once because the issue is no longer about pressuring Riek Machar to walk into an SPLM/SPLA Juba booby trap like an ensnared wildebeest. It is about a whole lot more including but not limited to rescuing South Sudan and its suffering masses from the unparalleled evil that continues unabated, the inaction by the toothless United Nations that was admonished by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his speech to the 70th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (http://webtv.un.org/search/israel-general-debate-70th-session/4524065777001?term=Benjamin Netanyahu), rewarding genocide and a myriad of indiscretions by parties that have the power to end the suffering of South Sudanese at the hands of a callous so-called liberation party but choose not to!
Acting like the proverbial ostrich by closing the eyes to the shoddy implementation of the August 2015 Agreement is irresponsible at best. Allowing Salva Kiir and his cronies to dictate how the August 2015 Agreement is implemented by placing the cart before the horse where security arrangements are concerned is destroying a major opportunity for permanent peace in South Sudan. Salva Kiir and his cronies hurriedly implementing a half-baked August 2015 Agreement without addressing the core issues stipulated in it are the same devious moves outlined in “THE RISE AND FALL OF SPLM/SPLA LEADERSHIP” (http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-SPLM-SPLA-Leadership/dp/1519374879/). In the present case, the crafty moves are purposed for harming Riek Machar and his cronies, derailing the August 2015 Agreement, prolonging the suffering of South Sudanese and latching onto a country the same SPLM/SPLA was fixatedly opposed to the time its members killed Samuel Gai Tut and the other Southern Sudan separatists for intrepidly pursuing an independent South Sudan when the SPLM/SPLA was single-minded about having a united Sudan.
Daniel Wuor Joak’s “THE RISE AND FALL OF SPLM/SPLA LEADERSHIP” and his upcoming Biography “TRUTH MUST BE TOLD” set in motion thorny conversations that must occur if both the August 2015 Agreement and South Sudan are to be salvaged. He deserves much credit for the patriotic stance he takes in both books because in them, he advocates for all the 64 tribes of South Sudan and not just his Nuer tribe.
Margaret Akulia is Moderator for the web series “ENGAGING ALL THE VOICES IN MAPPING A DIFFERENT WAY FORWARD FOR SOUTH SUDAN being offered on line throughwww.savesouthsudan.com.