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May 5th, 2012 at 4:15 am

Dear Mr. President,

 

 

Allow me to write in response to the on-going political as well as military surge between the Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan. Much has been written and said about this which is why I shall not assume the possibility of drawing your attention in respect to what I am about to say in my writing. As a citizen of this nation, my responsibility under the constitution is simply to express an opinion which per se may not influence your Excellency to duly rely on especially when it comes to taking tough military decisions. But it is my justified view that our nation needs collective responsibility in safeguarding and protecting its sovereignty by all means including and not limited to advising your Excellency as a citizen filled with sense of patriotism!

A lot has happened since the capture of Panthou and I shall not dwell much on what we have handled with sensibility. Let me applaud your wise leadership for setting standards which the regimes in Khartoum have, over the decades, failed to set. Respecting international norms and customs with respect to humanitarian law is such a good thing that we shall always be proud of and manifests itself in the way we have so far handled the boiling military build-up of the ruling authoritarian regime in Khartoum. As I shall precisely point out, the world has moved away from the era of war which Sudan, and especially the National Congress Party (NCP), is so much interested in. During moments such as this, we cannot ignore the benefits of differing views on the way forward, and I believe your Excellency must have been confronted with much more than I should say; yet there is always an end to difficulty.

 

It is true that many citizens are unhappy with your decision of withdrawing SPLA troops from Panthou. This must have been a painful decision to take but I am not unaware of the motivating circumstances leading to the taking of the said decision. On one hand, we have an obligation to ensure the maintenance of international peace and security under Chapter VII of the UN Charter; and on the other hand we have a responsibility to protect or defend not only the citizens but also the sovereignty of our state in accordance with the provision of Article 2 read together with article 53 clauses 1 and 2 of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011. Choosing between these two important alternatives must have been too painful but your Excellency acted in a truly justiciable manner. As a matter of sincerity, I was taken aback and disappointed with your Excellency’s position when I first heard and read the council of Ministers’ resolution ordering the withdrawal of our troops from Panthou. However, my disappointment dissipated with reading and understanding our obligation under international law plus the manner in which we took Panthou from the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). Although I was not supportive of your Excellency’s position along with the Council of Ministers’, I regretted my thoughts and so I understood your Excellency acted in a reasonable manner considering our pledge to respect and abide by human rights principles and the principles of international law as contained in the UN covenants. My regret is not in vain because it has been said, which I believe is true, that our gallant SPLA forces took Panthou as a result of recurrent attacks from SAF. Our taking it from them was not bad though, but taking it on the basis that it is part of South Sudan would:

Call into question our pledge to respect international norms and customs which bind nations together.

Have been a dangerous decision in terms of Khartoum reacting with swift force of a full scale war which, I think, we were not fully prepared to contain as a nation.
Make us loose our friends and, in my opinion, there would be possibility of sanctions being imposed on our state which, I think, we cannot withstand given our shaky economy because of oil shutdown!

As it is commonly known that Panthou is ours by history, there is no fear it will never be should we claim it before international tribunals such as the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague. I must say Moburuk Wa Moburukat Mr. President for the wise decision so taken!
Whereas it is my desire not to pin your Excellency down reading this lengthy letter, it is also crucial to understand the position of a concerned patriot who has sacrificed his valuable time writing to seek understanding from your Excellency. Mr. President, I shall implore you to take me as a patriot desiring to put an end to the war-mongering propaganda of Sudan and although my writing is not a binding thesis, since our learned patriots, having the foresight into world politics, have the constitutional mandate to advise your Excellency, I will add a non-binding piece of my mind.

In any given circumstances, the political idiocy of Khartoum cannot per se be taken for granted. Already Khartoum has declared war on our nation and to act in ignorance will be too dangerous especially to the legitimacy of your wise leadership. In moments like this all we need are allies having the goodwill and political interest in our affairs. I am not saying this as an answer to Khartoum military tone but I am saying it on the basis of defense with restrain should SAF step into our territory.  Before I sat down to write this letter, I had discussed a brief question with my learned colleague students who have the goodwill for this nation, and so I may be writing reflecting their shared views. The question I had asked them is: “which nation is most likely willing to help us with military aid during moments such as this?” Although there were no conclusive answers for this question, I gained courage and motivation to write this letter which I believe your Excellency will find relevant to read since it is from an ordinary citizen seeking the common good of our state.

Up to this moment of my letter Mr. President, I implore your patience to stay with me even though I seem not to point out what my letter intends to address. The point is we have a number of friendly states to look up to in terms of soliciting military aid especially when it comes to defense of our sovereignty from Khartoum’s aggression. I am obliged to think that your Excellency knows that most superpowers won’t be of help at this crucial moment when we need their help in terms of military aids as well as finances. This is based on political justifications which this letter cannot dwell on.

As far as the current political situation is concerned, Mr. President, I do not wish to puzzle your good office with, perhaps, insufficient political thoughts since I am not a politician. I have an idea which came out of a brainstorming discussion I had with my learned colleague students. My observation is based on the need to seek MILITARY AID FROM ISRAEL which I believe will be far more ready to LISTEN AND HELP US. The meeting point between our State [South Sudan] and Israel is: Israel is an enemy state number two (2) of the Republic of Sudan. Your Excellency knows that we are enemy state number (1) of the said Republic as passed by their national legislature following our occupation of Panthou.

Mr. President, we all need to recollect our memories regarding our friends that have been with us since the bush era and going through the list, I find it necessary-in my opinion, that we cannot afford to ignore mentioning the support Israel extended to us. All we need is to appreciate their support and ask for more especially in moments such as this.  As a general rule, we turn to our friends in moments of need and of excess just like a Christian does to God. This is no time to panic but it is time to think of what is best for this nation. I am undoubtful that our efforts will be in vain should we seek military aid from ISRAEL. ISRAEL has been our great friend and will continue to be! So why not exploit this opportunity while they may be willing to help us? Yes, WE can Mr. President because this is a better thing to do as we await the outcome and implementation of UN Security Council (UNSC) deliberation on adopting the African Union (AU) roadmap adopted [this week] by the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) aimed at resolving disputes between our Republic [South Sudan] and the Republic of Sudan.

May I remind your Excellency that, in a closed door meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, we need to apologise in respect to the statement your Excellency made during UN General Assembly meeting commending the giving of Palestinians their statehood. Mr. President, we all know that Israel does not and will never acknowledge or approve the statehood of Palestine because of their political as well as religious differences for decades. Approving that it is necessary to give Palestinians their state must have been a great disappointment to Israel and US alike. In this sense, our Apology will be a good move to further cement our relations and intended to solicit military aid in good faith.

Mr. President, I wish not to remind you that the superpowers are hiding their faces and expect us to seek military aid from a nation having goodwill and interest in our state of affairs. On the contrary, I have observed beyond doubt that there is something lacking within our armed forces which we cannot ask from anywhere but from ourselves. In my opinion, it is the moral our gallant armed forces had during the liberation struggle. The question is where is that moral with which, say two hundred (200), SPLA soldiers could defeat Sudan Armed forces (SAF) numbering, perhaps, a thousand (1000)?

Mr. President, this is an open question which I do not intend you to answer because the answer does not lie with you but with the army generals! The point is, during times such as this, we need to give our army at the battle-field some reasonable bonuses which, I believe, will arouse some lost moral. An increased salary during times of war, I think, is a good motivation for a soldier at the battle-field. Our army need this simple thing, Mr. President. We as a nation need to hold together facing challenges from authoritarian government of the Sudan. We can defeat them especially if we accept our weaknesses and improve on them alongside building on areas of our competences! We need to be supportive at all times: in moments of success and of defeat. And believing that ISRAEL shall give us military aid, may I ask your Excellency to direct the Chief of General Staff to ensure that Generals commanding war troops be together with them at the battle-field just as we commonly know it is an incentive for winning against an enemy and creates an element of moral necessary to cause success!

May it impress your Excellency what I shall say in curing the political disease in Khartoum. For sure, we are at times of political stress and so the mind thinks that way. I hold the view that if we need a comprehensive cure for that disease, then we must think of a regime change in Khartoum which I think we can manage given our ties with the SPLM-N and to solicit support form opposition parties may not be too difficult. Mr. President, May I remind you that the NCP is a cause of our souring relations with the Sudan. Yes I must say it is because the President of the Republic of Sudan, the Governor of Southern Kordofan and the Minister of Defense are all ICC indictees for crimes committed in relation to Darfur rebellion! Do we expect any good from this leadership having on it individuals who have records of criminal responsibility and who call us “mercenaries and Insects”? Of course not, Mr. President but I recommend your Excellency takes this as a long term comprehensive political solution. It is long term in the sense that we need to barter this idea with individual members of SPLM-N as well as unmentioned allies in the Republic of Sudan and get them on our side. We can better manage it with support from our allies but this is no time to think that way because there is a declared war on our state. So your Excellency may invest in this idea as a longer answer to the recurring political nuisance of the authoritarian regime in Khartoum!

I must apologise to your good office, Mr. President, in case I have erred in writing this letter but I am acting in my capacity as a patriotic citizen having the goodwill for our nation. May this letter give your Excellency the courage to face the current political surge with determination, confidence and motivation to invest in the democracy of our nation and to know that there are patriots who always think of this nation day and night.

Mr. President, allow me to say a big thank you for having read my letter as I have confidence in your administration as President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces.
 May God enrich your leadership with ideas necessary for the growth and flourishing of democracy and rule of law in our nation!
 God Bless South Sudan!
Kindly yours in patriotism,

 

 Magok Alier Akuot
The writer is a student of Law at Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology, Jonglei State-Bor
He can be reached at Email:
unclelouish@gmail.com

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April 4th, 2012 at 1:35 am

Magok Alier Akuot (Borglobe)


It is said that two wrongs can’t make a right. I have lost patience in the way things are done in the Republic of South Sudan and so I think that I can’t just keep quiet which is why I will ask you to read through with me as I take you along on what I think is not rightly done.Upon attainment of independence on July 9th, 2011, the Republic of South Sudan adopted the Transitional Constitution after the President of the Government of Southern Sudan and current President of the Republic of South Sudan, H.E Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, appended his signature!

 

The Transitional Constitution came into force on July 9th, 2011- the day it was adopted by the Constituent Assembly in Juba. Art 6(2) of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (TCRSS), 2011 provides that English shall be the official working language in the Republic of South Sudan as well as the language of instruction at all levels of education. Here, this provision is well laid down in a plain simple language which does not need any translation since there is no usage of the legal wording. A couple of months ago, Arabic students at the University of Bahr el Ghazal in Wau town went on strike demanding the giving of lectures in Arabic. The same criterion was used by University of Juba Arabic students demanding the giving of lectures in Arabic. In all these scenarios, something had to be done to stop the violence from escalating and what ought to be done had to be at a price!

 

The price was either to ignore the provision and deal away with its intended meaning-something lawyers call violation of the law or ignore the students’ demands which meant calling for more strikes. The said two universities had to allow the giving of lectures in Arabic just as Arabic students had demanded! This settled down well in the interest of the striking students. But did the two Universities respect Article 6(2) of the TCRSS, 2011? No, they didn’t. They simply violated it in the interest of the said category of students.  The point is I’m not against Arabic nor do I intend to suggest it is my wish Arabic is not guaranteed as an official working language in our new nation, but again it is a question of law and I should be justified to think that we have knowingly or wilfully violated the law we adopted Eight months and twenty-four days ago! Isn’t that funny? I should say it is not because there is no fun in violating our Supreme Law.

 

It all comes to who we are and what we aspire to achieve with respecting the supreme law. But when the going gets tough, perhaps the tough gets going and we may sacrifice anything including violating our supreme law as long as certain citizens who are dissatisfied with our supreme law are brought on board!Towards the end of 2011, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology-Dr. Adwok Nyaba stated that students of Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology (Dr. JG-MUST) should be given diplomas and that the faculty of law at the University would be closed down and the Law students transferred to University of Juba. This was to the astonishment of not only the students of the said University but also to all those who laid the foundation of this University! For clarity, the students enrolled for degree programmes But not diploma programmes.  

 

By this time, the University was a Branch of the Free International University of Moldova. For six months, commencing 4th February, 2008 -1st August, 2008 students enrolled for Access Course. The purpose for Access Course was to harmonise students’ academic backgrounds since these students are holders of East African High School certificates as well as Ethiopian Grade 10 and/or 12 plus less than five Sudan High School certificate holders.The degree programmes began on 15th September, 2008 under the Moldovans. Students studied for one Semester after which they were given long term vacation.  The University was taken over by South Sudanese following the appointment of Prof. Aggrey Ayuen Majok as the Vice Chancellor. Prof. Aggrey mobilised the necessary human resource including Academic staff (lecturers) and took over from Moldovans. Since then the University curriculum has been consistent for degree programmes under four faculties of Law, Science and Technology; Agriculture and Environmental Science.

 

The point is these students who are said to be given diplomas have been on campus undergoing degree training for now close to five years commencing September 2008-2012! The normal diploma programme in Sudan and perhaps in South Sudan takes three academic years. What sort of diplomas was the Minister referring to and why, of all the South Sudanese Universities, is this University singled out? Is it his jurisdiction to determine University programmes or is it the mandate of University senate? Does he have direct jurisdictions to direct VCs to award their students either Certificates, diplomas; Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate, or Honorary degrees? I don’t think so.

The position held by Dr. Adwok Nyaba is totally a political one which gives him minimal academic interference in pursuit of holistic university education. He is a policy maker who has limits contained in the Constitution as well as the Universities’ Act. The a award of a diploma as said by Dr. Adwok is entirely not his call but it’s a determination which is not, under reasonable circumstances, made by the VC but the senate as a supreme University academic body. There is a designed diploma programme which runs for three academic years but a diploma intended by the Minister to be awarded to students of Dr. JG-MUST must have been a political one which is not only in the interest of the said students but also against the interest of South Sudan as a whole. But again the question is is the Minister justified in saying that the students of Dr. JG-MUST should be awarded diplomas?

The most intriguing point is up to this moment students of Dr. JG-MUST have not been given National Identity Numbers (N.ID.N). The foundation of this University was laid by our President, H.E Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit and confirmed by the then President of the Government of National Unity (GoNU), H.E Omar Hassan Bashir during his visit to Bor Town in the 2010 Presidential elections. By this time, our current Minister of Higher Education was the Minister of   Higher Education in the (GoNU). He must have been aware of all these processes and here he is talking of having the Students of this fully pledged university awarded diplomas! This is totally outrageous and unacceptable to the students of the said University. The best approach, though, should have been a comprehensive enquiry to determine the number of credit hours as well as courses covered by the said students per their individual faculties.

 

This proves that the communication of such decision must have been, de facto as well as de jure, sloppy and so I believe the Minister acted beyond the confines of his mandate! I think that the Minister erred in his decision and should withdraw his decision in the interest of successful university education as well as the Ministry of Higher Education. But when the going gets tough I guess this is the effect of the going getting tough!Six days ago on Tuesday, the 27th March 2012, University of Juba students went on inter-communal strike. The strike involved students from Greater Equatoria and Dinka. In a nutshell, it wasn’t a kind of strike one would wish to have been involved in because it lacked the materiality of a genuine strike. Why would students strike on tribal basis for goodness sake?

 

This is totally embarrassing and the said category of students ought to apologise to the University, nation and the entire world as a whole! Normally, students strike for a common cause such as academic related issues, feeding; sanitation and tuition fees increment to mention but few. In my academic background, I have never heard students go on strike based on tribes. This is totally discouraging and brings the reputation of the most recognised nation’s University into disrepute. At the University, one is neither a Dinka, a Nuer, a Kakwa, a Lotuka, a Didinga; a Zande; a Jur, a Shilluk nor a Kachipo to mention but few. Your identity is being called. Simple as that. I was taken aback to hear the news of this barbaric strike.  Above all, it would be insufficient to think that the students were not wise to do what they did without some sort of political motivation. Well, I’m not trying to speculate and shatter your patience but I think it is better to not leave any stone unturned in order to justify the wrongfulness of students’ actions in the said strike.

 

If there was some sort of political motivation, then the students would have done what the reasonable man ought to have done in the same circumstances having reason to believe or foresee the impact of his actions. So there is no excuse blaming the politicians in this scenario because students did not do what the reasonable man should have done in the same circumstances having reason to believe or foresee the impact his actions would exert on the public and the nation as a whole. The purpose of University education is to mould you to become a responsible citizen having the desire and the moral will to develop and fight the good cause of his people. If our students begin fighting themselves now while at the University then what image are they giving the entire nation: that they will be future leaders? No. We do not condone tribal driven-conflicts especially in an intellectual family.

 

As I have said earlier, the concerned students should apologise to their communities, Juba University; General Public, Juba County, Republic of South Sudan and the entire world because their actions were totally barbaric, scandalous and primitive by nature! But when the going gets tough anything of the aforesaid, including what is not written herein the present article, can happen!  I contend that there ought to have been a better solution and to that effect the policymakers in the given scenarios should rethink and revisit their policies or decisions in order to reach a comprehensive solution. But do not forget when the going gets tough the most informed policymakers may lose track and decide beyond the limits of their jurisdictions.
 
Magok Alier Akuot is a Fourth Year Law student at Dr. JG-MUSTHe can be reached at:
unclelouish@rocketmail.com/unclelouish@gmail.com The views and opinions expressed herein the article are entirely mine and do not represent those of Dr. JG-MUST.

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April 3rd, 2012 at 2:56 am

By Agereb Leek Chol, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

4/2/2012


To whom it may concern:


Government of South Sudan (GoSS, Greater Bor Community, Atuot Community, Aliap Community, Bahr el Ghazal Community, Nuer Community, Shilluk Community, Yirol Community, Mundari Community, Murle Community, Equatoria Community, Ngok Community, Misseriya Community, and South Sudan Youth.

 

It came to my attention that Egypt’s company has begun their project to dredge Nile tributaries this month. William Gatjang Gieng, Unity State Minister of Environments and Natural Resources in Unity state, said "that the teams from the Egyptian company are working to deepen the river to allow more boats to transport goods and people. One team will dredge the Naam River from Rubkotna junction in Unity State to Lake No just north of the Sudd swamp, where the Bahr el Ghazal River meets the River Kiir. Another project will start from Wetmachar Achol in Wau, the capital of Western Bahr el Ghazal State, to Wangkeay Bridge "(Borglobe). The question is what are the advantages and disadvantages for this project to the Sudd Wetlands in South Sudan? It should be apparent that Egyptian government will take any opportunity to increase the Nile water flow by drying up the wetlands since Jonglei Canal scheme failed during the civil war.

 

It is obvious that South Sudan depend on food transported from Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. I wonder why South Sudanese are reluctant to farm nowadays. Perhaps insecurity and the new found wealth from oil is derailing agricultural production. John Kudusay once asked in his song, "who is the UN"? He says, "the UN is like us. He’s born like us and then he goes to school. After finishing school, he then go around the world and help those who need help". It would be nice everyone in South Sudan had this mentality. "The government hopes that improving river transport will allow goods and services to flow more freely and make it easier to trade and do business" (Borglobe). Despite the rise of food prices in Unity state, is this project necessary to spend 26.6 million dollars instead of building better roads in South Sudan? Why rush and clean the Nile River knowing South Sudan and Sudan have many issues that can return both countries to war? God forbid the SAF will not use the Nile River to attack the Republic of South Sudan if both countries were to return to war.

 

The attempt to dry up the Sudd in South Sudan was first envisioned by the Britain and Egypt government who jointly ruled Sudan in the 1930s. This project came be known as Jonglei Canal. The goal was to provide 20 million m3 of water per day to Egypt for agriculture use. "The project would shrink the wetlands by approximately 40%. A second phase for the project was also planned, which would completely dry up the wetlands" (Allen, 2010). However, this project never materialized until it was resurrected in the 1970s by Nimeiri government. Nimeiri believed that the Jonglei Canal would facilitate "national development" in South Sudan. Obviously, Nimeiri had no intention to develop South Sudan. Despite the opposition by politicians from South Sudan, Jonglei project proceeded. Lucky, the SPLA derailed the construction by destroying the equipment sometimes in 1983. "The Sudd Wetlands, located in Southern Sudan, is one of African’s largest wetlands (30,000-40,000 KM2, formed from the spillage of water from the Nile. The wetland supports a diversity of ecosystems with a reach flora and fauna" (IWMI), 2008).

 

Who will be affected if sudd wetlands dry up?

 

The Dinka, Nuer, and Shilluk pastoralists tribes depend on the sudd to graze their livestock, and for farming during dry seasons. Not only that, Sudd provides enormous fish production for local people who live in rural areas. In fact, if it wasn’t for these swamps during Sudan’s civil war, majority of civilians would have starved to death. There is no doubt if the Sudd wetlands dry up, South Sudanese will have to transport fish from neighboring countries. I would argue that if were not for sudd wetlands, the Sudanese Armed Forces would have weakened the SPLA because they could have easily navigated through the Nile River by boat. The question is what will these tribes do when these areas dry up? Perhaps the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) is tired of the killing caused by cattle rustling. Clearly, if these areas dry up, Sudd wetlands will experience a decrease of rainfalls and an area about 30,000 square kilometer will become a desert. Can the GoSS afford the sudd wetlands to dry up so the Nile River is passable by boats?

 

Secondly, the GoSS can’t ignore the vegetation and ecosystem that would be lost if this vast region becomes a desert. The question is what will happen to 400 species of birds and animals that rely on these wetlands? There is no doubt these species will die, and the Nile River will never be the same again. In 2008, Kenyan wildlife tourism was around 70% of Kenyan total revenue. The Sudd wetlands is a potential tourist destination if the GoSS invest their time instead of letting the Egyptian government exploit their vulnerable position.

 

In conclusion, the GoSS needs to stop this project immediately because it will change many lives in South Sudan. The GoSS need to look at the long term affects instead of relying on short term solutions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the catastrophe this project would cause to many species in South Sudan. I hope bribery didn’t influence the minister’s decision. What’s the difference between Jonglei Canal and dredging of the Nile River? Why can’t the GoSS use 26.6 million dollars to connect many roads in South Sudan instead of relying on the river for transportation? Why can’t the government use these funds to develop agricultural production instead? Until the Nile water agreement of 1929 is abolished by the riparian countries, the GoSS needs to be careful because the Egyptian government doesn’t serve the interest of South Sudan.

 

The minister should consult external experts who have no interest in the Nile River. Secondly, Sudd wetlands need to be surveyed first to understand who will be affected by the project. If the GoSS allow this project to continue then why not let the Jonglei Canal resume. Lastly, I urge the Dinka, Nuer, and Shilluk tribes who rely on the Sudd wetlands to alert their governors, commissioners, and their chiefs to alert the government about the disaster this project will do to the ecosystem. This project will affect these tribes in the short term, but the entire country will regret this in the future. Failure to act will lead to water wars within South Sudan years from now. The Dinka and Nuer will no longer have "toch" to graze their livestock during dry season. The Nilotic cultures will be lost, and everyone will have to move to ‘modern cities’ and abandon the so-called "backward society". Maybe this is one way to uproot the Nilotic culture indirectly. Most importantly, fishing will be limited unless one has modern equipment to fish in a ‘deep Nile’ River. Let’s not have rising food prices influence our decision. This problem can be solved easily if everyone gets their act together by holding their constituents accountable. We can’t keep saying if Dr. Garang de Mabior was alive today, South Sudan will be a better place. There is no doubt if he was alive, things might be different, but mourning him every day will not do us any good! Dr. Garang de Mabior and his comrades emancipated South Sudanese from Bashir’s regime, but now it’s our turn to carry on the torch. Wake up Southerners, this project will turn the Republic of South Sudan into a desert. It’s not too late to stop this project.

 


This author is a concern citizen. He can be reach at
schol@clarku.edu

 

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March 25th, 2012 at 4:17 pm

By Tearz Ayuen (Borglobe)


“Wewe! Jinga hii. Unafanya nini hapa?!  Nakuuliza, what are you doing here?”.........That was a Kenyan administration police officer barking questions at me on May 19, 2009, the very day I arrived in Nairobi following my first field trip to South Sudan where I traveled to to cover a seven-day peace conference in Bor.
That day, I touched down at Kenyatta Airport at around 2 o’clock, boarded a taxi cab to the office as required by the organization policy. I greeted colleagues and worked out a few petty assignments. About an hour later, I rode home in another taxi. By then, I was staying at my Cousin Bullen Achiek Ngong’s house at Ngara, about 3 kilometers north of downtown.


I was so exhausted, so, I decided to take a shower in order to freshen myself up. It was after I stepped out of the bathroom I remembered I had no cologne. I had forgotten the only one I had in my hotel room at Juba’s Hamza Inn.
Being a great lover of perfumes, I couldn’t resist going for another one. Hence, I dashed back to town. At Tuskys Beba Beba supermarket, the queues were so long that I painfully spent about 30 minutes standing in the line. By the time I was done buying “Tattoo Junkie” spray, it was already late - that time of the day the light undresses for darkness.
It was on a week day, meaning the evening was characterized by deafening honking, crazy human and terrific traffic jams. I had to walk a few distances towards National Archives building along Tom Mboya Street, loaded with kilos of hopes that I would quickly find route 6 Mathree to drop me off near the house.

In addition to the normal human traffic, it was also that time of Nairobi when hawkers notoriously defiantly display their second and even third-hand wares on the pavements, a behavior that pisses off the city council management because - besides the by-law prohibiting unlicensed selling of goods on the streets - it increases the likelihood of accidents and it also makes it hard for a pedestrian to squeeze his or her way through. Being used to it, I was comfortable doing the squeezing and pushing when suddenly tom Mboya Street turned into a football pitch. Everyone started chasing a ball, an imaginary ball. All the pedestrians ran into different directions. I saw men and women fall down. Upon seeing people with bleeding knees and hands as a result of bad sudden falls, my fear button got turned on, automatically, forcing me to stay put at least to figure out what exactly was going on. I tried hard to catch a glimpse of what the people where running away from or running to, but to no avail.

To my surprise, some voice echoed from behind. Ni nini unafanya hapa? I turned around only to see this sinewy cop dressed up in khaki. He was dark, round-faced, with tainted teeth.  I replied: “Boss, natakana hii commotion i-clear ndio nipande matz…..” hardly had I finished answering him when he interrupted me. “hapana! This is idling!!” He landed his rungu on my left knee. “What have I done? I asked. He ignored my question and hit me again and again.  And within split seconds, his colleagues, about five, descended from nowhere and joined him. They practiced playing xylophone on my knees till my legs refused to carry me anymore. I hit the ground with my knees. One grabbed me by my jumper and pulled me up. “nimedo makosa gani? Ni nini nimefanya? Nimewakosea aje?” I fired one question in different ways as the other officer struggled to hold me by the belt. They dragged me towards their truck, parked in the middle of the road. A huge jam had begun to build up as the police truck showed no sign of giving way. It was like they found what they were looking for -Tears Ayuen.

Many more officers got drawn to the scene as I refused to climb up the truck, seriously demanding to know where I had gone wrong first. The level of my adrenalin shot up, strengthening me. I got wild. My muscles tightened up. It was like I just received a shot of heroin. Hence I resisted the three cops who tried to force me into the vehicle. Intimidated by my unruliness, their commandant, a two-star boss breathed fire. I saw him hand his Motorola 77 and his headgear to another officer in readiness to help his juniors. Armed with various skills of manhandling a criminal, this dude grabbed me by the belt and tried to pull me up hoping that I would, with uneasiness, stand on my toes, an attempt that produced no fruits because he was a dwarf, almost the size of Inspector Mwala. In fact, I mistook him for Mwala until we got to the station.

A few seconds later, I felt some hand fumbling between my legs. It was a huge, rough, semi-metallic, bowl-like hand. My instincts told me that it was searching for my young precious fertile balls to squash them, explode them. With balls being very significant to me, I acted swiftly and smartly by deploying a tactics. I was in strong moderately tight pants, and they were almost falling as usual. To counter the ball-squeezing hand, the hand of infertility, the hand of extra-judicial castration, the hand of permanent emotional agony, I stretched my legs a little bit, making it impossible for him to reach out my golden testicles. See? Sagging saved my balls, my baby- making laboratory.

As they roughed me off, I unknowingly kept singing the same question until it became a one-line chorus of a hardcore hip hop track; “what have I done? What I done? What have I done? What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?”
They finally managed to fling me onto the truck and that was after some of the cops decisively climbed up the truck and pulled me up. They held me by my head, arms, collar while the ones on the ground prepared for a push. The force was so powerful that I fell on the floor chest first. “Korou korou”, my flat chest greeted the metallic floor.

Struggling to sit up, I quickly assumed the purpose of a footstool as the officers who were seated, guarding suspects, placed their dirty smelly old boots on my head, back.
One thing that amazed me after I gained humanity while still riding in the police vehicle was the devil that sent me to town, the spray that I bought. Despite all the rough experiences from the police; the pulling, hitting, pushing, yanking, it remained glued to my left hand, safe and intact.
After roaming the streets for about an hour, we arrived at the central police station where we marched into the registration office.

The police officers who arrested us threw a blanket charge: “hawa wote ni hawkers. They engaged in illegal trading. Na huyo kijana ni kichwa kibovu.” “But I’m not a hawker, sir. Mimi ni msu……….,” I objected. “Ati nini? And how did you get herrrr….” The commandant murmured the word “here” as his lips froze with confusion, and sticking his bloodshot eyes on my forehead. He whispered something to the registrar’s ear and walked out. That assured me they had finally discovered I wasn’t a hawker, not a native either. They finally read my number plate engraved on my face.
After they realized that I was a Sudanese, the whole thing took a different course. I wasn’t a hawker anymore, meaning new charges.

“Wee, Galang, iko wapi passport?” asked the registrar, a fat dude who could not pronounce Garang properly. His mother tongue fucked up roman alphabets, especially letters L and R. “Reta kitamburisho, he screwed up words again. “sina sahihi. Iko nyumbani”, I answered.
After I failed to produce my passport, this son of a bitch pressed two charges against me. One, that I was an illegal alien. And two, obstruction; that I obstructed the officers from carrying out their operation by resisting arrest.

“Remove your belt, your watch, cash and phone. Take off your shoe, left,” ordered a jailer. Bang! He slammed the door behind me. In the cell, the strong and the powerful were waiting for me; to frisk me, hoping to find anything valuable. They only got a silver finger ring.
I spent the night awake as the floor was cold, wet and stinking. In the morning, I heard some voice calling out, “Sudanese”. I got out only to recognize faces from my office. I had informed them of where I would spend the night shortly before the cops threw me in.

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March 18th, 2012 at 8:07 pm

By Amy Bingham
@Amy_Bingham

 

Three weeks ago, George Clooney was sauntering down the Oscar’s red carpet in Giorgio Armani threads, cracking jokes with Ryan Seacrest.

Twenty-eight days, one round-trip flight to Sudan and a rowdy protest later, the now-scruffy Hollywood superstar has swapped his designer suit for a pair of handcuffs and his cheeky E! interviews for gravely serious sit-downs on the Sunday morning political shows.

So what inspired America’s sexiest man to launch his crusade to bring aid to the war-ravaged people of Sudan?

“I grew up in a family that believed that … your job was to be involved with your fellow man,” Clooney said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You have a responsibility to participate in the human condition, one way or another.”

Clooney, whose father Nick Clooney was a broadcast news anchor, said that growing up around news made him a “big believer in the importance of information.” He also learned the realities of hard news being scrapped for celebrity gossip.

“I saw my father in the ’70s doing really good stories and then getting bumped because there was a Liz Taylor story that was going to be out,” Clooney said.

When he first learned of the plight in Sudan back in 2006, Clooney said his first reaction was to call his journalist father.

“I said, ‘Remember how you used to get all your stories bumped by Liz Taylor or something happened in Hollywood?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well, let’s go to Darfur. And you be the newsman and I’ll be Liz Taylor and let’s get it on the air,’” Clooney said Sunday.

Last week, Clooney made the rounds in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to convince Congress and the president to initiate negotiations with China to intervene in Sudan against the country’s president, Omar Al-Bashir, an alleged war criminal.

“What’s going on right there is exactly what we saw in the beginning of Darfur,” Clooney said. “All three men charged with war crimes at The Hague are the same three who are now bombing indiscriminate innocent civilians with Antonov planes with 300-millimeter Chinese rockets.”

Clooney, who appeared on three Sunday morning news programs today, said the United States and China are in a unique bargaining position right now because South Sudan has stopped producing oil, thereby eliminating 6 percent of China’s oil imports.

The actor argued that with gas prices rising, the fighting in Sudan is now more than a humanitarian issue. It’s an economic one.

“When the Chinese aren’t getting their 6 percent from Sudan, they are getting it [oil] from somewhere else and that drives the [gas] price up for everyone else,” Clooney told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Realistically, Clooney said the U.S. and NATO are not going take military action to stop the Sudanese government from bombing civilians. So instead he called for the United States to employ the same techniques the government uses to discover the funding channels of terrorist organizations to “go after” the money supporting the Sudanese “war criminals.”

And at the end of the day, Clooney said it is all about “saving lives.”

“We are going and standing where people are shooting rockets at us and we’re standing where there’s a bomb hit the ground and didn’t blow up, and that helps get attention to the story that we are trying to tell, then that’s all we can do,” the actor said on Fox. “I don’t make policy. I can just make it louder.”

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March 18th, 2012 at 5:35 pm

By Agereb Leek Chol, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA



(Borglobe) -- Protecting civilians should be the primary job for the government. However, the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) has failed tremendously to stop massacres in Jonglei state. In Jonglei’s Tribal Conflicts: Countering Insecurity in South Sudan estimated that 2,500 people were killed in 2009. My research dating back from 2005 until 2012 finds that 7334 were killed in Jonglei state because of cattle raids, counter attacks, and rebels casualties. These killing were exacerbated by the 2006 ‘forcible disarmament’, which left the Nuer and the Dinka Bor vulnerable to Murle’s raiders? The GoSS failed to simultaneously disarm everyone in Jonglei state.


As a result, the Murle raiders took this opportunity and attack the Lou Nuer clan sometimes in January 2009 in Akobo, in which children were abducted. As a response, a well-armed youth from Lou Nuer from Akobo, Uror, and Nyiro counties lunched launched retaliatory attacks in Likuangole between 5 and March 13, killing 450 people. In April 18, 2009, the Murle gunmen retaliated by killing at least 250, and abducting women and children. Homes were burned down and 16,000 people were displaced (Crisis Group, 2009). The Dinka Bor on the other hand, experience similar attacks, but never retaliated until their official attacked in February 8, 2012, which left dozens dead or wounded. 

The cycle of violence is has been described as ‘tit-for-tat’ strategy in which one tribe attack and the other retaliate.  However, the GoSS and news media have called these conflicts “intertribal violence” and have invoked the primordial assumptions that guns are the main cause of the conflict. Calling these conflicts “intertribal violence” masks the main causes of violence. The Governor of Jonglei state has tried over and over to bring peace among the warring tribes, but often is violated by Murle’s raiders. The influx of modern weapons during the civil war between the north and south Sudan has change how wars were fought. Today, one man can massacre a whole village with one guns compared to the traditional weapons.

Looking at the conflict in Jonglei state, the problem is a multifaceted issue, and this is clearly different than simple conflict due to ethnicity or clans. The data I collected from 2005 to 2012 shows that 8059 people were killed and 2432 were wounded as a result of rebel attacks, cattle raids, and retaliation in South Sudan. Majority of these attacks are carried out using assault rifles, AK47, grenade launchers, and machine guns. Disarmament is one step to bring stability in South Sudan, but is second disarmament in Jonglei state the only solution? How can the GoSS main peace after the disarmament? Perhaps the GoSS should understand that ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people’.
 In the article, Challenges to Protection of Civilians in South Sudan: A Warning from Jonglei State, Ingrid Breidlid and Jon Lie write,
“While several of these conflicts have erupted as a result of traditional cattle-raiding practices and competition over resources (land, water and livestock), socio-economic grievances and legacies of the civil war, including ethno-political tensions, contested administrative and tribal borders, youth unemployment, erosion of traditional conflict resolution mechanisms, lack of integration of former militias, and the proliferation of arms have further contributed to the complex security scenario. In many cases, these factors have in turn been manipulated by political actors at the local, state, and/or national levels for political and economic purposes” (2011, 10). 
The following tables will give the narrative of the conflict. The tables will also discuss the main causes of the problem, and how the government of South Sudan responded to the conflict. These tables will also indicate the month, year, and the location to identify which part of the country has experienced more conflicts. A report by International Crisis Group (ICG) , Jonglei’s Tribal Conflicts: Countering Insecurity in South Sudan writes, “given long histories of attacks and counter-attacks among Jonglei tribes, pinpointing how and where a particular conflict cycle began is difficult, but a look at recent events relating to each situation offers context to 2009’s violence” (2). This is why one needs to be aware not to generalize if one tribe is mentioned more than the other.

A. Lou Nuer and Dinka Conflict

To understand the conflict between the Dinka and Lou Nuer in Jonglei state, one has to look at what event exacerbated the violence. The conflict between the Lou Nuer and Dinka communities in 2009 has been in many ways the most “volatile” and “politicized”. The Dinka is the largest tribe in the South with the Nuer being the second. The current President of South Sudan is from the Dinka tribe and the Vice President is Nuer. The conflict between the Dinka and Nuer is not a recent phenomenon. Dinka and Nuer have raided one another for cattle for centuries, but often made peace with one another, and in fact supported each other communally and inter-married for centuries. However, the political split in 1991 between Dr. Garang de Mabior, from Dinka and Dr. Riek Machar from Nuer over the leadership of the SPLM/A is still vivid in many minds. This split led to the death of 2,000 thousands of Dinka Bor under Dr. Riek Machar leadership (Amnesty International, 1992).

From January-May 2006, the SPLA carried out a “forcible disarmament” of Lou Nuer communities in Wuror and Nyirol counties. Brewer writes, “Nuer-Dinka tension flared in the late 2005 when the Lou Nuer, one of the main Nuer groups, requested permission to graze their cattle in the lands of the Dinka Duk County before their seasonal migration (Brewer, 2010, 3).  This obviously was not tension resulting from a difference of mere ethnicity or bloodlines, but scarce distribution of physical resources.  International Crisis Group writes,
“During the dry season, they must travel with their cattle to the toiche areas in search of water and grazing areas. If they go west, they enter either Dinka or Gawaar Nuer territory. If they go northeast to the Sobat River, just across the border in Upper Nile state, they enter the territory of another Nuer sub-clan, the Jikany. Lastly, if they travel south to Pibor, they enter the territory of the Murle. In short, Lou must migrate either to Dinka, Gawaar, Jikany or Murle territories to sustain their cattle, a reality which is itself a primary trigger of conflict” (2).

During the meetings, Lou Nuer refused the demand because they have never been asked to do so in the past. “The campaign was initiated at the request of communities who needed to negotiate access to cattle camps. It sought to remove weapons from local pastoralist groups, primarily the Lou Nuer, many of whom perceived it as a political crackdown” (HSBA, 2006, 4). According to Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA), the Sudanese People Liberation Army (SPLA) made it clear that forcible disarmament  would proceed if weapons were not surrendered voluntarily (2006, 3). HSBA writes, “The reason many civilians were reluctant to disarm were that the terms of the campaign were never entirely made clear. Compensation was offered by the Jonglei governor, Philip Thon Leek, a Nyarweng Dinka from Duk County, for voluntarily returned arms, but the details concerning the source of these funds were lacking” (2006, 3).

Given these ambiguities, the Lou Nuer and Gawaar refused to hand over their arms, justifying their position that they needed to protect themselves from neighboring Murle, who retained their weapons. When the SPLA started to disarm Lou’s civilians, the White Army attacked the SPLA, and this altercation led to the death of 1,200 Lou, and 400 SPLA soldiers. International Crisis Group (ICG) writes,
“The devastation generated considerable resentment. The Lou felt singled out, which increased their perception of a state government biased in favor of the Dinka because they were the only community disarmed at the time, they were left vulnerable to the neighboring Dinka and Murle. Cattle raiders took advantage of the newly vulnerable Lou, who as a result began rearming over the next eighteen months”(Crisis Group interviews, Bor, 27 October 2009; Juba, 2 November 2009).

The government failed to organize a successful civilian disarmament because there were no clear guidelines followed by the SPLA. HSBA defines civilian disarmament as “a generic concept that encompasses a wide variety of interventions. These range from tightened regulatory mechanisms for private arms possession and forcible firearms seizures, to public awareness and sensitization campaign and weapons buy-backs, , collection, destruction programs” (2006, 2).  Clearly, these measures were not articulated well enough in the CPA, otherwise the government might not have run into these problems. According to HBSA, the SPLA collected some 3,000 weapons in Lou Counties and 708 guns from Rumbek central and Rumbek east. However, collecting these weapons resulted in the death of 1,200 White Army youth from Nuer and 400 SPLA soldiers as well as thousands of deaths during periodic cattle raids.
Table1. Dinka and Lou Nuer conflict from 2006-2012
 
Month & Year
 
Location
ETHNIC
Ethnic group—instigators
Ethnic
Ethnic group—victims
Total death
Casualties
Children
Abducted
Arson
Displaced
GOSS
response
Main
Main
Cause
May, 2007
Jonglei state (Duk)
Dinka
Lou Nuer
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Investigate-d by the
Governor
20,000 head of
cattle stolen
May, 2009
Torkeij
Upper Nile
Lou Nuer
Jinkay Nuer
71
50
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Land disputes
And retaliation
Aug,2009
Jonglei
Wernyol
Panyangor
Lou Nuer
Dinka
42
64
N/A
N/A
24,000
Security services deployed
Retaliation
For the
theft of 20,000
cattle
Sept, 2009
Jonglei
Duk padiet
Lou Nuer
Dinka
167
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Police deployed
Slow response
 by GOSS
Jan 7, 2010
Wunchai,
Warrap
Nuer
Dinka
140
90
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
5000 cattle
stolen
Jan 6, 2010
Tonj
Warrap state
N/A
Dinka & Nuer
40
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Cattle raid
Sep, 2011
Mayendit
Unity  state
“Raiders from
Warrap”
Dinka
28
18
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Theft of
100,000 cattle
Total
 
 
 
488
222
 
 
24,000
 
125,000
 
In May 2007, the theft of 20,000 cattle by Dinka of Duk County from Lou Nuer led to many skirmishes. Governor Kuol Manyang led a team to investigate and reclaim stolen cattle, but the cattle were disbursed in many areas, especially in Wernyol.  Only hundreds were able to be reclaimed. The Lou Nuer felt that the government wasn’t doing enough to protect them. Again in January 2009, seven wildlife and police personnel were killed in Poktap, in Duk County, on a convoy delivering salaries to state employees in Lou-dominated Nyirol country. This incident prompted a suspicion that Dinka citizens and Duk County commissioner were behind the attack.
By 2009, tensions were rising between these communities and it needed a response from Governor Kuol Manyang, who then convened a peace conference with chiefs and representatives of Dinka and Lou Counties. The chiefs made recommendations to address Lou’s demands regarding Poktap’s attack, recovery of stolen salaries, compensation for families killed, and the return of 20,000 cattle stolen in 2007. According to International Crisis Group, the paramount chief of Uror County, Gatluak Thoa, from Lou Nuer tribe made it clear that if these recommendations were not pursued, the government would be responsible for any fallout. Gatluak Thoa gave the government three months before taking matters into their own hands.

By August 28, 2009, Lou youth attacked Wernyol, in Twic East County, killing 42, wounding 60, and displacing hundreds. Immediately, National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) were dispatched to confront the youth. This step by the government prompted criticism because the government intervenes when the Dinka tribe is under attack, but not the other way around. On September 20, 2009, the group of 1,000 Lou youth struck Duk Padiet, targeting not cattle, but administrative centers.  One hundred sixty seven people were killed including civilians, police, and SPLA soldiers. This incident indicates that the conflict is now politicized. The main concern by Lou Nuer disarmament is because it ‘exposes them to their tribal enemies’ because the government can’t protect them, and that the neighboring tribes should have been disarmed at the same time (Young, 2007, 12).

B. Lou-Murle conflict

To address Murle’s conflict, one needs to understand the history of war in this region.  Murle region was controlled by Ismail Konyi, a leader of Murle Pibor Defense Forces. During the North-South civil, the Ismail Konyi rebels were fighting against the mainstream SPLA with the support of the Khartoum government. Despite Konyi being integrated in GoSS government in 2006, his relationship with the Khartoum government still exists. During the government disarmament period in 2007, Konyi was dispatched to Pibor to collect arms from his tribe. However, Ismail Konyi never carried out what he was asked to do. International officials in Pibor County stated that “Ismail Konyi was using funds intended for disarmament to buy local support and undermine the commissioner” (Crisis Group interview, UN disarmament expert, Juba, 2 November 2009). Immediately, Governor Koul Manyang and the Commissioner wrote to the President for his removal. The President demanded Ismail Konyi return to Juba, in which he refused and instead returned to Khartoum. Three months later, Ismail Kony returns to Juba.

In 2008, GoSS Vice President Riek Machar returned to Pibor with Ismail Konyi to dissuade Murle from attacking Lou Nuer. In early 2009, Riek Machar and Ismail Konyi traveled to Lou to inform them of the new Murle pledge for peace. Soon after these officials left, Murle raiders attacked areas in Akobo County, which severely discredited any ‘peace negotiation’. The Lou Nuer rearmed themselves again to retaliate against the attack by Murle.
Table2.  Nuer and Murle conflict from 2006-2012
 
Month & Year
 
Location
ETHNIC
Ethnic group—instigators
Ethnic
Ethnic group—victims
Total death
Casualties
Children
Abducted
Arson
Displaced
GOSS
response
Main
Main
Cause
March, 2009
Akobo &
Pibor,
Jonglei
 
Lou Nuer
Murle
750
1000
N/A
N/A
N/A
Ismail Konyi dispatched
600 cattle
stolen
March,
2009
Pibor
Jonglei
Lou Nuer
Murle
450
45
N/A
N/A
5,000
N/A
Retaliation
April, 2009
Jonglei,
Akobo
Murle
Lou Nuer
250
70
N/A
N/A
16,000
Lou-Murle
Peace talk
Retaliation on
 March attack
August, 2009
Jonglei,
Mareng
Murle
Lou Nuer
185
18
N/A
N/A
N/A
Governor condemne-d the killing
N/A
August, 2011
Uror, Jonglei
Murle
Lou Nuer
640
861
208
 
7924
huts
N/A
SPLA forces deployed
Theft of 38,000
cattle
Dec, 2011
Pibor, Jonglei
Lou Nuer
Murle
3,000
N/A
1293
 
60,000
SPLA & UN dispatch
Retaliation attack, w
Which of
375,186 cattle
stolen
March, 2012
Nyirol, Jonglei state
Murle
Nuer
30
15
NA
N/A
N/A
N/A
15, 000 heads
Of cattle stolen
Total
 
 
 
5305
2009
1504
0
80,000
 
428786 cattle
January 2009 attack in Akobo resulted in Lou youth from Akobo, Uror, and Nyirol Counties attacking the Murle from March 5-13, killing 450 people. On April 18, 2009, Murle gunmen retaliated by killing 250 people in Nyandit. They also abducted children and women. During this attack, 16,000 people were displaced (Human Right Watch, 2009). The “tit -for-tat” clashes between Lou and Murle reoccurs because the government is not doing enough to stop the Murle from attacking Lou. The Murle leaders aren’t doing enough to discourage youth from raiding other villages.
One interesting data about Nuer and Murle conflict is December, 2011. The attack by lou youth from Nuer, which claimed 3000 lives is disputed by the U.N. The U. N officials who were in area think the numbers were in hundreds. The themes in this section include child abduction, cattle raids, and retaliatory attacks from both tribes. The data shows that 208 children were abducted by the Murle. However, I predict these numbers to be higher.  Jonglei state government rarely keeps records of attacks, which makes it hard to track those abducted.  According to Jonglei state government report in 2009, 380 children were abducted. (Breidlid & Lie, 2011, 10). This piece of data is missing in the table. This clearly shows that the data is possibly missing more cases.

C. Lou Nuer-Jikany Nuer land dispute

The Lou and Jikany are sub-clans of the Nuer tribe; however, both clans have been in conflict with each other because of prior land disputes. The Lou and Jikany for example, are from Nuer tribe, but they are also involved in similar feuds paralleling the Dinka and Murle. So, why then do we still call the conflict as “inter-tribal violence” if two sub-clans from one tribe are fighting against one another? The conflict between Lou and Jikany stems from the North-South civil war.  International Crisis Group writes, “In the 1980s, the SPLA carved the South into operational zones. However, some interpreted these as administrative boundaries and began moving accordingly. Lou occupied areas along the western bank of the Sobat, traditionally home to the Jikany, resulting in significant Jikany displacement to other parts of Upper Nile state” (7).
In January 2009, Wanding payam, a disputed territory, was handed back to the Jinkany communities; however, the Lou tribe who once inhabited the area in the 1980s never fully left the territory. In the spring of 2009, a “series of cattle theft, the murder of Jikany trader in Akobo and abductions of Lou children brought more tensions between Lou and Jikany. In May 2009, Lou youth retaliated killing 71 and wounded 50 people”(Crisis Group interviews, Lou, Juba). After this event occurred, the government didn’t take any initiatives to stop the conflict in order to prevent further retaliation. 

D.  Dinka and Murle conflict

Table3. Dinka and Murle conflict from 2006-2012
 
Month & Year
 
Location
ETHNIC
Ethnic group—instigators
Ethnic
Ethnic group—victims
Total death
Casualties
Women &
Children
Abducted
Arson
Displaced
GOSS
response
Main
Main
Cause
October, 2007
Bor, Jonglei
Murle
Dinka
N/A
N/A
2
N/A
N/A
N/A
Child adduction
Dec, 2011
Jale
Jonglei
Murle
Dinka
42
17
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Jan, 2012
Duk
Jonglei
Murle
Dinka
47
7
N/A
N/A
N/A
UN
Dispatch-ed
200 heads of
Cattle stolen
February, 2012
Bor, Jonglei
Dinka Bor
Murle
9
11
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Retaliation
Total
 
 
 
98
35
2
 
 
 
 
 
The Dinka Bor and the Murle inter-tribal conflict is reported that cattle raiding and child abduction are the main causes. However, the data collected from 2006 to 2012 shows that one boy and a girl were abducted in Bor. The killing in December 7, 2011 in Jale payam in  Jonglei state is believe to be an intentional killing by the locals. According to Borglobe news reports, the “Murle raiders always target to abduct children, but surprisingly, they killed children and elderly this time in a move seen as a hate violence” (Borglobe, 2011, 7). The data presented above doesn’t explain the entire conflict between these tribes. There is no doubt that many children have been abducted in Bor and other places then the data shows. The Jonglei state police lack the capacity to investigate these abduction.

E. Armed rebels groups in South Sudan
Jonglei State, Warrap State, Unity State, and Central Equatoria are some of the areas that are experiencing rebel conflicts in addition to ‘intertribal cattle raiding’.  Table 4 below maps rebels’ activities in the South Sudan. The rebels groups which are creating havoc in the South belong to a former SPLM/A commander, George Athor who rebelled  during the April 2010 elections after losing to the governor of Jonglei State, Kuol Manyang Juk. George Athor’s rebellion was politically motivated. Despite his death in December 2011, his rebels are still active in Jonglei State.
Table4. Rebel attacks: South Sudan rebels and the LRA from 2006-2012
 
Month & Year
 
Location
Instigators
Total death
Casualties
Arson
Displaced
GOSS
response
Main
Main
Cause
May, 2006
Motot, karam , Yuai,
Jonglei
South Sudan
Rebels
113
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Disarmament campaign
 
May, 2006
Uror, Nyirol,
Jonglei
South Sudan Rebels &
 SPLA
1600
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Disarmament campaign
1200 Lou youth and 1400 SPLA killed
Oct, 2009
Terekeka,
Central
Equatoria
LRA rebels
30
N/A
N/A
22,000
N/A
N/A
Oct, 2009
Western
Equatoria
LRA rebels
205
135
 
67,700
N/A
N/A
Oct, 2010
Mayom,
Unity State
South Sudan Rebels
75
18
N/A
N/A
SPLA
forces
dispatch
600 cattle
Confiscated
Rebel’s homes
May , 2011
Nyandeit,
Unity State
South Sudan
Rebel
86
N/A
N/A
N/A
SPLA
Forces
dispatched
Rebels
Attacking SPLA
stations
June, 2011
Tony, Warrap state
South Sudan Rebels
50
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Dec, 2011
Pigi ,
Jonglei
South Sudan Rebels
9
13
N/A
N/A
SPLA
Forces dispatched
Voting
Fraud
Total
 
 
2168
166
 
 
 
 
The second armed group is the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), a rebel group made up of forces formerly loyal to Peter Gadet who had accepted an amnesty from the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit. However, majors of SSLA forces haven’t been integrated into the SPLA and they pose a threat to peace. The data collected from 2005 to 2011 shows that together George Athor’s and Peter Gadet’s rebels’ clashes with the SPLA have killed 2168 people in South Sudan. The SSLA accused the government of South Sudan of corruption and underdevelopment. According to the BBC, “they are angered by what they believe is the domination by the Dinka ethnic group” (BBC, October 29, 2011). Senior officers – majors -- of these rebels are from the Nuer tribe. Their confrontation with government soldiers has resulted in the deaths of many civilians.

The third rebel group is the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), which is under the leadership of Joseph Kony. This rebel group is at war with Ugandan government, however, they are operating in the border of Centeral Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria, and the Congo.  The LRA is a proxy rebel group being used by the North to disrupt peace in South Sudan. Despite South Sudan becoming an independent nation, LRA are still killing civilians in their villagers. In The Lord’s Resistance Army in Sudan: A History and Overview, Mareike Schomerus writes “Khartoum ran a proxy war through the LRA against the SPLA and UPDF, while the LRA obtained supplies and assistance in its attempt to overthrow Museveni” (2007, 18). According to the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report from June-August 2011, 70,000 people were LRA-induced IDPS in Western Equatoria since 2008. In Cakaj’s article, The Lord’s Resistance Army and the Threat Against Civilians in South Sudan, a UN report indicated that 205 people in Western Equatoria were killed in October 2009, and 135 people were abducted. Over 67,700 people were displaced from their homes as a result of LRA attacks in this region (Cakaj, 2009, 2).

Cultural Abuse

Clearly, cattle raids, and child abduction are the main triggers of the conflict. The question is why does Murle raid other tribes for cattle and abduct children?  According to Gurtong website, “The Murle social and cultural life is centered round their cattle. They breed them, marry with them, eat their meat, drink their blood and milk, and sleep on their hides. The Murle compose songs full of references to the herds captured in battle or raids from their neighbours. Raiding and stealing of cattle is a question of honour and valour. Every important social event is celebrated by the sacrifice of a bull in order to ensure the participation of the ancestral spirits as well as to provide food for the assembled guests and relatives. Kinship obligations are expressed in terms of cattle”. To put it succinctly, the Murle culture is somewhat abusive because “the Murle compose songs full of references to the herds captured in battle or raids from their neighbors.  If this is true, how do we expect the disarmament to materialized knowing that the Murle raiders will rearm to carry on their tradition?

Child abduction

In case of child abduction, how does this translate into “intertribal violence”? This discourse suggests that these tribes are fighting because they hate each other base on their tribal identity. I would assume that the Murle tribe abduct women and children to make them part of their community. Perhaps Abner Cohen’s explanation which
“placed a greater emphasis on ethnic group as a collective organized strategy for the protection of economic and political interest” (Jones, 1997, 74) might shed some light on this issue. Whether these abductees are assimilated into Murle’s culture or sold into slavery, this business has created a deep hatred against the Murle tribe. Typically, the Murle tribe abducts women and children ranging from one year old to sixteen years old. No one knows exactly when this tradition of child abduction started in Murle’s culture. Recently, the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit was quoted saying that the Murle tribe are suffering from “syphilis” during the aftermath of Yar and Ajak abduction. The abduction of Yar and Ajak in 2007 made headlines in American news media. Their uncle, a Lost Boy from Minnesota State University mobilized his classmates to write petitions to the U.S government. The students’ work became known as Save Yar Campaign.

The question is what laws are put in place by the GoSS and the Jonglei parliament to retrieve those abducted to their parents? What form of identification should be followed once they are identified? What is the level of punishment? Perhaps deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing should be used to identify the victims. Relying on physical identification marks to identify these victims can complicate the process. Recently, when 6000 youth from Nuer tribe launched attack in December against the Murle tribe, they brought back women and children who identify themselves as Dinka Bor. For example, one family whom I know identifies their daughter which was abducted in 1997, and now she’s claiming to be Murle. She speaks Dinka language fluently and she fit her mother’s identifications. What do you do in this case? DNA testing is expensive, but parents should be given the option.

Cattle raids

Cattle keeping have been the tradition in these communities for centuries. The question is what mechanism has been put in place to protect cattle camps? What laws are put in place to punish cattle thieves? What laws are put in place to manage grazing land? We have to predict that not everyone is going to hand over their guns. What is GoSS’ position on those who defected from the Sudanese People Liberation Army (SPLA)? These defectors have been implicated in the raids. The attack on January, 2012 in Duk Padiet County is interesting because the commissioner believes that Murle’s soldiers in the SPLA carried out the attack. According to the (thenewnation.net), the commissioner reported that “Some of the attackers who were killed during the clashes with the local youth were wearing SPLA uniforms” (thenewnation, 2012, 18).

Why civilians demand weapons?

The Small Arms Survey field research, which focused on social factors fueling the civilians’ demand for weapons, suggest the following to be exacerbating the violence:
·         Protection of livestock from cattle rustling. The majority of people in Jonglei live in rural areas and they rely on livestock as a source of livelihood, arms are important to protect cattle
·         Protection from crime against individuals, their household, and their communities: the failure by the government to provide security forces locals to acquire guns to protect themselves from violent crimes
·         Communal self-defense and deterrence: “Pastoral wars- over pasture, farmland, and wells, but also arising from political and commercial rivalries played out between elites—are endemic in the region. Communities unable to protect and defend their communal resources risk them to better-armed rivals. As a result of these and other security dilemmas, tribes seek to maximize their firepower as a form of deterrence” (HSBA, 2007, 3).
·          Anticipation of renewed political violence/civil war; there is a fear among South Sudanese that war might resume again because of rebellion and Khartoum’s threats makes the locals adamant to increase their arsenals to protect and fight in the next round of war.
·         Cross-border insecurity from armed groups: Lord Resistance Army (LRA) activities in the border of South Sudan, Uganda, and Congo have led to insecurity and displacement in South Sudan. This group has been accused of killing, kidnapping, and banditry in. Rebel’s confrontations with the SPLA have led to the death of many civilians. These alone force civilians to acquire guns.
·         Bride’s wealth and dowry: the demand to pay dowries among pastoralist tribes in South Sudan exacerbates the conflict because young men want to follow traditional customs. This indirectly increases the demand for small arms in order to carry out cattle raiding and when locals knowingly continually demand high dowry in cattle-scarce areas this is a form of “culture abuse”.
·         Offensive attacks: Communities who often carry out attacks on other tribes benefit from the spoils of conflict. These benefits include stolen cattle, children, and house goods.
The government of South Sudan is aware of these issues mentioned above. How are these problems framed as ‘tribal issues’ since the conflict is a multifaceted problem? How is disarmament a solution if these problems are not address? In order to solve these issues, the government first needs to abandon this term, and deal with the insecurity. This language reifies the discourse. The question is how can the government of South Sudan (GoSS) disarm civilians peacefully and maintain peace? What the government forgets to understand is the underlying motives for why these civilians refused to hand over their arms. As an SPLA official during the campaign stated, “You’ll kill 500, but the rest will hand the guns over. It is necessary to use a well-equipped force to disarm. We don’t want to hurt anyone, but we must start somewhere, and we must do our best to provide security to those disarmed (Brewer, 2010, 7).The government only seems to be interested in collecting arms, but neglects civilians’ protection. This attitude that killing 500 people will deter people to hand over their guns voluntary is problematic. 
Who is responsible for the many deaths in Jonglei State and other part of the country? The government which failed to provide protection or the civilians who take matters into their hands and retaliate?

Recommendations to the Government of South Sudan (GoSS)

 In order for the government to stop the violence, the following issues must be addressed.
·         Conduct disarmament simultaneously in ten states. First, the government needs to deploy police and SPLA soldiers in all counties so civilians feel protected, and then disarm all civilians. Soldiers should remain until a South Sudan police force is well equipped enough to take over. The government should also make it clear that that civilians found with guns after the disarmament will be fined and sent to prison.
·         Armed police officers in order for them to respond to well-armed criminals. Most importantly, build police stationss in 11 counties, Payams, and bomas. These stations can easily communicate when these criminals raid and abduct children.
·         Create gun control laws. For those who wish to own a gun for hunting, they must apply and receive approval from the government.
·         Build better schools and hire South Sudanese to teach skills to earn a living.
·         Control South Sudanese borders to stop weapons supply. Without well trained border security officers, guns will always return to the hands of civilians.
·         Regulate cattle business: The GoSS needs to put in place a formal system to monitor cattle’s sale. In order for someone to sale their cows they have to show proof of ownership. South Sudan is not ready to engage in a free market where by the market decide the prices.
·         Raiders should never be pursued by cattle owners. Camp leaders should report the attack to the police to pursue the attackers.
·         Fixed bride price for tribes who still practice dowry payment.
·         Abducted children should be documented immediately. To combat this, the government must create a department that investigates cases of kidnapped children until they are returned to their parents.
·         Pastoralists in search of grazing land have to request in advance before they can travel. It has to be approved by local leaders, and signed by county commissioners. Should there be any damage to local farms, the cattle owners should compensate for the loss.
·         The GoSS should establish a ‘state army’, which can respond to any emergency in each of ten states instead of rely on the national army.
·         More representation of each tribe in the parliament. This will prevent small tribes from being marginalize in the government.
 
It is my hope that with these recommendations put forth by South Sudan’s leadership and the Jonglei state administration, the ‘intertribal cattle rustling’, which the government calls “intertribal violence”, will decrease.  Disarmament will never eliminate cattle rustling and child abduction. The GoSS must work hard to create strict laws that punish those who are involved in the child abduction business. South Sudan’s borders need to be well secured; otherwise, illegal guns will be a threat to peace in South Sudan.
The Author is a student at Clark University, Worcester, MA. He can be reached at schol@clarku.edu
References
Breidlid, I., & Lie, J. (2011). Challenges to Protection of Civilians in South Sudan: A Warning from Jonglei State. The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 1, 1-45. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from the The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs database.
Brewer, C. (2010). Disarmament in South Sudan. Center For Complex Operation , 1. Retrieved September 28, 2011, from http://ccoportal.org/sites/ccoportal.org/files/7_disarmament_in_sudan.pdf
 
Cakay, L. (2010, January 12). The Lord Resistance Army and the Threat Against Civilians in South Sudan. Enough. Retrieved February 24, 2012, from http://www.enoughproject.org
Jones, S. (1997). The archaeology of ethnicity constructing identities in the past and present ([Online-Aug.].ed.). London  Routledge.
 
Schomerus, M. (n.d.). The Lord Resistance Army in Sudan: A History and Overview. smallarmssurvey.org. Retrieved November 27, 2011, from www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/pdfs/HSBA-SWP-8-LRA.pdf
Dataset
IRIN humanitarian news and analysis from Africa, Asia and the Middle East - updated daily. (n.d.). IRIN  humanitarian news and analysis from Africa, Asia and the Middle East - updated daily. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.irinnews.org/
            
News24, South Africa's premier news source, provides breaking news on national, world, Africa, sport, entertainment, technology & more. (n.d.). News24, South Africa's premier news source, provides breaking news on national, world, Africa, sport, entertainment, technology & more.. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.news24.com
 
Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . (n.d.).  Latest US news, world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.guardiannews.com/
 
BBC - Search results for Africa. (n.d.). BBC - Homepage. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/africa
 
Bor | Southern Sudan | Jonglei | News. (n.d.). Bor | Southern Sudan | Jonglei | News. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.borglobe.com/
 
Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. (n.d.). Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
 
Gurtong. (n.d.). Gurtong Peace Trust . Retrieved March 4, 2012, from www.gurtong.net
 
Herald Sun |  Latest Melbourne & Victoria News | HeraldSun. (n.d.). Herald Sun |  Latest Melbourne & Victoria News | HeraldSun. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.heraldsun.com.au
 
Kuich, B. T. (n.d.). Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan. Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.sudantribune.com
ROSENBERG, M., & BOWLEY, G. (n.d.). The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved March 3, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com
 
SIG | Sudan Information Gateway. (n.d.). SIG | Sudan Information Gateway. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.unsudanig.org
 
Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment - Empirical research & support of violence reduction initiatives. (n.d.). Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment - Empirical research & support of violence reduction initiatives. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org
United Nations Missions in Sudan. (n.d.). UNMIS. Retrieved March 2, 2012, from unmis.unmissions.org
 
Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis. (n.d.). Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/
 
 News | English. News | English. Retrieved March 8, 2012, from http://www.voanews.com
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March 15th, 2012 at 4:06 am

Last night, I had a dream

In my dream,

President Kiir visits his ailing partner,

President Omar Hassan Bashir

Bashir contracted diarrhea,

A chronic diarrhea

Coz he drank unclean water from river Nile

He couldn’t afford bottled water

He is broke

Oil production got shutdown by Kiir

Bashir ekes out

Handouts from Arab League

After Kiir gave him emotional and moral strength,

He asks him what his say is

In regards to the outstanding CPA issues;

The Abyei,

Border issues,

Oil transit fees,

And nationality question

Before answering Kiir,

He gets up,

Runs to the toilet

Spends half an hour in there

He comes back,

Stands by the door,

And breathes heavily

It’s here Kiir sees his full body frame

Silhouetting in an ankle-length loose white Jalabia

The beer-belly he acquired

Through South Sudan oil money shrinks;

It’s disappearing

His ribs protrude

Kiir counts them

They’re ten

Two of them got surgically removed

After he got shot by Kerubino Kuanyin Bol

During a one-on-one meeting somewhere in Omdurman

In the 90s,

An incident that went unreported for fear of

Grand official butchering of reporters

Along with their families

"I beg your pardon, repeat your question,

Ya baba Mayar", he asks Kiir

Before Kiir finishes shooting the same question for the second time,

Bashir dashes into the toilet again,

Leaving Kiir seething with rage;

Agitated,

Irritated

Kiir plunges into a sea of thoughts,

Trying to figure out how

He will make bashir speak his language

Bashir comes back,

Holding a small bluish container

For keeping water used in place of toilet roll

He fills it up with water from an old pot

And places it near the door

He sits on an old mat

Made from reeds

People say his wife got the mat from a neighbor

Immediately after auctioneers

Stormed in Bashir’s house

And confiscated the furniture;

They were sent by the landlord

Who grew impatient

After Bashir failed to pay February rent

Back to the point:

Bashir begins to respond to Kiir

He starts off by telling Kiir to go to hell

Coz he ain’t letting any other thing

Slip through his fingers

Since he allowed south to go it alone as

An independent state through the 2011 referendum

Kiir begs him to reduce oil transit fee demand;

From $36 to 40 cents per barrel

Kiir also implores him to leave Abyei alone

But still, Bashir insists that Kiir goes to hell

And races to the toilet again

He spends his good time in there

Provoked by Bashir’s attitude,

Kiir grows smarter

He hatches a plan

And waits till Bashir comes back

Salva says he wants to use the toilet

Bashir directs Kiir:

"Go straight on; turn left, turn left again.

It’s the one with

A green door next to the gate"

Salva leaves, taking along the Citizen Newspaper

He takes his time in there

Ten minutes elapse,

Still no sign of Kiir

Now the worst happens

Bashir gets pressed again;

Remember he has a running stomach

He rushes toward the toilet, the only toilet

Only to find it locked from inside

Salva is in, reading the newspaper

Atlala bara ya Salva. Ena taban

What are you doing in there?"

Bashir panics

But Kiir keeps mum

"Knock knock knock"

He knocks, he pushes the door

Kiir whistles

As he turns pages of the newspaper,

He scans through the stories

Pretending to find an interesting story to read

Finally, Kiir breaks the silence:

"What do you think of my proposals?"

Bashir says they will discuss the issues back in the house

Kiir declines

And keeps reading the paper

Bashir begs Kiir, saying

"Please get out; I will sponsor 100 south Sudanese university students"

Kiir says thanks but that’s not what I want

With his left hand patting buttocks

And the right hand on the stomach;

Bashir begins to talk: "okay okay okay okay,

I’m proposing a meeting with you, just two us.

And it will be mediated by Obama himself"

Kiir resumes whistling

"Kiir please let me use the latrine,

Don’t let me do it in my pants

Kiir you are causing a scene;

My wives kids are milling around

And I can see my neighbors peering

I’ll do anything you want me to.

I will return all the barrels I confiscated,

I’ve given up Abyei. I…….

…..Ding…….dong…..Ding…dong,

My mobile phone rang,

Waking me from the dream

By: Tears Ayuen

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March 15th, 2012 at 3:21 am

I was shocked with the appointment of such army of ambassadors all at once at a time when our country is faced with serious economic hardship as a result of the oil shutdown (Luke Dak, USA).
 
By Paanluel Wël, Washington DC, USA, Planet Earth.
 
In exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Article 101 (o) of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 A.D, read together with section 25 (1) (4) of the Diplomatic and Consular Service Act 2011, General Salva Kiir Mayaardit, founding and current President of the Republic of South Sudan, issued a Presidential Decree for the appointment of grade (1), (2) and (3) Ambassadors into the Diplomatic and Consular Services in the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Sudan on March 07, 2012 A.D. The Ambassadorial list consists of 10 grade (1), 43 grade (2) and 25 grade (3), making a total of 78 Ambassadors. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Nhial Deng Nhial, was directed by the President to transfer and assign the appointed Ambassadors in accordance with the Presidential Decree.
 
Among those appointed to Grade One are: 1- Mr. Majok Guandon Thiep 2- Dr. Chol Deng Alak 3- Mr. Mohamed Hassan Bakeit 4- Mr. Makelele Nyajok 5- Dr. Eluzai Mogga Yokwe 6- Dr. Akec Khoc Acieu 7- Mr. Sebit Abbe Alley and 1- Mr. Paul Macuel Malok 2- Dr. Andrew Akon Akec Kuol 3- Mr. Kuol Alor Kuol.
 
Grade Two appointees are: 1- Mr. Anthony Louis Kon 2- Mr. Ajing Adiang Mariik 3- Mr. Alier Deng Rual 4- Mr. Akuei Bona Malwal 5- Mr. Majak Philemon Majok 6- Mr. Baak Valentino Wol 7- Mr. John Andruga Duku 8- Mr. Mariano Deng Ngor 9- Dr. Francis George Nazario 10- Mr. Joseph Moum Majak 11- Mr. Parmena Makuet Mangar 12- Mr. Philip Jada Natana 13- Mr. Arop Deng Kuol 14- Mr. Michael Majok Ayom 15- Gabriel Gai Riak 16- Mr. Bol Wek Agoth 17- Dr. John Gai Yoh 18- Dr. Daniel Peter Othol 19- Mr. Ezekiel Lol Gathouth 20- Mr. Samuel Luate Lominsuk 21- Mr. Awad El Karim Ibrahim Ali 22- Mr. Adam Saeed AbuBakr Kabawa 23- Mr. Mustafa Lowoh Walla 24- Mr. Aban Yor Yor 25- Ms. Sittona Abdalla Osman 26- Mr. Pidor Tut Pul 27- Mr. James Ernest Onge 28- Mr. Jwokthab Amum Ajak 29- Mr. Paul Malong Akaro 30- Mr. Deng Deng Nhial 31- Mr. Lazaros Akoi Arou 32- Mr. Ruben Marial Benjamin 33- Abdon Terkoc Matuet 34- Mr. James Pitia Morgan 35- Mr. Dhanojak Obongo Othow 36- Mr. Jokwen Yukwan Ayiik 37- Mr. Michael Nyang Jok 38- Mr. Michael Mayiel Chuol 39- Ms. Abuk Nikonora Manyok 40- Ms. Nyandeng Joshua Dei Wal 41- Mr. Chol Mawut Unguec Ajonga 42- Mr. Darius Garang Wol Mabior 43- Mr. Joseph Ayok Ayok.
 
While Grade Three included the following names: 1- Mr. Thiik Agoth Giir 2- Mr. Nickson Deng Peter 3- Mr. Morris Batali Simon 4- Ms. Mary Badoda Francis 5- Mr. Hamilton Michael Lugor 6- Mr. Akwoch Daniel Diing 7- Ms. Jago Arop Yor 8- Mr. James Kur Muorwel 9- Ms. Sarah Victor Bol 10- Mr. William Wani Ruben 11- Mr. Wol Mayar Ariec 12- Mr. David Buom Choat 13- Ms Agnes A.O Oswaha 14- Mr. Caesar Oliha Yanga 15- Mr. Garang Garang Diing 16- Mr. Kau Nak Maper 17- Mr. Ambrose Raphael Tamania 18- Mr. Kahmis Agar Wol 19- Mr. Hassan Yousif Ngor 20- Mr. John Simon Yor Kur 21- Mr. Juma Dino Amoi 22- Mr. Dominique Panthair Mading 23- Dr. Riek Pouk Riek 24- Mr. Martin Kahmis Tabia 25- Mr. Raphael Nhial Kulang
 
The following variables can be employed to illustrate and better appreciate and understand this Presidential Decree for the Appointment of Ambassadors into the Diplomatic and Consular Services in the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Sudan: region, state, party, gender, educational and prior experience qualifications among others.

Analysis of South Sudan's Ambassadorial List. 

S/N

Name of Ambassador[1]

Region From

State From

Party From

Former Position

Country Assigned to

1

Majok Guandon Thiep

Greater Upper Nile

Jonglei

SPLM

Fmr. Sudan Ambassador to Kenya

--

2

Dr. Chol Deng Alak

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Abyei or Warrap

SPLM

Fmr. Sudan Ambassador to Russia

--

3

Mohamed Hassan Bakeit

Greater Equatoria

Central Equatoria

SPLM

--

--

4

Makelele Nyajok

Greater Equatoria

Central Equatoria

SPLM

Ex-Judge of Appeal Court

--

5

Dr. Eluzai Mogga Yokwe

Greater Equatoria

Central Equatoria

SPLM

Fmr. Sudan Ambassador to France

--

6

Dr. Akec Khoc Acieu

Greater Upper Nile

Jonglei

SPLM

Fmr. Sudan Ambassador to the USA

--

7

Mr. Sebit Abbe Alley

Greater Equatoria

Central Equatoria

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Zambia

--

8

Paul Macuei Malok

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Lakes State

SPLM

Fmr. Sudan Ambassador to Bulgaria

 

--

9

Dr. Andrew Akon Akec Kuol

Greater Upper Nile

Jonglei

SPLM

--

--

10

Kuol Alor Kuol

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Abyei or Warrap

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS
Ambassador
To Ethiopia

--

11

Anthony Louis Kon

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Northern Bahr El Ghazal

SPLM

Fmr. Sudan Ambassador to Congo

 

--

12

Ajing Adiang Mariik

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Warrap

SPLM

--

--

13

Alier Deng Rual

Greater Upper Nile

Jonglei

SPLM

Diplomat,  

Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

--

14

Akuei Bona Malwal

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Warrap

SPLM

Fmr. Sudan Ambassador to the AU

--

15

Majak Philemon Majok

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Lakes State

SPLM

Diplomat,  

Sudan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

--

16

Baak Valentino Wol

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Warrap

SPLM

--

--

17

John Andruga Duku

Greater Equatoria

Eastern Equatoria

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Kenya

--

18

Mariano Deng Ngor

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Northern Bahr El Ghazal

SPLM

--

--

19

Dr. Francis George Nazario

Greater Equatoria

Eastern Equatoria

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to the EU, Brussel

--

20

Joseph Moum Majak

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Warrap

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Canada

--

21

Dr. Parmena Makuet Mangar

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Lakes State

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS
Ambassador to Egypt and Middle East

--

22

Philip Jada Natana

Greater Equatoria

Central Equatoria

SPLM

 Fmr.GoSS
Deputy Amb. to Ethiopia

--

23

Arop Deng Kuol

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Abyei or Warrap

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Ethiopia

--

24

Michael Majok Ayom

Greater Upper Nile

Jonglei

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Kenya

--

25

Gabriel Gai Riak

Greater Upper Nile

Jonglei

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Nigeria

--

26

Bol Wek Agoth

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Warrap

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Norway

--

27

Dr. John Gai Yoh

Greater Upper Nile

Upper Nile

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to S. Africa

--

28

Dr. Daniel Peter Othol

Greater Upper Nile

Upper Nile

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to the UK

--

29

Ezekiel Lol Gathouth

Greater Upper Nile

Upper Nile

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to the USA

--

30

Samuel Luate Lominsuk

Greater Equatoria

Central Equatoria

SPLM

Fmr. GoSS Ambassador to Zimbabwe

--

31

Awad El Karim Ibrahim Ali

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Western Bahr El Ghazal

SPLM

--

--

32

Adam Saeed AbuBakr Kabawa

Greater Bahr El Ghazal

Western Bahr El Ghazal

SPLM

--

--

33

Mustafa Lowoh Walla

Greater Equatoria

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March 11th, 2012 at 10:58 pm

"I wish to send a crystal clear message to all those who are involved or may get involved in corruption in Southern Sudan in the future. Rest assured the Government of Southern Sudan will prosecute you. You can run but you cannot hide. I assure you that the long arm of the Law will catch you...If you swallow something that belongs to the people, we will force you to vomit it out”  ---General Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Government of Southern Sudan (2009).

 

By Joseph Monyde Malieny

 

Eight Months since the historical independence of South Sudan in 2011, the South Sudanese society has devolved themselves into various standpoints such as tribal fights and land disputes, and distracted not to determine the successes or failures of our government ever since the coming of our freedom under the brutal Islamic regime of Sudan. It is therefore appropriate for the South Sudan society to do "good not bad or good not evil" "right not wrong" and evaluate the progress of ethics in public administration and administrative justice, that the government has made in their primary functions such as protective and coercive line functions; promotive and developmental line functions; enabling and facilitative staff functions and  implementation of its numerous policies published in South Sudan Transitional Constitution on the transformation of public service that set targets and timeframes for making the public service more representatives (Republic of South Sudan 2011). This constitution is our social contract between the South Sudan society and the South Sudan government.

 

The constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011, PART TWO,"BILL OF RIGHTS" (30(1)) stated, "All levels of government shall guarantee to persons with disabilities or special needs participation in society and the enjoyment of rights and freedoms set out in this Constitution, especially access to public utilities, suitable education and employment." This specific article gives us an obligation to litigate or ask public servants of how effective, efficiency, economical and appropriateness has the services been rendered to the determined priorities, but if we are busy with tribal planning of how to attack other tribal groups, then our government officials will be busy too, fuelling their pockets or account with public money for satisfying their private needs rather than people needs. So, let us distance ourselves from evil doings and join our constitution as our basic step of building South Sudan.
The purpose of this article is not to evaluate the progress that has been made with the transformation of the South Sudan public service, but to show what is "corruption," the causes of corruption,"  "community's or communities' role in corruption and communities/community control on corruption." As well as how protection services work through ethics guidelines and produce a conceptual framework that will extricate the major transformation of the newly born State's concepts in the public services. In doing writing, this article is going to explain what corruption is, so that one can know where and how an official get trap in corruption or dishonesty for personal gain; who are involved in corruption and how public services can be protected from misuse by officials.
 

Corruption

 

According to University of South Africa Press, corruption is defined as the abuse of power for personal gain (Professor F Uys 2006-117). It is an inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (bribery). Corruption, similar to stress, is a dynamic that has been present in all institutions since an institution is established, but it is undesirable and has a negative effect on the provision of services. According to "CHAPTER III" of ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION 2011, Article (144 (1) d) affirm that, "pursuant to the provisions of Article 120 (1) herein; require all persons holding such public offices to make confidential formal declarations of their income, assets and liabilities." In South Sudan, corruption emerged amidst of public officials and police officials has become increasingly entrenched in politic as vice president (VP) of the Republic of South Sudan, Riek Machar, has officially declared his personal income, assets and liabilities while calling on all constitutional post holders in the country to do the same (Sudan tribune news: February, 14, 2012 JUBA).  In viciousness of sustained efforts to combat corruption, it has to continue for centuries if there are no essential majors against corruption rather than declaration personal assets, income and liabilities.

 

In fighting corruption to improve governance, the organization’s political fairness, partnerships and governance focus need to be clearly cited as its value-added contribution in the area of anti-corruption is vital. In efforts to eliminate corruption, institutions have to raise salaries, offer more training and education, and have to introduce policies to target those factors that give rise to corruption. To understand why corruption continues to boom, we need to understand how individuals diverge and how the community influences corruption as well as to understand the environment in which protection services operate. According to Article (144 (1) d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan mentioned above. Require all persons holding public positions to declare their property, but corruption take place in all parts of government levels indirectly rather than national sphere, provincial sphere and local sphere. Emblematic patterns of corruption include treasure on construction contracts, bribes to ensure favourable decisions in granting licences, gratuities following the allocation of land, using public resources such as labour, vehicles, travel and accommodation for personal purposes, providing public sector employment for unqualified family members and friends, selling state property such as construction material or weapons and keeping the income from such sales, payment of wages to phantasm human resources into one's own bank account, and hiring an intermediary to disburse off the involved in order to expedite the issuing of a passport, or the bribing of a traffic officer to ignore a traffic offence. Theft, corruption and abuse of power is based on public officials and political office bearers but it's seem not to be in all offices of government levels but an illegitimate taxes or tipping on streets, airports, ports and markets are others phenomenon symbols of corruption, and these are usually related to public protective bodies such as agency of securities and police officers. The causes of corruption are important because public servants trap in corruption without knowing how he/she corrupts public funds. 

 

Causes of corruption

 

The causes of corruption are varies and should be viewed in the precise milieu. Corruption is closely an evil on every personal's career ways if you are not aware of its causes, but not exclusively, linked to an officials' optional power and the degree of accountability in executing such discretion. A numeral of conditions may influence the scope to which the execution of such discretion becomes vulnerable to corrupt practices; for instance, in the absence of clear rules and codes of ethics, discretionary power could easily become abused. Besides, the less effective government is in all-purposes, with dawdling budget procedures, lack of transparency, inadequate strategic vision and weak monitoring mechanisms, and delay of income, cause more fertile environment for corrupt practices. Stumpy public sector salaries and pitiable working conditions, with few incentives and rewards for efficient and effectives presentation, are strong inducement for corruption. The fact that the overall culture of governance plays an essential role, political leaders and top officials set an example of self-enhancement about public ethics, then lower-sphere officials and members of the public resolve to follow their suit.

 

Low compensation

 

In developing countries, mainly in Africa, the wages and salaries of public officials habitually stay low while inflation is going high and the devaluation of currencies is increasing. In view of these conditions, it has been said that, "public officials use corruption merely as a means to survive, and sometimes also simply because everyone else is doing it" (Uys 2006:118). One way of looking at corruption to argue that corrupt officials exist because they have been often corrupted by others, such as foreign actors. It is because multinational corporations have regularly been accused of bribery to secure contracts. It should not be ignored that the members of the public on a daily basis encourage corruption by bribing officials and even on occasion blackmailing them. This is usually being practiced by external influences to push their interests on track.

 

Individual values and norms

 

The public servant is morally bound, just as other people, to tell the truth, to keep promises, to respect the persons and the property of others, and to abide by the requirements of the law.  In many ways, this level only describes the basic adherence to moral codes that is expected of all members of a group or society. There are some basics of behavior that are anticipated of all if a society is to function for the collective good. For public officials, there is an additional reason why it is important to stick to these basic moral codes and laws: they have more power than the average constituent of the society. By disregarding this veracity, legalistic solutions based on institutional changes and stricter enforcement of rules is likely to effectively contain the extensive and systematic abuse of office sustained by social networks. If legal and institutional reforms are not applied in cycle with primary societal changes that adjust power relations and raise civic competence in dealing with corruption, then the prospects of making significant inroads into reducing corruption will remain remote. This is a narrative adapted from a study guide of "Public Administration of protection services" (University of South Africa Press 2006:119). Read it and imagine how protection services linked to corruption.

 

A young police officer was called to check on an elderly person. When he arrived, he found the person dead on the floor. On the table, he saw five hundred pound in cash. There was nobody else in the house and it seemed that the elderly person had lived alone. Certainly, the elderly person wake up and found his money on the table lost after a young police have informed his colleagues about his problem. Would anyone have known if the police officer had taken the money? May be, he did not, but another police officer in similar circumstance may have taken it. Some of the officers' colleagues may even have said that he was foolish not to have taken the money.
I can conclude from the above tale that, each human being has a set of norms and values that will guide his or her dealings. The person is imperative, but it can also take place that the state of affairs overrule the person, for instance, individual cases of corruption may be the result of insatiability, economic problems or collect force. In this situation, the institutions that grant protection services will do the whole lot in their power to avoid appointing individual whose personalities make them vulnerable to corrupt indirectly because when this occurs repeatedly, and then the circumstances is no longer tolerable.

 

Communities' role in corruption

 

The communities' contribution to corruption in institutions that provide protection services should also be taken into account by reporting illegal actions of those institutions. And if any community endures dishonesty, it also gets involved in it and it will encourage public institutions to flourish the environment of corruption. According to Uys 2006:120 mentioned that, "police scandals are said to have done much damage to the American police in the early nineties." The receipt of bribes, the protection of thieves such as those who hide unlawful materials, for instance, drugs for their private use and lack of departmental control over such behaviors on some police officers, threatened to cause serious damage to the image of the police and members of the communities felt that they could no longer trust those in power.

 

Control of corruption

 

There is no suspicion that corruption must be controlled directly by anti-corruption commission indirectly through communities' members. According to the Republic of South Sudan Constitution, "CHAPTER II" of "Duties of the Citizen" section (46{2} d) outline citizens duties to "prevent and combat corruption and sabotage;" it has allow all citizens to stand up against corruption. The costs are just too high, and it affects not only the individuals but also the delivery of protection services as a whole, and the community itself. Unlawful participation in corruption may demolish the career and family life of individual officers and may also guide to legal sanctions. From the community's point of view, corruption leads to a loss of respect for members of institutions, poor service delivery and loss of trust in the institution that corrupt public funds. Within the institution itself, corruption may direct to low morale, inefficient act and cause problems with the image and authority of the service. Strong controls are essential to eliminate corruption. Such control should come from within the institution and should be supported by community.

 

To keep in mind, there are no distinct easy solutions for dealing with corruption in institutions that deliver protection services. On the one hand, broad reforms such as liberalization and democratization could grant the proposal for clean governance and management, but on the other hand, the fight against corruption also demands precise reforms to create a culture of accountability, introduce public service reforms, raise civil awareness and put reasons for proper behaviour in place. Eventually, a strategy for responding to corruption must target administration, civil society and private investors.

 

Internal control of corruption

 

The main component in combating corruption is the attitude of leaders and the quality of line management. The leaders of the institution should take a strong stand against corruption. The absence of strict action against corruption in an institution conveys the significance that such conduct is acceptable, and that will lead to more corruption. Well-trained and sensitive administrators that will back up the chiefs in the institution will enhance their ability to combat corruption. It is often emphasized that training can contribute to the fight against corruption. Such training should be intended explicitly at the ethical behaviour and evading of corruption and in situation that may lead to corruption, for example, where an officer regularly accepts free meals at the same restaurant. If members of the institution are not informed of penalties of corruption, because it will just encourage corrupt practices. Arrests and prosecution of corrupt officers or officials will send a clear signal to other members of the institution.    

 

CHAPTER III of ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION in the constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, Article (145{4}) authorized anti-corruption commission (ACC) by stating that, " The Commission shall have power to issue summons or other orders requiring representatives of relevant institutions and other bodies at all levels of government or persons or organizations to appear before it or produce any document or record relevant to any investigation by the Commission." This is not only the responsibility of (ACC) alone but it remains the responsibility of each member of an institution to report acts that constitute corruption to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). 

 

Communities or community control

 

The authorities need the help of the community to combat corruption. The public should be educated to know and understand the implications and outlay of corruption. It should be understand that even the smallest bribe can lead to greater corruption when an individual within a community didn't report such pace.  The increase focus on corruption in the state of affair is one reason that will exclusively reduce unlawful actions of public officials. Corruption is like HIV/Aids problem because it cannot be controlled completely but it must be combated based on corporation of vertical and horizontal communication of a state. Institutions can use a number of tools, such as strict control by executive officers, quality supervision, discipline, training and special units for investigating corruption. Community control includes educating the public and introducing community investigation units to help Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) eradicate dishonesty of protection officers and public officials. But South Sudan society is so busy with unprofitable duties such as tribal fights of which they don't even think of what is "well-being." Well-being is one of the most important aspects of our lives, as individuals and as societies.

 

Conclusion

 

As it was mentioned above that, "this article is not to assess or investigate the progress that has been made within the South Sudan public service," but its purpose is to put awareness on the table together with personal career as dishonesty is an evil in public affair of the State. Corruption is defined as the misused of public funds but it is undesirable and has an unenthusiastic effect on the provision of services. Also I have explained some numeral of conditions that may influence the scope of corruption and to which the execution of discretion becomes vulnerable to corrupt practices; for instance, in the absence of clear rules and codes of ethics, discretionary power could easily become abused. Nevertheless, I have described the basic adherence to moral codes that is expected of all members of a group or society in the public sector and how they are bound to administrative justice. In the control measures of corruption, it was said that arrests and prosecution of corrupt officers or officials will send a clear signal to other members of the institution. And finally, Corruption is enlightened to have characteristics of HIV/Aids, and it must be combated using corporation of vertical and horizontal communication of a state. Institutions have been revealed to use number of tools, such as a strict control via executive officers, quality management, obedience, training and special units for investigating corruption. Community controls are based on education as part of corruption prevention and introducing community investigation units to help Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) eliminate fraudulence of protection officers and public officials.

 

Joseph Monyde Malieny is the author of article  and a student at University of South Africa, Pretoria: and you reach him at Josephmalieny@yahoo.com

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March 10th, 2012 at 5:25 pm

Bior Kwer Bior, Jr. (Borglobe)


It’s astonishing how seldom we utter a word against any other urging matters of national concern but politics. All over our public forums, it appears like everyone has come down with some sort of politics Tourette. Well, let me, of all the people, do the unthinkable here, and break our great tradition of anti-kiirism and his Oyea party. I would like to rant against something that has recently gotten on last overcharged nerve. I’ve an axe to grind with typhoid fever.


In all the places that I’ve visited in South Sudan, and the neighboring countries, there is a myth that is being perpetuated in South Sudanese communities about the cause of this disease, and until this myth is busted and relegated to the realms of ignorance, the people who are afflicted and those who are harboring the germ responsible for this disease will never take an appreciable preventive action. Someone once lectured me with a straight face that the reason why typhoid fever is less prevalent in places like America is because those places aren’t as hot as Juba. I was stunt. I’ve never encountered such a stunningly over-confident level of stupidity in my life, but instead of correcting the Ape, I looked at him in awe.


First of all, there are 400 cases of typhoid fever reported every year in the United States (CDC, 2011), with 75% of these being people who got infected while travelling abroad, like me. Secondly, typhoid fever has nothing to do with the Sun as the myth seems to so erroneously suggest. If your Widal test comes back positive for Salmonella Typhi, the causative agent of typhoid fever, it’s probably because you’ve been eating food that was cooked by someone who’s shedding S. typhi. If you die of heat stroke, blame the sun; if you die because of typhoid fever, blame your wife, or whoever is preparing your food, or handling your drinking water. It’s hardly a rocket science and you too, my fellow lay-South Sudanese, can understand it!


Typhoid Fever is a bacterial disease caused by Salmonella Typhi. S. Typhi lives exclusively in someone’s intestinal tract, and is habitually excreted with feces. This mean that, like Cholera, typhoid fever is inextricably linked to poor hygiene practices, not because one is exposed to the relentless tropical sun. You get typhoid fever after eating food or drinking beverage that was carelessly handled by someone who is excreting S. Typhi.

However, the situation isn’t that really hopeless, and antibiotics aren’t the only answer. There are ways in which one can protect one’s family or self from this life-threatening, and yet often ignored illness. First, make sure that any member of your family who has been diagnosed with Typhoid Fever doesn’t ever set a foot near your kitchen. A simple household quarantine will suffice. Ensure that your household drinking water is sufficiently boiled. S.Typhi is beautifully heat- labile so it will not survive 100 degrees water boiling. Make sure that your kids aren’t sinking their teeth into those unwashed mango fruits their mother bought from the vender by the roadside. Actually, they’re better off drinking those expensive mango juice drinks because during the processing, those drinks were pasteurized. Raw milk is to be avoided at all cost.


To supplement these simple, and yet effective preventive regimes, have all the members of your family vaccinated against typhoid fever. Yes, there is a typhoid fever vaccine, albeit not a fool-proof one, which is wonderfully cheap. For as low as 100 South Sudan pounds, you’ll rest assured that your toddler will never come down with that life-threatening 103 degrees fever.


However, these preventive measures are hardly sufficient in combating this raging epidemic. The government has to ensure that all restaurants in Juba are S. typhi free. There is no greater harbor of this organism than a restaurant that doesn’t follow strict hygienic protocols. To protect the public, our health ministry must institute a restaurants inspection policy in which all restaurants in Juba, as well as all over our country, are inspected on a regular basis. Any restaurant whose employees are found to be S. typhi carriers ought to be closed down indefinitely until those employees are certified by a qualified government health expert that they’re germ-free. This practice is guaranteed to drastically cut the cases of typhoid fever in our country.


It’s monstrously unfair for our government to be spending arms and legs, trying to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, a disease that solely kills those careless beasts among us, whilst not a whisper is heard about typhoid fever, which is silently killing the next generation of leaders all over our country. Our lives and those of our innocent ones are being threatened more everyday by those dinner plates that are half S. typhi and half rice full in those dirty restaurants in Konyo-konyo market than by those Kenyan or Uganda HIV/AIDS positive sex workers. Let’s get our priorities straight, or we’ll definitely be sorry lots!

 

Bior Kwer Bior Jr. is a South Sudanese national, who resides in the United States, but is currently vacationing in the Republic of South Sudan. Bior can be reached at: kbior@uvm.edu.

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