By Malek Arol Dhieu
Even prophets can’t foretell the future of South Sudan completely because the future is divided, dipped into pockets and run away with by those who are obliged to prepare it. So, if one predictor says the future is doom, maybe God may intervene to undoom it and if another predictor says the future is bright, maybe its designers may work hard to make it maintain its present status. So, the future is unprognostic!
It is five months or so now since the issue of Jonglei Canal resumption enlivened but the government sews its mouth tightly that it can’t produce an utter to either allow the proposers go ahead or stop them until the case is fitted where it suits.
To my little experience, if you see the government with such a behaviour, definitely know that it is the one behind the mess. Who’s not aware that the Sudd region is a home to a thousand aquatic animals and is the one feeding South Sudanese more than their government.
So shocking is the news that the machinery for constructing Jonglei Canal are arriving at the country while the citizens are yearning for a spare of the Sudd region. It’s sad that the leaders are more concerned with what goes into their pockets than what raises the standard of the country and her people.
The Sudd region atop all the importances of South Sudan since it’s the largest wetland in Africa and because of that, Egypt doesn’t sleep a wink decoying South Sudan with countless donations just to appease her get a go-ahead to resume the Jonglei Canal construction.
Like many people have revealed it, Egypt goes desperate after what gives her control of the Nile waters therefore, after persuading some riparian states not to ratify the Comprehensive Framework Agreement, she must make sure she disturbs a hatching country like South Sudan so that by the time she realizes the diminution of Sudd region, the impact is already irreversible.
If Egyptians deceive themselves that they have to control the Nile waters because they had sunk into water when they pursued Israelites, then they have misunderstood it. They sank into the sea, not river or Sudd wetland. So, if they are to take control of the water they sank into, then let them go either to Mediterranean or Red sea, not River Nile.
Egyptians have never been good people since the biblical era. They love wanting to be served than to serve. They see and treat everybody like an Israelite. The same marginalisation they did to Israelites is the same marginalisation they are doing to South Sudanese, with that of South Sudanese exceedingly tormentous because they were let out by Joshua who never follows the footprints of Moses.
As a beautiful home to a thousand aquatic animals, the construction of Jonglei Canal by all means shifts the ecosystem to the side of imbalance, which is a formidable threat to the host communities because birds, insects and amphibians would migrate and settle in areas inhabited by humans.
Domestic animals which graze along the Sudd wetland would go starving as pasture dries following overflow of water to Egypt. As the Sudd wetland suffocates to death, South Sudanese surviving on it too suffocate to death, and so soon would Egyptians and some treacherous South Sudanese set a genocidal day to celebrate in their lives.
Egypt would be more than right to take control of the Nile if she were the firstborn of River Nile among the eleven riparian states in case rivers give birth, but as obvious as the fact that, all riparian states have equal power over the Nile as they were created along it, Egypt has no right to drain any country she sees has more water than she has.
There is nothing that awakens the ancestors more than a popular call by the disadvantaged people, I’m of an opinion that lovers of the Sudd wetland should garner some strength, deepen their vocal cords and whisper to both God and gods to curse the initiators of Jonglei Canal resumption. Who knows our call may be answered tomorrow immediately? Save the Sudd wetland by rejecting the Jonglei Canal construction! Save the lifesaving Sudd region by rejecting dredging!
Thanks for reading “Sowing the seed of truth”.
The author is a medical student, University of Juba.