When South Sudan got her independence from Sudan, hundreds of South Sudanese, mostly women and wounded heroes, died as a result of happiness. The soldiers and women who have been suffering for a very long time were shocked and they couldn’t make it anymore.
They died when they heard that South Sudan was free and that there would be no more bloodshed and I don’t know what they are thinking right now given the current situation of South Sudan. Some of them, especially those who sacrificed their precious lives for this country would wish they had not died so that they continue to suffer with their children.
But what does the dead know? They don’t know what the people they fought for are going through today, perhaps if there was one thing that they were so sure about before they were finally lowered in their graves, it was the freedom they have finally brought to their people. They were sure that their children and the widows they had left behind would continue to reap the fruit of their struggle but that did not happen the way it was expected. People are still dying and shedding tears and the people who went to the bush for the sake of this country are no longer together. They have forgotten that they are one and they now see themselves as enemies.
Communities who used to live without one another have been divided along ethnic lines even those who once used to share the same table are now apart. The country is crying for people who were once united but now shedding their own blood. Foreigners are benefiting from the country’s wealth because the citizens are busy killing themselves and who cares. Imagine the foreigners who came here 10 years ago have made millions of and they are investing this money in their own countries and South Sudanese are still poor with nothing but guns.
Guns were used during the liberation struggle to fight for the freedom of South Sudanese and when that mission was accomplished, they were supposed to be put aside and people work together for the betterment of the country.
But sadly, it seems like we cannot live without guns and this suck. It has been almost a decade since the country got its independence, but people are still losing their precious lives on a daily basis. No good schools, no roads and the health care systems are in shard. Possibly, the country’s future hangs in the balance. There is absolutely nothing that we feel proud of when we look back apart from guns. Guns are all that we have and nothing else. When you look at the business sector, you find that foreign businessmen are running most of the businesses and South Sudanese are still bleeding daily and nobody seems to care.
Majority of young people have been used to killing their own people. If you see most of these people who are carrying guns today, a great number of them are young people. They have forgotten that the same people they are killing today are the same people who need them most.
The young ones are not supposed to shed blood to please the elderly, they are the future, and they must act differently, especially when it comes to bringing the people together. The country’s future is in the hands of young people, and they must not accept to involve themselves in the politics of killing if they want to see a better South Sudan tomorrow. But with these killings, one can even be tempted to ask himself how possible it would be to see a better South Sudan in the next 10 years when it is closing to a decade since the country got its independence and things are getting worse. How can this be possible in the midst of this chaos?
Well, a better South Sudan will never come when we continue these tribal wars. The young ones must come together and set themselves apart from the rest. They must be the ones to preach peace and on top of that set a good example by coming together as one family with one interest of moving South Sudan forward.