Dear Dr. John Garang de Mabior, may you receive Gen. David Majur Dak and seat him on your right-hand side.
If it is true that there is life after death, then meet with Gen. David Majur Dak and receive a full report of what is happening in South Sudan from him. He can share a table with you; he died a Major General and got promoted posthumously to the rank of Lieutenant General. Army Generals who are supposed to get killed in a war between South Sudan and other countries are getting killed in a war between Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit and Gen Riek Machar Teny. Damn!
Dear founding father, your SPLM/A colleagues in the names of Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit and Gen. Riek Machar Teny have misused their identities. Yes, they identify as Dinka and Nuer, respectively and this has made them see every political disagreement at the angle of Dinka and Nuer. They have tribalised the then SPLA, now SSPDF. SSPDF is a national army that should defend the nation, but it now defends individuals. There is an SSPDF that defends Bahr El Ghazal region and its people, there is an SSPDF that defends Upper Nile region and its people and there is an SSPDF that defends Equatoria region and its people.
Soldiers are tribally recruited, tribally trained, tribally armed and graduated, and tribally deployed. You find that soldiers hailing from Bahr El Ghazal region get deployed in Bahr El Ghazal region and Army Generals and politicians from Bahr El Ghazal take some soldiers as their bodyguards. Soldiers from Upper Nile region are deployed in Upper Nile region and Army Generals and politicians from Upper Nile region take some of them as their bodyguards. Soldiers from Equatoria region are deployed in Equatoria region and Army Generals and politicians from Equatoria region take some of them as their bodyguards.
You find that soldiers are more loyal to specific army Generals than they are loyal to the country. All the soldiers are wearing tribal spectacles. If any disagreement happens between army Generals or politicians, a dogfight erupts and the warring sides take a long to negotiate peace and sign it. On top of the economic crisis, high rate of unemployment, poor infrastructural, educational, agricultural and healthcare systems, hunger, corruption, tribalism, bad governance, injustice, and gross violation of human rights, war is escalating from thither and hither in South Sudan.
A hundred, if not a thousand, people have perished and continue perishing in Nasir, tens of people have perished in Rajaf fight and the death toll is counting, and a bigger number of people is expected to perish as insecurity in Juba city has reached the threshold. Why? Why would a brother cock his gun and shoot dead another brother? One people, one nation! The solution is simple. Every time war erupts, it is young people who take up arms and kill themselves, but in the end, President Salva Kiir Mayardit and FVP Riek Machar Teny remain alive.
Today, if young people say “enough is enough” and refuse to fight on behalf of SKM and RMT, believe me, the two leaders won’t pick up guns and shoot at one another. They are too old to fire a pistol, let alone a rifle. Leaders of tomorrow are finishing in wars caused by leaders of today. If leaders of today are that heartless to jeopardize the future of the country, why can’t leaders of tomorrow themselves realise and say, “We have fought enough and nothing good comes out of it, and that, it is high time peace should prevail”? It only takes a minute to destroy the country, but it takes years to rebuild it. Young people should think more than twice this very time.
Thanks for reading “Sowing The Seed Of Truth”.