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Quote:
“Our
destiny is not written for us but written by us, we must take our future
into our own hands,”
U.S. President Obama; 10/2008
When Dr. John Garang, as the supreme leader of the SPLM/A
in our long war against the Jellaba Arab North in 1983, outrageously
declared that we the southerners, would instead be fighting for a ‘New
Sudan,’ and not for south Sudan freedom, he permanently complicated the
political equation for the southerners.
Thus, even at this eleventh hour of the CPA now, many
southerners remain simply confused.
Garang is gone but his legacy has left many with an
uneasy sense of second guessing as to what is best for the south-- for
many southerners and their leaders.
How
preposterous and unthinkable have southerners degenerated in the
confusion that a delegation from the south Sudan parliament had to go to
Egypt only to beg them to advice the Jellaba northerners to "work on
making unity attractive."
Given the persisting and conflicting stance and rhetoric
of our southern leaders on the choice of either separation or unity for
the south, the fate of our people as enshrined in the CPA, remains in
limbo.
On the 4th anniversary of Dr. Garang’s death
in June 30, 2005, and the on-going implementation impasse of the CPA, we
must seriously revise, re-examine and completely bury Garang’s hitherto
unopposed and detrimental proclamation of ‘New Sudan.’
As realists and the people now left to face the dilemma,
we must accept the fact that Garang’s ‘new Sudan’ alternative, which was
literally forced on us at gun-point, was totally unpopular in the south
and totally unattractive also outside the south.
Many believed that given Garang’s bloated ego and the
international support he got, Garang aspired for a greater role in the
‘united’ Sudan while intending to keep firmly a tight grip on an
autonomous south.
Unfortunately, the current SPLM leadership that followed
Garang has evinced unacceptable political incapacitation to adapt to the
new complexities engendered by the futility of the New Sudan grandiosity
of Garang.
Furthermore, the new leader in Juba, President Kiir, who
is very much dwarfed intellectually and politically, unlike Dr John
Garang, has further exacerbated our anxiety and apprehension by his poor
comprehension of the intricately confusing and convoluted CPA.
As a consequence, south Sudanese expectations and
perceptions of the CPA are emerging to be completely opposite to the
realities that they are now confronting.
Primarily, the CPA was expedited by a host of local and
international mediators with various vested interests, and was cynically
exploited by Jellaba Khartoum to buy time for the intensifying Darfur
war as the world’s attention focused on the peace process.
In the end, the CPA encompassed and incorporated Garang’s
bifocal New Sudan Vision.
First, for
the southerners, it stipulated the ‘self-determination’ referendum which
is actually to hide the much anathematized ‘separation’ that is frowned
upon in Africa and the world generally, but yet is desired by the
majority of southerners.
Second, for the others, the so-called marginalized areas,
it promised them an elusive ‘paradise of New Sudan’ in national unity
where there will be justice and equality but without clear mechanisms or
modalities of how they can realize this lofty dream.
These two goals are diametrically opposite.
Perhaps the negotiators and their mediators were so much
mesmerized by Garang’s delusions of grandiosity that they overlooked the
incongruity and incompatibility of secession and unity.
Another blunder in hindsight is the six year timeline
agreed upon in the CPA before the anticipated referendum is
accomplished.
Given Jellaba Arab North callousness and propensity to
dishonesty, this period is simply too long for the Jellaba to espouse
excuses to impede the implementation and to renounce the CPA in part or
in total.
Although Garang is no more, his current progeny of SPLM
leaders should have been absolutely wary of Jellaba Khartoum Islamists
obfuscation.
As well, there was the likelihood of the diminishing
interest of the international community in the south as soon as the ink
dried on the CPA.
What the SPLM must do now is to efficaciously separate
the basic interest of the south from that of the other regions, blocks
or parties previously aligned to them or currently ingratiating
themselves with the SPLM.
While the US has propitiously jumped in to reinvigorate
the almost moribund CPA, Kiir and cahoots must be highly circumspect
about American intentions.
Whatsoever,
they cannot and must
not allow the ultimate goal of independence of the south
to be sacrificed for the sake of US rapprochement with the Arab World.
Notwithstanding President Kiir Mayardit’s gamut of
ineffectualness and losing streak against Beshir’s NCP, like the Census
or Khartoum being anointed as the Referendum Headquarters, the SPLM must
recognize that separation/south Sudan independence remains the only
plausible objective.
Finally, a return to war is presently unfathomable if the
SPLM leaders diligently honor the wish of the majority southerners.
SSN
Editor
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