The New Kid on the Block Mentality; SPLM negotiating in bad faith

BY: Joana Adams, RSS

JAN. 21/2012, SSN; Since the assassination of George Athor on 19th December 2011, South Sudan has become a political theater bent on entertaining the world with negative news to what is analogous to behavior of the "new kid on the block".

One wonders whether it was premature to admit the world's newest nation to the United Nation's soon after declaration of independence in July 2011.

It is now becoming increasingly clear that this membership should have been conditional subject to completion of a probationary period to monitor and possibly correct the transition of the country's government and guerrilla movement turned political party (SPLM) to a civilized organization to conduct itself according to international norms.

During the probation period the leadership of the government should have been trained on the art or science of diplomacy, and basic international norms and procedures to develop sound foreign policies and modality of good governance.

During the inter ethnic conflict between the Nuer and Murle, The the GoSS demonstrated its inability to effectively deal with internal issues.

In the international arena, the government under the incompetent leadership of Salva Kiir is a total embarrassment to some decent and civilized people of South Sudan.

For over 6 months, the government has been playing the "cat and mouse games" with Khartoum over matters of life and death for citizens of both countries and it must be said, has been negotiating in bad faith with Khartoum.

It is sufficient that Khartoum has lost a part of its territory and should be left in peace to nurse its wounds and reorganize itself to face new challenges. At the end of the day we need good neighborliness.

Juba's intransigence is reflected in it's new move to drag in Kampala, Nairobi and Ethiopia to preempt the current negotiations. It is also not true that Khartoum is stealing our oil since they publicly announced they would take the transit fees in kind, if Juba doesn't agree to fair commercial rate for use of its oil infrastructure.

The US has only last week urged that a fair commercial rate be paid to Khartoum. What is so difficult in engaging international experts to work out these details and present it to arbitrators?

The SPLM, in the person of Pagan Amum, Barnaba Marial and the oil minister should stop reactionary actions for which they have no public mandate. Pagan as an SPLM Secretary General has no authority to discuss matters pertaining to the government. His authorization by Salva Kiir Mayardit is illegal.

A negotiation team comprising of members of other political parties, engineers, lawyers and civil society representatives as well as religious body should be drafted in to rescue the situation. And the government as we know consists of the three organs of the executive, legislature and the judiciary.

The legislature should hold ministers to account over their decision to stop "oyol" production. The legislature cannot be entirely left out of crucial national issues such as the oil saga. Important decisions to shut down oil production announced today 20th Jan 2012,on SSTV should be deliberated and approved or rejected by the national and state assemblies since this matter will affect all the citizens of the 10 states.

On the one hand the GoSS wants the world to feel the presence of the "strong" SPLM government in the continent and in the world scene, on the other hand it is working hard to stall the talks with Khartoum on the remaining issues including oil because it wants to abort the discussions on the auditors report for 2005 and 2006 and in anticipation of the report for 2007 next month, which will no doubt uncover huge sums of misappropriated funds by more or less the same people in government.

It is absolutely sickening to see that what could be resolved amicably in a civilized manner using the science of diplomacy, fairness and common sense is taking an ugly confrontational turn.

We are in an international community where nations whether new or old are interdependent on each other for international security, human rights protection and commerce.

We still have nearly a million southerners living in the north and southern students studying in northern universities. What purpose will it serve for Juba to ruin the economy of north Sudan, destabilize and possibly cause its fragmentation?

The SPLM should differentiate between its desire to support SPLM North and its active participation to bring down or cause regime change in the North.

GoSS has enough internal problems which are multiplying by the day and Juba is better advised to focus on delivering the services, providing security and combating internal corruption as promised by Mayardit.

Joana Adams

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