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Who and What is Militia in South
Sudan?
By: Gatkuoth Deng, USA
SEPT 22/2009, SSN; - In the
dictionary I have found three definitions of the word ‘militia.’
Definition one: militia means an army of soldiers who are civilians but
take military training and can serve full-time during emergencies.
Definition two: militia means a reserve army that is not part of the
regular armed forces but can be called up in an emergency. Definition
three: militia means an unauthorized group of people who arm themselves
and conduct quasi-military training.
The three above are the universal
definitions of the word ‘militia’ according the dictionary. But what do
the people, politicians and soldiers of South Sudan think about what
‘militia’ means to them? This has recently become an interesting topic
to me because the word seems to be overused and abused beyond what it
can actually mean. And this makes it more interesting when it is
selectively used to mean a particular kind of people or tribe by those
who always rush to name-calling and finger-pointing. This is also
complicated by examining how militia groups can come into being either
through internal or external influence and whether or not such groups
can all qualify to be called militias.
This is also to avoid a similar
name-calling of separatists and capitalists as ‘nyagat’ when those using
the name don’t even know its meaning or origin. To those who speak the
Ethiopian language Amharic, the word ‘nyagat’ came from the Amharic word
‘negade’ which translates ‘traders, business people or capitalists’ and
therefore bourgeoisie, etc.. During the Marxist socialist Ethiopian
regime of former President Mengistu Haile Mariam, capitalists were
labeled with such names as bad people in the system he named ‘United New
Socialist Ethiopia’. Mengistu was against separation of Eritrea from the
rest of Ethiopia at the time. The SPLM/A copied the slogan and described
the movement to be for ‘United New Socialist Sudan’ to be easily
compatible with the hosting country’s system. You can see the SPLM/A
Manifesto of 1983 for the readers who want to verify this. It also
labeled its internal separatists as ‘nyagats’, which is capitalist and
bourgeoisies.
This name-calling started in 1984. One
commentator from the Dinka community who I can describe as somebody that
tried his level best to be honest in a dishonest environment we live in
said he used the insult against the Nuer but could not know the origin
of the word. He said he “contemporarily” thought that it could mean
somebody ‘traitor’ in Dinka language. I agree with him as I read people
writing it as an insult. It is a pity that some people think they are
insulting and others think they are being insulted by a word both sides
did not know its meaning in the first place. This reminds me of a local
traditional story that a Dinka and a Nuer quarreled over the fate of a
wild meat when the Nuer said ‘babul’ and the Dinka said ‘banyop’. Both
words mean to ‘roast’ the meat. They thought they differed over what to
do with the meat while they were saying the same thing. Who is still
against capitalists in the current SPLM/A of 2009?
Coming back to the main topic of the
article, we can now examine what we can and cannot call militia in South
Sudan in the light of the above three definitions as illustrated in the
first paragraph. We should now go by the first definition that says
“militia means an army of soldiers who are civilians but take military
training and can serve full-time during emergencies.” This part of
definition to my understanding explains that the group ‘militia forces’
are civilians that are militarily trained and can only be called up
during emergencies. The second definition is similar but has added that
militias are a “reserve army” that is detached from the regular army.
These first two definitions imply that militias are part of a regular
legal force some where. But who makes such a regular force legal
somewhere is a different matter because even a rebel army can think of
itself as legal body and can also have its own militias. But is a rebel
army legal from the point of view of the government it rebelled from?
However, the most complicated definition
of militias that seems to have confused a lot of the people of South
Sudan and therefore needs a closer and rational look is the definition
that says “militia means an unauthorized group of people who arm
themselves and conduct quasi-military training.”
The word “unauthorized” is complicating!
Who authorizes who in this situation and who should be eligible to be
authorized? For instance, when the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)
was established in 1983, it comprised of rebellious government forces
that defected from both Bor and Ayod garrisons. These forces then joined
up with the already rebelled Anya-nya II forces from Akobo and already
established their base in Bilpam in 1975 under 1st Lt.
Vincent Kwany Latjor. Bilpam later on became the main base or the
General Headquarters (GHQs) of the SPLM/A in 1983. Were these forces of
SPLA and Anya-nya II authorized, and if yes, by who? And if not
authorized, could they fall under the definition number three of
militias? Could this be the reason why the Sudan government had been
calling the SPLA soldiers as militia forces or mercenaries fighting for
external Western interests during the war even though the people of
South Sudan see them as freedom fighters?
One could easily understand the political
rhetoric of the former enemy, the Sudan government, preferring to call
the SPLA as militias or mercenaries fighting for the interests of the
West. However and interestingly, the same thing was copied and applied
internally during the split of the same group, the SPLA that was in the
first place said to be militias or mercenaries. One group rushed to pick
the Sudan government’s name-calling and branded the other group as
militias. The group went further by breaking down the other group they
labeled as militias into ethnic groups and picked one ethnic group among
them to be called the militias with the exclusion of their colleagues
from other ethnicities.
Like the Sudan government that called the
SPLA militias without giving itself an honest time to see the objective
for which the SPLA broke away from the government and fought, that other
group also rushed to call the other group that broke away to champion
self-determination as militias fighting for the interests of Khartoum. A
Western writer in 1992 wrote in denial of the name by saying “there is
no any militia group attached to the government that can demand the
right of self-determination from its government for the people the group
represents.” I agree.
But if we go by the [mis]understanding
that those of South Sudan Independence Movement (SSIM), under the
current Vice President of GOSS, Bahr el Ghazal Group (BGG), under the
leadership of late Kerubino Kwanyin Bol, Equatoria Defense Forces (EDF)
under the leadership of the current GOSS Presidential Advisor Dr.
Theophilus Ochang Lotti and Bor Group (BG) under the leadership of late
Arok Thon Arok plus others were militia groups, then we would have
equally carried that selected name without sparing certain ethnicities.
However, the other SPLM/A group wanted to pick on the Nuer ethnic group
alone to qualify for the name militias. That is interesting!
The same bias or discrimination is now
repeating itself in the Jonglei madness. It is an open secret in the
whole world that inter and intra-community fighting in the South has
become widespread in almost every state in the ten South Sudan states.
It has been called tribal wars over cattle rustling, competition over
grazing lands and water points, retaliatory attacks and revenge
killings, etc for all these years. To remind the readers, tribal wars in
Jonglei between Nuer, Dinka, Murle and Anyuak, etc has been fought since
time immemorial. The differences are in the increased scale and the
modern weapons being used such as the Kalashnikovs unlike spears.
Unfortunately, when it became the recent attack by Lou-Nuer on Twic East
and Duk counties, irresponsible officials in the government did not
hesitate to label it as Lou-Nuer militia attacks.
Yes, the Lou-Nuer civilians have since
organized themselves into Jiech in Boor (White Army) similar to the
youth Dinka civilians who have since organized themselves into Gel-Weng,
so what is the difference? Their activities are all the same, attacking
neighbors and looting cattle and UN bases every where in the South. The
Mundari ethnic group has what they call ‘Commandos’, etc. So what is
unique with the Lou-Nuer?
If the suspicion on Lou-Nuer is based on
the presence of Dr. Riek Gai Kok in Khartoum, then a similar suspicion
in Warrap, Jonglei and Lakes states armed civilian attacks should also
be attached to Abel Alier, George Kongor, Professor Moses Machar, Bona
Malual, etc who have been pro-NCP for all these years and directly
served in collaboration with such a notorious political party. Some
served as Vice Presidents under the notorious northern regimes fighting
against the South for all those years. Why hypocrisy?
To me, this madness particularly in
Jonglei is being facilitated by the tribal policies of Governor Kuol
Manyang Juuk which fits tribe against tribe in the state. His recent
uncalculated move by mobilizing and perhaps bribing the state MPs to
remove the Assembly Speaker who is from Murle community and replacing
him with another Dinka when he (Kuol) is also a Dinka has fueled
mistrust and conflict between the communities. It is the SPLM’s known
policy to promote equal ethnic representation in power distribution
before the general elections. It is during the upcoming elections that
the MPs can elect whoever they want and do away with the distribution of
powers which is now the policy before the elections.
If the former Speaker of Jonglei State
Legislative Assembly, Jodi Boyoris Jonglei was to be replaced for good
reasons, then Kuol should have made it clear that only other contesters
from the Murle community should replace him. If it is seen not to be
necessary, he should have opted to give it to the Anyuak community that
has no any important post among the current bigger positions in the
state. Or he should have as well given it to other major Nuer clans in
Jonglei state such as Gaawar, Laak and Thiang who have not benefited
from such important positions in the state. For the minority Dinka alone
to take both the position of the governor and that of the Assembly
speaker in the state amounts to political greed. Until this political
greed is eradicated from the ruling minority Dinka, Jonglei will remain
mad and may even increase its madness. I hope Kuol Manyang will change
his tactics!
Using NCP in the north as a scapegoat
will not help the situation. Let us identify these internal devils. But
if we prefer to describe these tribal fighting as “militia forces” under
NCP’s external influence, then let us adopt it through out as a uniform
description in all the states and should apply to all ethnic groups that
carry out such violent activities.
This would mean that tribal fighting in
Warrap, Lakes, Upper Nile and Jonglei states, etc are by militias. And
that is Aguok-Dinka militias fighting against Luach-Dinka militias in
Warrap state, Agar-Dinka militias fighting against Jur-beli militias in
Lakes state, Lou-Nuer militias fighting against Nyarweng or Ngok-Dinka
militias of Duk Padiet, Bor-Dinka militias killing SPLA officers inside
Bor town, Aliab-Dinka militias fighting against Mundari militias, Bari
militias fighting against Mundari militias in Central Equatoria, Toposa
militias fighting against Dindinga militias in Eastern Equatoria, Murle
militias fighting against Lou-Nuer militias, Bor-Dinka militias fighting
against Lou-Nuer militias in Twic East county, Ngok-Dinka militias
fighting against Shilluk militias in Upper Nile, etc. etc.
In Warrap state, according the media
reports, heavy artilleries were used in fighting involving two Dinka
clans. In Lakes state Agar-Dinka had recently attacked the SPLA convoy
destroying a number of their vehicles using Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs).
In Juba’s weapons search it is reported that even anti-air craft weapons
plus RPGs, PKMs, etc., were found in the hands of civilians. So if the
Lou-Nuer attackers used such type of weapons it should not be something
new to any body. Some are supplied by certain SPLA officers to their
communities. But if we prefer to call them militias sponsored by the NCP,
it is fine and should be made a uniform description through out all the
fighting communities in the South. My concern is that we may miss the
real internal causes of such inter and intra-community fighting and
might never resolve them if we choose to always blame them on the NCP in
the North.
The author lives in USA and can be
reached at:
gatkuothlam@yahoo.com
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