By Kam Lony Lueng,
That Nuer-Dinka sign in the UN camp in South Sudan, which The Washington Post debates here, is explained by the UN as was “told by community leaders that tensions between communities were high and they requested to the UN that community members from each of these two ethnic groups be allowed to gather in separate areas for security reasons.”
June 20, 2015(Nyamilepedia) — At the beginning of the South Sudan current “tribal war”, ” power struggle”or “conflict ” as many called it, I wrote an article entitled ” THE FRAGMENTED SOUTH”. Today I would like us to reason together for possible ways of consolidation. And for us to come together as an affected South Sudanese society lets tune our focus on rationality though a rarity in our country.
Does unity in diversity contradict birds of a feather flock together when it come to South Sudan? Taking South Sudan as a two-wheeler bike with all the 64 tribes as the cyclist, the front wheel and the back wheel as “birds of a feather flock together” and ” unity in diversity ” respectively, Won’t this cyclist be able to cycle if the tires are all in good working conditions? It’s now a decade since the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement yet we still claim to be ignorant of the all matter by pointing fingers on two individuals. A 10-year-old lass has already learned something as complicated as language and meaning of life. It is time for the common politicians slogan “we are young nation ” to grow up.
In South Sudan we have the obvious problems as tribals and linguistics differences. This sounds stupid but if we all take a bird eye and in-depth view of the matter it takes us back to simple things as “loi di mony? Tę di mä? Lelo guan da? Nyi goni bara? Name them. And other form of fight for tribal superiority. I am not suggesting reunification ,rather a unity without uniformity and a diversity without fragmentation which is a sole definition of “unity in diversity ” according to Baha’i.
To some, language defines people hence the more people learn your language, the more prestigious, proud and arrogant one become by playing societal snobbery positions. As per my argument , if linguistics differences is a problem as it has always been known for, can’t we endorse Arabic Juba as our national language then? East Africa for example endorsed Kiswahili which came into existence as a result of the African encounter with Arabs just like Arabic Juba and they are proud of it. Preaching UN cultural organizations objective of minority languages preservation is as disgusting as conflicts preservation because it creates more division than unity among society.
We don’t have to be reminded of the origin of languages and God intentions.
Genesis 11:6-7 Says and I quote “[6] And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this( Tower of Babel) they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. [7] Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech”. We are believers of Abrahamic regions ( Islam , Judaism and Christianity) and from this chapter we can deduce that our unity lies solely on a common language and that more than one is just a confusion. I revere linguistics variety and I can not ignore the short comes that come along side it.
I had a brainstorming session with friends the other day concerning this particular topic of cultural identities and the problems they cause in our day today unity as one society under one umbrella “UNITY IN DIVERSITY “. Ironically, Most were strongly suggesting cultural initiations like female circumcision, canines and lower teeth removal, forehead markings i.e (the V-shape, and horizontal lines on Dinka and Nuer forehead) abolishment and strongly condemned anything to do with dropping their language for a common one. Let’s be reasonable enough, no Nuer or any other tribe is happy when touched on the shoulder by a Dinka man on Juba street and politely whispered into his ears “mony loi di?” And the converse is true. So why then are we only grumbling and rumbling without doing anything about it , thinking it will miraculously and eventually die down? I don’t think so. In the contemporary world , when a problem has been identified the next step is obviously working out a solution.
Pertinent to tribal differences, I respect tribes as group of people sharing occupation, habit or common interests but not as social division of people, especially of a preliterate people, defined in terms of common descent, territory, culture, or a unit of sociopolitical organization with number of families and clans. We need to learn from past experience of British divide and rule system which enabled them to conquer strong men like us. Our leaders are still using the same tactics British used by then yet we never say enough is enough. The so called communities organizations are also probing to be more troublesome and creating hatred among citizens than preparing them for national unity and reconciliation. Take for instance Dinka elders, Greater Bor community, Nuer Community , Lou Nuer community, Bul community to mention but a few. Why can’t we instead strengthen Greater Bar el Ghazal community compromising of all ethnicities in the region, greater UpperNile community compromising of all ethnicities in the region and greater Equitoria community compromising of all ethnicities in the region?
However much our tribalist politicians claim to be nationalist, in our ten years experience from the interim period until today we have gathered enough evidences that they are not the true Moses and Aaron they claimed to be. One can never serve two masters, that’s a common truth. We can never have a tribalist solving tribalism ,in other words pretending to be a national patriotic figure when he is 100% loyal to his tribe and actively practice nepotism. So far we know Corruption, nepotism, and tribalism as the seeds they planted and nurtured. Through these three they formed a government which is and has always been too young to develop a nation with enough resources for every citizen and too young to focus on national interests.
I would therefore argue your admission of the fact that, the monsters ( dirty politicians) shading our blood today are the ones we created and still creating. We are well aware of their false tribal and regional representative government with a tribe as a tool for self- aggrandizement.
Let’s not pretend Kiir and Riek are killing us though, we are in fact killing each other, a friend against a friend, a brother against his own. Look at USA today, despite their racial differences they are able to come together to condemn the 21-year-old Dylan Roof of his evil intention of starting a racial war. Why can’t we as a people of the same race take a bald step to eliminate a common problem as a tribal difference instead of blindly rallying behind whoever hailed from our “TRIBES”. We need to wake up as one community having same goals and purposes in mind.
Sorting out our differences as people will protect us from these so called politicians lest we shall always remain victims to their discordant, discontents and strives for their selfish ambitions. My questions of neutrality (not to be confused with me not condemning any side) are; what plans do Kiir have for the good of our nation that Riek blocked? Why is Riek echoing The by then Equitorean voices of FEDERALISM now in the bush while he never shown the slightest Support during his time has the Vice President? What are the grand ambitions of so called Dinka elders that the voices of South Sudanese parliamentarians should take the back seats to theirs? The answers would be that simple if only one could look outside the box.
What then? Can we abolish our different cultures, customs, norms and practices in the south? No way. If we can only hammered them down as a decorations for one big south sudanese cultural monuments, it could attract many tourists. Perhaps it could never inter-pear or hinder in any way our unity in diversity as south sudanese first and various tribes second.
For us to be able to move forward as a nation we need to make a commitment of moving away from our comfort zones to unite our voices and actions for one South Sudan for different tribes
recognizing everyone’s contribution from majority down to minority tribes and not as different tribes for one South Sudan with majority maneuvering, marginalizing ,oppressing and to brutally and ruthlessly rule the minority. A car is not able to move when one out of the four wheel gets stack, therefore South Sudan as well can never move forward when one of the tribes gets stack.
It’s crystal clear that Our politicians have failed us howbeit we still deemed them capable of ruling and consolidating the same people they fragmented. I doubt their capabilities.
Let’s instead come together in unity for common purposes and goals as our slurry for cementing together the foundation of the true South Sudan. When South Sudan become our common feather, only then can we flock together. And only if we flock together as united south sudanese, can we then stripped incapable politicians of their self claimed supreme powers and installed the right ones in place. I strongly believe in our unity as a nation. God bless South Sudan.
A south sudanese student residing in south East Asia. He can be reached at kamlonylueng@icloud.com
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