Choice of Peace Versus Elusive Influence of Jieng Council of Elders

“The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him” Niccolo Machiavelli

By Philemom B. Daud Tom

August 26, 2015(Nyamilepedia) — What is really wrong with the government of South sudan? who is the ruler of the country? It is very disappointing for the government of South sudan to organize uninformed citizens to demonstrate against compromise peace agreement that was signed by the chairman and commander in chief of SPLM/A in opposition Dr. Riek Machar, other stakeholders and IGAD-plus.

The people of South sudan are tired of war, bad governance and yearning for peace, justice, accountability and stability to start new live. People are filled with hope, joy and high anticipation that the compromise peace agreement document that signed on August 17/2015 has yield a lasting peace in our country though it might not address everything warring parties demands.

Times has come for the people of south Sudan to have unified voices to condemn the enemy of peace and selfish group of politicians that team themselves in the name of “Jieng council of elders” to advance their own individual interests when in fact they are not even working for the interest of the whole Dinka community but directly damaging the image of Dinka in front of the 63 other tribes. They are source of disunity, evils of peace and nothing good will come out of them. All they need is destruction, killings and mass corruptions to advance their hotels luxurious lives.  

We all respect the importance role of the elders in the society and believe elders are people with lifetime experience, full of wisdom and willing to use their wisdom to help community improves and achieve peaceful co-existence. The people of South Sudan must know that these council of evils are the one advancing tribalism, destroying image of the country and influencing government of Kiir to rally against peace and destroy the unity of our people.

I believe peace is the only way for us to rebuild the broken trust and find a better way to end the destructive war. No one is going to benefit from it but only destruction. To end this destructive war, we must think not just to end only senseless war but to end paranoia negative ideas of tribalism that is the root cause of this war and work hard to liberate mindsets of so the called liberators for their routine habits of war.

The time has come for the people of South Sudan to stop being submissive, passive and stand together to correct the war mongers because majority of tribes since December 15/2013 distance themselves that the war is between Nuer and Dinka, and it has nothing to do with them but that was a wrong perception. The government of South Sudan is against peace, unity of all tribes and destroying the future of generation to come.

Today, we must come to conclusion that peace is the only way for our future and shift our war mentality to the attitudes of harmonious live. It’s time for our society to take a new direction because there is no reason for us to dwell on the culture of war and violence.

For those who took the wrong path lobbying against compromise peace agreement overwhelmingly signed by Dr. Riek Machar to end the suffering of the people of South of Sudan, they can be considered as individuals with bad intention for our country. we must unite to end the deadly conflict. It never make us hero but shame and foolish. The world come to conclusion that South Sudanese are not ready for nation building, development and credit us as capable people of corruption and pride of tribalism which blinded us not to develop pride of nationalism.

We must believe that this senseless war will not make us nationalists. We must change our attitudes to settle our differences, trust each others to build peace, concern for each others, respect one another and commitment to make South Sudan a better place for all of us.

Dr. Riek Machar is truly committed to peace. He never thought about risks of signing the compromise peace agreement but courageously convinced his supporters that enough is enough for war and decided to end violent conflict. Courage and creativity are essential when seeking peace. It requires characteristics of humility and integrity to rise above individuals’ interest and make a decision that benefit all people and Dr. Riek proven to the world that he loves peace and his country. But Kiir leadership has been controlled by Dinka council of elders that should never have interfered on national issues. They destroyed his presidency, legacy,threaten him not to sign compromise agreement and advise him wrongly to carry out massacres on innocent children and women who deserve not to be killed. Kiir’s genocidal regime mass assassinated journalists and politicians.

In conclusion Kiir must consider two options. First if he want to restore his legacy, he should dissolve Dinka council of elders and replace them with South Sudan council of elders. He should arrest minister of information Michael Lueth and the Chief of general staff Paul Malong and signed the compromise peace agreement unconditionally. Secondly, he must ask forgiveness from the real people of South Sudan for having killed innocent citizens and then step down from presidency, and afterwards ask any country for political asylum.

The author of article is concern citizen and can be reach through philemondaud84@gmail.com