What precipitated the crisis in South Sudan?
As you may have heard in the media, South Sudan got into conflict last December 2013 after government successfully aborted an attempted coup by the former Vice President Dr. Riek Machar.
Dr. Riek Machar and his group, who have now established themselves as rebels in South Sudan, ignited a coup on the 15th December, 2013 after being defeated in a democratic process in the SPLM (ruling party) on an article of the constitution pertaining to the mode of voting. While Dr. Riek and seven others preferred secret voting for the almost 90% illiterate population of South Sudan, 126 members of the SPLM national liberation council voted for show of hands as the mode of voting.
On the 14th of December 2014, the SPLM held its National Liberation Council meeting despite announcements by Dr. Riek and group to hold a rally on the same day. As a member of the NLC he and his group attended on this day but withdrew on the second day after being beaten democratically during the voting on one article of the constitution. On the 15thDecember 2013, the coup started with soldiers loyal to Dr. Riek attacking the main Army Headquarters to break into the stores.
Simultaneously they attacked the Presidential Palace and the army barracks at Bilpham. This is how the war started. After three days, Dr. Riek left Juba and started mobilizing the army elsewhere in the country to fight the government and remove the President. He declared himself a rebel and started killing innocent people in Juba, Bor, Meleka, and Bentiu. Dr. Riek mobilized many youth from his community and misled them saying it is a tribal war and that the government is targeting the Nuer.
Why did the government of South Sudan accept Riek after he had fought against it?
Unless you test a student in an exam, you will never know whether that student is good or bad. So it was a test done in good faith for the unity of our people. We got the Independence and it was not a matter of giving or not giving but a matter of going to compete democratically, and this is what he is running away from. So he has to accept democracy. If he feels that he is competent, why doesn’t he go and convince the people to follow him and his principles and vision, but not to use violence.
What is the way out of the crisis?
It’s not the whole South Sudan that is affected by the violence. Literally, three states out of ten are affected by the violence. Let us negotiate but without pre conditions. You cannot be asking for the unconstitutional dissolution of the current government and install an interim government which will not include the elected president. I mean, this cannot stand and does not hold water.
You said something about some countries supporting Riek, can you name some of those countries?
Well, it is not time to name those countries.
Less than one year after independence, South Sudan is in crisis, does it mean that the country was never one?
Well, South Sudan has always been one and will always be one. Most countries of the world have had a rough beginning even Nigeria. But with a lot of education, things are straightened out. We urge Nigerians to come to South Sudan and open schools and hospitals. We want Nigerians to come to South Sudan and open businesses, given Nigeria’s cumulative experience in entrepreneurship.
Any provision to assist potential business investors to South Sudan?
We need economic development to keep people employed and happy. I am appealing to the Nigerian business people to invest in South Sudan. I will be going to Lagos to try to woo the big investment people to come to South Sudan. You need to come and help us so that we will take a shorter time to run rather than a longer time. You need to come to help us so that we will need a shorter time to run.
The whole world is investing in South Sudan. There are a lot of Chinese and Indians in their thousands investing there; a lot of Africans, Kenyans are more than 50, 000, Ugandan over 60, 000, Ethiopians 40, 000; Eritreans over 30, 000 and there are over half a million from the north (Sudan). Nigeria is our big brother. Nigerians should not allow others to play the football. They can equally come. The atmosphere is very healthy. We have an investment act which guarantees repatriation of profits.
What do you want from Nigerian government?
Nigeria being the most powerful country in Africa has an automatic responsibility to watch over its younger and emerging nations and economies and ensure that this vice of violence that has sparked like a bush fire is put off before it spreads to the rest of Africa.
Any hope for democracy in South Sudan?
In our Constitution, we are going to have an a election in 2015 and it is this national election that Riek emphatically said, last September, that he was not going to wait till 2015 and that he wanted power now. What we want now is to convince Riek to accept the ceasefire and let us go inside and reconcile and begin to prepare for the upcoming election. Let the people choose who will be their leader.
What about corruption in South Sudan?
Yes, corruption is a universal problem including in South Sudan. We have to fight corruption and that is why President Salva Kiir had to reshuffle his cabinet. You know Riek raised six points when he led a coup against the government. He said that the economy was failing, there was corruption, insecurity, the governance was not good, and SPLA has failed.
And we said fine, ‘if these were happening in the South, Riek had been in charge of the South by virtue of that agreement, and then it is Riek that has failed as he was running the show in the south. He had all the powers and what did he do with it’. He only wants to be the topmost person. So we have to convince him to go for election and let the people choose.
Leadership
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