March 11, 2006

Defection or change of heart is not a defeat nor is it a shame when positive. A positive defection is what we saw in Bahr El Ghazal in the last few months.  SSDF is now on board unconditionally. That is also positive. A negative defection is what we saw in 1991 when the SPLA/M was deserted by certain groups.

The positive defection that happened in Bahr El Ghazal and the merging of SSDF and SPLA have given a painful blow to Omar Bashir parties. This is what the south has been waiting for to happen. Omar Bashir is gravely agitated seeing the Southern Sudanese join their sisters and brothers in the SPLA/M. It was a very brave action taken by the Southerners to isolate the enemy. Recently about 140 NCP members defected and joined the SPLA/M camp. It is not too late for more and more Southerners to go home to their right place.

When you are with the enemy you are dying twice. Your people do not trust you. The enemy does not either. You may think you are secure with the enemy. Actually you are a walking dead. You do not know what the enemy thinks of you when you are not with him. You are shy to walk among and with your own people. In other words, you are not a complete self. You are a Southern Sudanese by image but not by deeds. You are bound to the interest of the Northern party. Your services benefit the North. When you are used to the limit at the end you are thrown away.

The defection in Bahr El Ghazal is a self discovery and personality recovery. The return of SSDF to the SPLA is a political score for the Southern Sudan. The people are back in the right place with the right people to serve. This is not a defeat nor is it a shame. The defection has caused Omar Bashir a terrible pain. It is a big loss of allies as well as it is a big loss of man power through whom to fight the South. We thank our brothers and sisters for isolating the enemy. The gun doesn’t finish the game always. Deprive the enemy of support and information. By so doing you hit the enemy severely. Our sisters and brothers did the trick at the right time and came home at a time we need them most. They came with intellect, talent and experience.

The other groups should follow the example, including the presidential advisors to come aboard. If you leave Bashir soon, he will resign his presidency soon. Who will advise him on how to deal with the South? Bashir cannot work in a vacuum to defy the South. The worst weapon is not the gun that we see with the soldiers. Using a brother against brother is the worst. The Arabs did this for a long time resulting in so much loss of lives.

Do not live in the past that you will not be forgiven if you join or rejoin the fold. Your fears are obvious. The loss of big ranks and incomes attached. Fear of punishment. Loss of dignity. All of these and others lurk in the mind of someone that it seems better to stick with the enemy regardless of the end outcome.

The above fears are obvious but not true. People in the South think differently. Any Southerner joining or rejoining the SPLA/M is more than welcome. All Southerners are highly valued regardless of their past. Defecting and joining the SPLA/M is a response to the motherland call. No Bashir’s presidential advisors have a base in the North. Militia groups do not have base origins in the North either. Their relatives and origins are in the South. Joining relatives is not a shame. One is simply going home.

Riek Machar and Lam Akol are prominent Southern leaders today. They are highly respected. They are serving their own people in very high positions with dignity today. Is that not enough to convince us that the SPLA/M is generous, compromising and forgiving? The welcome and celebrations in Bahr El Ghazal is also a clear testimony. Matiep will have his place and will be respected. However, joining the SPLA/M is not all that matters. Join or form a southern party. Or simply go home and leave the enemy to fight alone.

Look at Omar Bashir without a Southerner near him. He does not see far into the South. He cannot plan alone to kill the South. He cannot dream alone about the South. At this time you are planning for him. You are dreaming for him. With dignity stop that and go home. The SPLA/M is waiting with open arms. The whole South is waiting with open arms. Your relatives are waiting with open arms. Your change of heart is what is missing.

Omar Bashir is working very hard to kill the CPA. His better bit is to use the Southerners, his advisors and other rogue groups. Whose house is burning? Your own house is burning. Does Omar Bashir care? Not a bit. The implementation of the CPA would be much easier if all Southerners are on one side. Deprive Bashir by taking yourself away.

We have so much work to do on the ground in the South. Development in all fields is beginning from scratch. We need unity of purpose to be effective. We have a lot of social issues to resolve. The plight of IDPs to go home is a challenge. The war has demolished the life basic structures giving way to unplanned settlements of people in the wrong places. The IDPs and all others want to go to 1956 homesteads to rebuild their lives. The GoSS has so much to do to identify the borders to avoid ethnic conflicts. Some ethnic groups have lost land to others due to war. The GoSS has the burden to rectify the claims. All of the above can easily be done if the GoSS is not spread between the rogues and the bulk of Southerners at the will of Bashir. All Southerners need to be on one boat in order to let development take a positive course forward. Unity seals cracks in the ranks to keep the enemy out. Unity of purpose is the motto to drive the Southern Sudan forward.