H.E Salva Kiir Mayardit, Pagan Amum, and Bona Malual ,who is for an Independent South Sudan and how much has each done so far?

It is not too far since three of the most outstanding South Sudanese politicians found themselves dominating the Sudanese political scene.

It is amazing how politics is played in the Sudan and it become virtually thrilling to follow all the daily developments when the key players are the most prominent politicians from the south. This is of a unique importance because the international community which came to the rescue of the poverty stricken people of south Sudan is expecting south Sudanese elites to try and make a difference to the lives of their people who are just emerging from the 2 decades of a deadly civil war, destruction and degeneration. The proper implementation and use of the corridors availed through the comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) was and is still expected to offer the long awaited remedy.

None of the above expectations are actually being realized. And though differences in political views are accepted under a democratic system of governance, but in the South Sudan’s situation the elites have taken it a step further to the extend that an outsider finds it completely confusing to come to terms with, when the different political opportunistic groups compete in falsely presenting their self centred delusions as the over all aspirations of the South Sudanese’s people.

Recently the Sudanese political platform became busy with so many of such performers especially following the Moreno-Ocampo’s Saga. Three south Sudanese politicians immediately came to the scene and dominated it, but unfortunately it was all directed towards building their personal images rather than utilising the situation for the anticipated Independence of south Sudan.

First was the old fashioned Bona Malual, the Presidential Advisor on Confusion and Confusion Affairs. He was quoted to have said : "We are telling the world that with the indictment of our president al-Beshir we can’t be responsible for the well-being of foreign forces in Darfur," Beshir’s advisor Bona Malual told reporters in Addis Ababa. "After that we may ask them to withdraw from our territory," he added.

Malual’s statement didn’t receive the expected approval from the northern Sudanese Islamist Arab elites of the ruling National Congress party of President al Bashir. It seems that Bona Malual in his futile attempt to defend his boss (al Bashir), he obviously had over done it as could be gathered from the statement of the Sudanese foreign ministry undersecretary Mutrif Sidiq, who told al-Jazeera TV that Sudan has no intention to expel the peacekeeping mission from Darfur because they are not involved in the ICC accusation of the Sudanese president.

He further said that these forces are mainly African and not international troops. Sudan "worked for long time to have these African troops. They are not U.N. forces," he added.

Bona Malual versus Mutrif Sidiq statements are all incompatible with one another and the only reason for all this contradictions is that , none of them have been a studied statement especially the one issued by Bona Malual . This is one example of a south Sudanese politician whom the international community expected to play a constructive role so that the south can realize the dividends of peace eventually calumniating in the independence of the South. Unfortunately, education is one thing and nationalism is another thing. Bona Malual has chosen like many others to continue to serve the Arabs’ agenda and even sometimes over doing it as is the case at hand. I appeal to him to be time conscious and he should realise that 2011 is just by the corner and it time that he relinquishes his cannibalistic political stands?

Secondly, is the First Vice President of the Sudan and the President of the semi-autonomous South Sudan, H.E Salva Kiir, who is currently leading the National Crisis Committee. H.E Kiir has been the target of many commentators due to his weak performance throughout the last three years. Politically I am convinced beyond doubt that Kiir is not as naïve as some people would want to portray him, but I rather think that he is being transformed from a genuine nationalist and a tough freedom fighter into a corrupt politician by those who surround him.

Anyway to be precise , H.E Salva is now a graduate corrupted politician after having successfully attended the Corruption Institution established by the GOSS in Juba, and he has now taken up his position as a full-time member on the Teaching Staff Board on corruption in the GOSS. His fake zero tolerance policy is the biggest zero which qualified him for the BSc. In Corruption, and in fact he did successfully satisfy all the 10 millions or so southern Sudanese who participated in examining him over the three years he has been in office.

On the national politics, H.E Kiir is now the head of the National Crisis Committee (Operation Save Al-Bashir) whose job basically is to deny the fact that there is genocide going on in Darfur and indeed Al-Bashir is just an innocent person and rather it is the people from the three Black African Tribes of the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit who are the ones killing the innocent government soldiers and their cousins the Janjaweed. President Salva was expected by Khartoum to secure protection for Al-Bashir and all the top Janjaweed leaders. However the SPLM chairman only called for deferral of the ICC indictment by the UN Security Council (UNSC). “There is no need rushing to take the Sudanese president to the ICC” Kiir told reporters during a trip to Uganda.

The above stance of H.E Kiir suggests that he is in agreement with the fact that President Al-Bashir indeed has a hand in all the humanitarian catastrophes unfolding in Darfur region of the Sudan, and should face the International Criminal Court and cooperate with it. Kiir’s main concern seems to arise from the fact that, he (Kiir) looks at al Bashir as the most moderate person in the Islamic camp of the NCP, and in his absence (al Bashir), Kiir expects to face more hard liners who may be more obstructive to the peaceful succession of South Sudan through the coming referendum, an opinion shared by many politicians and analysts in Juba, the south Sudan’s capital. For this group politics is all about interests and to them south Sudan’s interest lies in the delay of issuing the arrest warrant to President al Bashir whom they think that with his indictment , he would be more likely to form a collusion with the SPLM and speed up the implementation of the stacked CPA protocols for example the Abyei border demarcation.. Etc. As such Kiir stands with the group which says al Bashir should not be hurried to The Hague. In other wards Al-Bashir should be given time to sort out himself before being taken to the ICC court.

Nonetheless H.E Kiir’s position also failed to impress his partners in the Government of National Unity (GoNU), the Islamist NCP of al Bashir, as it vividly came out in Amin Hassan Omar, the NCP state minister’s interview with the Egyptian Voice of Arabs radio, Amin said that Kiir’s request “is totally rejected”. “We believe that referral [of president] to the ICC was a mistake and the whole file should be withdrawn from the court. This is a legitimate demand” he added.

If H.E Salva Kiir the First Vice President of the Sudan is the head of the National Crisis Committee, then who is this Amin Hassan Omar , the state minister who totally rejects the 1st VP’s request ? Anyway this is the Sudan and when we talk of an Independent South Sudan State, it is to protect every south Sudanese’s dignity. It is not just going out there for a job hunt and you end up been given a job which you actually distaste, but because you want to please the “master”, you are compelled to say “Yes Sir”. Those days should have long gone by now, Mr. Kiir.

Always think of an independent South Sudan and never stop asking yourself as to whether what you are doing at any moment could really take us there? If not then it is time to change.

The other issue is that SPLM seriously wants to rule the Sudan and as soon as 2009. This is not my worry and SPLM is free to sail all political Seas and Oceans and fly all the skies of politics BUT not at the expense of the aspirations of the people of south Sudan in realizing their dream of an independent South Sudan Nation. The following lines will explain to you my real concerns: The Arabic Al-Jazeera news channel reported that the chairman of the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) has decided to run for the Sudanese presidency in the upcoming 2009 elections. This is indeed an ambitious political venture and I assume that the SPLM leadership has thought of it in more depth rather than just having a go at exercising a political right.

The question which lingers my in my head is that, “Is Salva Kiir really the best of the SPLM candidates to run for the Presidency of the Sudan?” SPLM must be a bit serious when it comes to very sensitive issues like this. As they have decided to go for the united Sudan, they must as well bring up a candidate who can stand to that level. What do the people of Sudan know about Salva? Has he been actively visiting the other parts of the country? How popular is Salva Kiir in the Nuba Mountains, the Beja and the Kababish? Just to mention a few. Or is SPLM expecting a miracle by nominating a candidate whom we all think that has terribly failed the south. It is not enough to be a black African to lead the marginalized people of the Sudan, a bit of acumen can make a difference.

The third south Sudanese politician is none but the SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum. Pagan has for long out spoken all his colleagues in the SPLM and at times he ends giving you the impression that he has been left to finish the rest of the battle single handed. I admire his courage, but at times I feel that he is not in harmony with the rest of the traditional SPLM old guards. So where is Pagan heading to, and single handily? What makes him not in harmony with his SPLM group? This is what Pagan Amum said in an interview with radio Miraya FM: “ what is happening in Darfur is genocide and this is t SPLM’s point of view . We were aware in the SPLM/A that since before the current war, genocide has been taking place in Darfur as it had happened in Southern Sudan” Pagan said.

I personally think that the gentleman has put his point across and he would be of much help to Luis Moreno – Ocampo, if he would volunteer to give evidence at The Hague against Al-Bashir. No hurry, as H.E Salva put it not to hurry people.

Pagan’s declaration that SPLM recognizes what is happening in Darfur as genocide has won a lot of “Enemies Love” in Khartoum if not amongst the entire NCP memberships. This is reflected in what follows:

The NCP leading member and head of Darfur Peace Agreement implementation body, Adam Rahamah has condemned Amum’s statement. He stressed that it was up to Darfuri to say what is right but not the SPLM Secretary General. "Pagan Amum makes this statement because Dr. John Garang died, and (the late chief) does not exist now so that people are unable to inquire if Garang made similar statements." Rahamah said. 

Rahamah was straight forwardly arrogant as can be seen from his language and he intentionally talked  of Darfuris and not of Sudanese to alienate Pagan from talking about Darfur. In other wards he was saying to Pagan Amum, “you are just an SPLM , and have nothing to do with Darfur”, while they the northerners retain the right to talk about the whole Sudan.

Pagan Amum also talked about the Sudan being a corrupt and failed state. This is very true or otherwise the history of the Sudan would have said something else. However, my concern is that with all these combinations and permutations of confrontations, where does the Independence of South Sudan come in? I do no not expect any south Sudanese to exert that much effort in confronting the Northern Arabs without his/her efforts being an asset to bring about the real dream of a free and an Independent South Sudan Nation whose national anthem, one day would be played side by side with other nations in the international arena.

At this juncture I call upon the People of South Sudan to come to their proper senses as the CPA now provides them with a golden chance to choose for the first time in history what they would want to be. You are indeed free to think otherwise, but it is because you are an elite in the midst of a majority illiterate people, please make your contribution towards your people’s independence shine now and the rest will be history.

South Sudanese should work hard to avoid the fate which has befallen the northern Sudanese political groups whom due to the 2 decades of absolute NIF/NCP rule, find it extremely difficult to stand as an alternative force in spite of the current indictment of President Al-Bashir, an event which has completely wiped away their self -confidence and not surprisingly at all to learn that most of the northern traditional political parties have lost many of their members to the ruling NCP party, in line with the Sudanese short cut to survival even at the expense of their deeply rooted ideologies (bring up your children).  

This was clearly seen when President al Bashir  called   for a national strategy to deal with the issues of the hour ( His indictment by the ICC),  and when he approached the other political parties,  their responses were  directly proportional to their psychological states of mind. In other wards they were confused and so were their positions and views be it on the ICC indictment of Al-Bashir or the up coming 2009 elections, leave alone finding an ever lasting solution to the long standing problem of the Sudanese identity which is central to all  Sudan’s conflicts.

As a consequence to the current complex political atmosphere in the Sudan the northern Sudanese elites who traditionally rash at any chance to grab power, are now for the first time feeling reluctant. These are hard times which can not be led by the soft boys that is why they are all gathering around Al-Bashir for a way forward. It is here that you can see how Luis Moreno – Ocampo has hit the northern Sudanese political camp so hard. This is brilliant and no any South Sudanese should actually waste his/her time trying to identify themselves with this indicted group.

We as South Sudanese have our top priorities and they are the over all fight against the wide spread illiteracy, poverty, starvation, tribalism, corruption and above all we must destroy the icons of these evils in our society.

However those Sudanese who committed genocide, crimes against humanity and murder in regardless of their ethnicities, or positions, MUST report to The Hague immediately once their arrest warrants are issued by ICC judges. Also the new generation elites “The Cheetah Generation “  as referred to by the great man Prof. George Ayitte  not to forget the fight against the thieves in Juba and their conies in the state governments “ The Hippo Generation”. Though it is another marathon to run, yet I am optimistic because I believe strongly that in an Independent south Sudan every Taarifa (dime) stolen will be reclaimed.

The author is a south Sudanese doctor living in the UK, and can be reached at