Jonglei State honors with commemoration to end the struggle

May 16, 2011 (Panyagor, Jonglei State ) – People of Twic East County celebrated the SPLA/M day, according to the County Commissioner Mr. Dau Akoi Jurkuc, May 16 is a very important day that can be celebrated with joy by all Southerners of all walk of life and this year is a special year for us with successfully referendum exercise and now honoring of Jonglei State with commemoration of SPLA/M day this is a signal that where the struggle was started should be honored with the celebration to end the struggle and open a new chapter in Southern Sudan history with the independent declaration on July 9, 2011.

Twic East County, Commissioner Dau Akoi Jurkuc, stressing a point while addressing the gathering during SPLA/M day in Panyagor

This is the day that the then Major late Kerubino Kuanyin Bol and his battalion of 105 based in Bor, Pibor and Pochalla objected the oppression and marginalization of Southern Sudanese by northern Sudanese and fired the first bullet in Bor, Pibor and Pochalla town, which was followed by battalion 104 in Ayod town in June 1983.

The Sudan government sent the then Colonel late Dr. John Garang to suppress Bor Mutiny, he however chose to join this group of rebellious south Sudanese soldiers of the Sudanese Army rather than suppress it, took its leadership and moved to Ethiopia for recruitment and training of his guerrilla forces and formed SPLA/M.

The commissioner went further and urged the citizen of the county to mobilize and cultivate their own farms to feed themselves and avoid dependency on United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) relief. Development is not hands out from relief agencies and government, people need to raise funds locally and contribute to their development such as construction of roads connecting County headquarters and Payams and rehabilitation of primary dykes.

He assured the foreign traders from North Sudan and East Africa to be claimed and carry on their business with no worry and asserted that the government is in charge of their security.

On the other hand, the chiefs, women, and youth leaders emphasized on the insecurity in the County in which children are kidnapped and cattle are raided weekly which resulted in to fighting that caused loss of lives of innocent people.

Furthermore, an Episcopal Church of Sudan, youth pastor Joseph Diing Dau called up on the community members as church goers to contribute in church buildings and development in the areas and advise the community to reconcile with one another and forgive whoever have wronged you.