Anyuak Media Article : - Kirr presides over Aguok and Apuk peace, calls for end of Bongo subjugation

Kirr presides over Aguok and Apuk peace, calls for end of Bongo subjugation

Posted to the web on September 29, 2008

September 24, 2008 (TONJ) – Speaking at the end of a long Tuesday of speeches in Tonj, South Sudan President Salva Kiir told Warrap State chiefs in attendance that their powers had not been taken from them by the executive part of the government but, in practical terms, by the judiciary.

“Matters are being taken by judges that are supposed to be addressed by the chiefs who know about what is happening to their people,” Kiir continued, explaining that in this way the chiefs had been side-lined as administrators of justice even on family problems.

He promised the chiefs that on his return to Juba he would talk to the Chief Justice about how legal powers could be returned to traditional authority.

He repeated his promise to look into the matter of chiefs’ judicial powers again on Wednesday after more than one chief complained that the South’s desperately short-staffed judiciary was not managing to keep up with the large numbers of cases.

“There are 59 people in jail for murder, they are all still waiting judgment,” Chief Jacob Madhel Lang from Twic County said.

In his speech, an impassioned Kiir also spoke about tribal clashes within Warrap State, naming some six such conflicts. “The liberation struggle has ended so why are we killing ourselves?” Kiir said with some visible distress likening the situation to a man that manages to flee a lion but also allows the beast into the same room as him. “That thing that has been affecting our people is still with us,” he said.

He said the traditional leaders had endangered the good implementation of the CPA with their internal struggles that had meant they had taken their eye off the ball. “The border between the north and south is not demarcated and you are fighting over grazing lands, killing yourselves,” Kiir warned. “Toich can be taken away like oil.”

Kiir also showed his strong secessionist streak saying he had told Khartoum he was buying peace with oil, most of which comes from southern oil fields. “If you don’t like it, vote for 100 percent of the oil to come to you. That is the only way,” he said, referencing the 2011 referendum vote.

He also warned community leaders against allowing shadowy intruders to spread discontent and persuade them to fight each other. “When conflict erupts they don’t go to war themselves or send their children to war – their children are far away,” he said.

Kiir also warned the people from unprincipled contractors making big promises while looking for a quick buck. “People want to grasp things in south Sudan they want to get rich quickly,” he said.

Kiir also called for a meeting between the Governors of Lakes, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, Warrap and Lakes to decide on contentious borders between the states.