South Sudanese can sometimes
be excused in many things because the country is new and its institutional
strength is weak. However, it’s good to note that human beings are rational entities
and being credibly logical is expected of everyone. Being rational doesn’t
require a country to have been independent, or to have been a democracy, for
centuries.
It has become apparent that
neither the government of South Sudan nor the rebels under Riek Machar can be
trusted. They all lie with a flamboyant blitz!
While the voices and faces
that’re made to convey the messages in both camps are, to a given extent, mere
vessels of the forces behind them, it’s good to note that spokespersons are not
mere automatons. They are humans. They have to know that they are the conveyers
and custodians of the horrors Dr. Riek Machar and President Kiir have brought
to this young nation.
Philip Aguer Panyaang, the
SPLA spokesperson and Lul Ruai Koang, the rebels’ spokesperson, act as
protectors of President Kiir’s desire to remain in power as long as he wants
and of Riek’s desire to ascend to power by ‘all means necessary!’
Colonel Philip Aguer Panyaang
lies for the government in a very illogical and consistent manner. Brigadier General
Lul Ruai Koang has a very imaginative lies processing capacity. All just for
Riek Machar to get what he wants.
And to top it up with their
don’t-care attitude, President Kiir and Dr. Machar don’t give a rat’s foot
about the civilians. They can only sign the peace agreement if only they get
what they WANT: POWER!
After getting what he wanted in the would-be peace agreement in Addis Ababa, President Kiir signed both the Cease Fire Agreement implementation matrix and the Agreement leading to formation of Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU). However, Riek refused to sign the agreement papers because the agreement put him on the receiving end. Machar only opted to sign the Cease Fire agreement implementation matrix.
President Kiir loses nothing
in this agreement. His door is open to take part in the next general elections;
he keeps puppet, Wani Igga as his Vice President and also has an authority as to who is
selected as the Prime Minister by SPLM-in-Opposition.
Riek Machar on the other hand
has a difficult choice. If he chooses to be the Prime Minister then he’s illegible
to contest the next general elections after the Transitional Period. If he
chooses someone else to be the Prime Minister and Kiir still remaining the
president, then his chances of winning the next election are close to
impossible. Kiir would use his resources to make sure that he prepares the way
for his re-election.
Riek is therefore in a tough
spot and refusing to sign the agreement will reflect him as the one prolonging
the war and this could open the way for sanctions against his group. Tough
luck, doc!
To make the matters worse for
Riek Machar, his commanders on the ground, the likes of Peter Gatdet, are not
making things any easier for him.
Peter Gatdet, against all
available human logic, warned UNMISS that he’d shoot any plane that passes
through his territory. Now a UN chopper ‘crashes’ in the same area Gatdet
controls. It would be logical to assume that Gatdet just fulfilled his
promised. Even if the investigation is to still to be done for the cause of the
crash to be determined, one can’t blame much the people accusing the rebels.
Would you blame the government for exploiting Gatdet’s mischievous warnings? Logically No! Factually? Maybe yes!
The rebels need to control
both what their commanders say and do. The rebels are shooting themselves in
the foot.
This, of course, doesn’t mean
the government couldn’t have done it. While it would be a wild imagination to
say that the government forces shot it down knowing that Gatdet had said he’d
shoot down UN plane, to set up rebels, it’s good to remember that the government
forces control Bentiu and they are in the area and they’ve been recently
involved in clashes with the rebels.
So why would it be the rebels that shot down the chopper (if it was indeed shot down) and not the government forces?
What the SPLA spokesperson,
Colonel Philip Aguer said is what we always expect him to say: “They did it!” The
same thing applies to the rebels. Rebels’ spokesperson, Brigadier General Lul
Rual Koang, denied the accusation like he’s always done: “We didn’t do it!”
With such attitude of these
two camps, how can one really expect South Sudan to be peaceful? It’s lies after
lies and greed for power. Can one blame the two spokesperson? Maybe note! However,
they have to think about their role in the current tragedy even if the lies
they tell and the greed for power comes from above them.
Is anyone surprised that Kiir
signed both documents but Riek didn’t? You’d be sleeping if you are surprised!
