Now that the warring parties
have failed to sign a peace deal to end the 15-month old conflict in South
Sudan, the jittery public is asking: “What’s Next?” And ‘what’s next’ is the unquestionable reworking of the entire peace process. Winning militarily is an illusion.
In October last year, Prime
Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn told a press conference after the two principals
in the conflict failed to strike a deal arguing that changing the negotiating strategy
would not bring results. Bizarrely, he advocated for the same strategy that was
proving fruitless.
When the last round of the
talks failed [again] on March 6, Mr. Desalegn, however, seemed to have had an epiphany. Having
come to the realization that using the same strategy over and over without
results is foolhardy, the Prime Minister finally called for a change in strategy.
While we all understand that
the two principals have failed South Sudanese for having started the war and
failing to end it, we have to remember the mediocre method used by IGAD and the
patronage being exercised by the regional leaders and the African Union. In January, the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Bashir Bandi, gave an interview to SSTV and what he said underlined what many of us have been advocating for for months. Mr. Bandi explained how South Sudanese brokered ways forward were frustrated by IGAD's mediation team. Anytime South Sudanese made progress at the talks, he argues, IGAD would postpone the talks without giving any reasons and without consulting the two delegations.
Besides, IGAD is not
mediating the talks, but forcing them. There’s never been a
peace initiative in which talks are given strict timelines and the parties
threatened to sign or they be punished. We don’t need the peace talks if the
arsenals mediators have are threats. Threats are symptomatic of mediators’
failure.
The attitude regional and
African leaders have adopted towards South Sudanese leaders is
condescending, patronizing and disrespectful. With no doubt, South Sudanese
civilians are suffering and dying and the country’s development has been
frustrated. However, regional leaders are treating South Sudanese leaders like idiots, who can’t think for themselves. Unfortunately,
the leaders are playing along with such disrespectful patronization. And I
agree with Dr. Marial Benjamin: there’s nowhere
in the world where you give peace a deadline.
Dr. Riek Machar and
President Kiir Mayardit have brought the country to its knees and it’s high
time they pulled it back up. Time and again, the two leaders have asked to be
allowed to negotiate as South Sudanese but IGAD refuses to listen. Kiir and
Riek should realize the patronizing manner in which they are being treated and
take charge of the talks. Do we really need such useless IGAD's mediation? Ambassador
Seyoum Mesfin has proven incapable of mediating peace. Instead of the
stakeholders drafting positional papers, which IGAD can just work through for a
compromise, all draft papers are written by IGAD and given to the two sides
with “sign it now or be punished!” That’s not mediation but self-serving blackmail!
Is it really impossible for
Kiir and Riek to call a south-south meeting in Nairobi or Addis Ababa and
strike an understanding without the patronage and condescension of the
ineffective regional leaders? And how do we expect people who haven’t brought
peace to their own countries to be interested in peace in South Sudan?Ethiopia arrests political opponents, journalists and bloggers. It still hasn’t solved the problem of Oromo Liberation Front. Human Right Watch in May of 2014 called for Ethiopia to respect human rights and prosecute security forces abuses in Gambella, Somali region of Ethiopia and in Oromia. A HRW report in October of 2013 documented incidents of torture by the government.
Sudan and Uganda, both of
which ruled by dictators, are classic examples of hypocrisy at South Sudanese
talks. Sudan is ruled by a legal fugitive, it’s fighting wars in three fronts (or
more) and its human rights records are appalling. The cases of Amin Medani and opposition
leader Farouk Issa are current crack down on political voices.
And the dear Yoweri Museveni has
essentially occupied South Sudan as he dictates what President Kiir does.
Museveni tries to portray himself as the regional superman. His ego is inflated by
regional conflicts. His presence in Somalia, interference in Congo, Rwanda, Sudan and South
Sudan shouldn’t be seen in naïve lenses as Mr. Savior at work. Museveni’s power
thrives in these conflicts. End the conflicts and his influence disappears!
It is therefore crucial for
Kiir and Riek to chart a different course for peace in South Sudan. It’s naïve to
expect that people who don't and can't respect human rights records in their
own countries would wish for peace in South Sudan. The decision not to release AU
report on post-December 2013 conflict is testimonial of how African leaders view
human rights.
But remember, this article by no means
absolves South Sudanese leaders of the atrocities committed by their forces. And
this also doesn’t mean Riek and Kiir have no part in the hypocrisy surrounding the
peace talks. Indeed, South Sudanese would open their hearts to forgive if the leaders
showed some elements of care, leadership and responsibility. Good leadership is
about sacrifices on behalf of the people. Beside IGAD’s hypocrisy, the two
leaders have not set any example in regard to forgiveness, letting go and
striking a peace language that’d herald in the advent of peaceful atmosphere in the country.
And unlike IGAD's leaders, who
threaten Kiir and Riek instead of doing their job for peace to come to South
Sudan, the United Nation Security Council Resolution 2026 (2015) that calls for
targeted sanctions on individuals is appropriate. It’s not a blind, unstructured threat like
what IGAD usually mete out on South Sudanese leaders. The proposals would be calculated,
targeted sanctions on individuals that are obstacles to the talks. To claim
that sanctions would be counter-productive is to lose sight of who is fighting
in South Sudan, who is suffering and who is imposing the sanctions.
I don’t know why South
Sudanese leaders worry if they aren’t obstacles to peace talks!
It’s therefore time for our
leaders to restore the dignity of the country through peace by seeing regional
leaders for what they are: hypocritical self-interested group.