‘Greater Twic East’: An Unnecessary and Needless Belligerence

You don’t have to respond to every nonsense written about you. And whether or not people respect you will depend on the services you offer to your people not that you respond to every filth written about Twi. Stop responding to every divine ignorance of a few.  

So stop it!

This is in reference to your ‘Press Release’ (SSNA) dated July 5, 2014: “Greater Twic East Youth in USA response to recently released article by Jangdit Dengajok )

‘Greater Twic East’ and ‘Greater Bor Community’ are all nonsense. You can’t replace one nonsense with another! The future of your people is in working together, exchanging ideas and expertise to develop your counties: Bor, Duk and Twi. Twi County might benefit from experts from Bor and Duk Counties and vice versa.

What you are actually doing is an embarrassment to Twi people. It’s exactly the opposite of what your intentions are.

It’s obvious that to distinguish between things is very much different from separation of things. That means you can distinguish things but still keep them together.  You can say Bor starts from Jueet to Abiy and Twi is from Chir to Adhiook. That’s neither separation nor is it division. It’s purely distinction.

While the Jieeng of the present Twi County of Jonglei state has every right to reassert and correct the reality and identity that’s been distorted by politicians for their political gains, I don’t think it’s necessary to antagonize people of Bor Country. It’s an uncalled for and unnecessary creation of enmity.

They are not your problem! Blame Twi leaders and elders if you are to blame anyone!

The people of Bor County have not done anything bad to the people of Twi County. All the bad things uttered against Twi people were uttered by individuals not Bor County as a whole.

Besides, you have to note that it was the British colonial administration that placed the Twi people under an administrative district named after Bor people. So it wasn’t the Bor people’s fault that you were placed under a district that didn’t carry your name and it wasn’t Bor people’s fault that your ancestors didn’t raise that objection then. Twi is its own problem. No excuse!

I understand that you have the right to tell everyone that Twi and Bor are two distinct dialectal or ethno-linguistic groups, however, it’s unnecessary and pointless to try to create a conflict no one needs. I’ve always reiterated that I’m not Bor and have never been Bor; however, I’ve always maintained that Bor and Twi share a common history and good neighborliness that we should always foster. They’ve always done things together and they’ll continue to do things together.

Any attempt that assumes that each of them will go its separate way is being delusional. Being called collectively as ‘Dinka Bor’ is not the prerequisite for togetherness. That being called Dinka Bor or GBC is a prerequisite for coexistence is another delusion! However, coexistence is an absolute necessity in spite of any differences: accentual or dialectal. Saying that Twi is not Bor is not being divisive; it’s what truth-seeking requires; however, you shouldn’t use that to create needless conflicts.

You can emphasize to South Sudanese and the world that Twi is not Dinka Bor; however, it would be unfair to Bor people for you to pretend they are your problem when your problems are your leaders. Focus on your leaders on the national and local levels.

I write about these stuff because I have to write something that’s not only sensible but also supportably true. This is also about the truth of the people I belong to and no sane writer can ignore such a thing. I can’t correct national issues when I can’t start by correcting things at my locality!

And I say I’m not ‘Dinka Bor’ because that’s the truth I knew and I can now authenticate historically and convincingly, but I cannot, and will never say, that Bor and Twi go their separate ways. Every sane Bor and Twi person knows this.

They are brothers and sisters and will remain so in spite of their ethno-linguistic realities. There has to be respect between the two communities.

Calling Twi people Dinka Bor is disrespectful, I know, but it’s not a ground for antagonizing Bor people. Just let them know who you are. If they continue to call you what you are not then just know that falsity never endure.

President Kiir is a "Constitutional President" not a 'Democratically Elected President!"

Most of us in South Sudan are not independent thinkers even when we pretend we are! Some South Sudanese writers and thinkers in Southern States of the country support Federalism not because they’ve actually looked into the inherent benefits to the constituents of the region but because the majority of the citizens embrace it given their flimsy understanding of the system, or because vocal voices in their areas support it, or that, they believe, it’ll give them an opportunity to get rid of the ‘occupiers’ on their land.

None of the supporters of Federalism has ever advanced any convincing reason that’s not either reminiscent of the infamous 1980s ‘Kokora’ or the regionalized tribalism and regionalist sycophancy.  States have governors, parliaments, state MPs, State laws. We somehow have a system that’s structurally resembling other Federal Systems in the world. What is lacking is to actually give more powers to the states and limiting president’s interference in state affairs.

And those who oppose Federalism do so because they support the government and the government opposes it. And the government has absolutely no credible reason advanced in opposition to the system and why they think Federalism would be bad. The only reason they have is that Riek has rekindled the flame of Federalism. This is not the first time Riek has done something like this. Riek feeds on popular aspirations of the people and exploits them.

Self-determination wasn’t a darling of the SPLA/SPLM until Dr. Riek and Dr. Lam made it their focal point in Abuja I in 1992. It was only one of the alternatives in Dr. John’s famous multi-layered Vend Diagrams but not the preferred alternative. UNITY of Sudan was! The two doctors wanted to outsmart Dr. John Garang. However, the way Dr. John changed astonished not only the doctors, but Garang’s friends in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Garang embraced Self-Determination to the chagrin of the Nasir duo and even made it central to Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA); giving birth to Referendum!

Riek and Lam had met an ideological propagandists, ideological chameleon, and also, an ideological wizard who couldn’t be outsmarted.

So folks who oppose Federalism are doing so because people they support don’t like it. They’ve not presented any convincing reason why they oppose it.

This is our major problem. We ally based on irrational positions we hide in ideological, tribalized regionalism and intellectualized tribalism.

We don’t think for ourselves!

That’s why we hear time and again from South Sudanese officials and government supporters that President Salva Kiir Mayardit is a “democratically elected president” of South Sudan!

No! President Kiir was a democratically elected president of the government of ‘Southern Sudan.’ He’s a CONSTITUTIONAL President of the Republic of South Sudan. There was no election held after the independence of South Sudan! None!