An Open Letter to South Sudan’s Rebel Leader, Dr. Riek Machar

It’s common knowledge that you are one of the most divisive figures in South Sudan’s political life whether you intended it or not. And that will go down in history as part of your leadership and political legacy. It doesn’t matter who’s to blame for all the historical mishaps you’ve been involved in; history will always remember you in a manner that’s outside your perception of yourself. And it’s a personality tragedy you seem to brush aside as you continue to bargain and fight for your political life.

Tribalism

More than 90 % of your camp [military and political] is made up of your tribesmen. Your supporters can blame circumstances surrounding December 15, 2013 mutiny in Juba and subsequent incidences thereafter. My judgement tells me that you didn’t start the problems that brought us to the current crisis; however, you contributed to the crisis in many ways than one. Corruption flourished while you were still the Vice President, your office employees, like those of many other ministers, were from your tribe and you wanted to shut down SPLM-DC. Besides, you criticized your own boss [Kiir] while you were still VP. Those factors don’t belong in a resume of a democrat, who sees himself as a genuine reformer.

And what is even more appalling is how you see yourself as a national leader when you rely exclusively on your fellow Nuer. The few non-Nuer in your camp joined you not out of your exemplary leadership but for the mere convergence of your grievances against the government. With no doubt, these folks had bones to pick with the government. What gives you some semblance of credence isn’t what you offer but what the government of President Kiir isn’t doing.

·         You are as tribalist just as Kiir Mayardit is.

·         You are bargaining for political power and that’s what Kiir is doing.

·         Your camp is mostly Nuer and Kiir’s camp is mostly Jieeng.

·         Both of your camps have committed atrocities.

·         And more importantly, none of you seems to strike a tone that promises the advent of peace in South Sudan.

·         President Kiir has a tribal militia and so do you.

·         Your deputy is from Central Equatoria, your army chief and your spokesperson are from your Tribe. That’s the same thing Kiir has done.

I don’t see how you could claim to be any better than Kiir. If you are, then you’re still to show us.

War Atrocities

You were once asked by a journalist to apologize to South Sudanese regarding the atrocities committed by your forces. Against all required logic and democratic sense of nationalism, you asked the journalist who you should apologize to; arguing that you are a victim. Not only did that burry any shred of leadership decency and nationalism, you portrayed yourself as a selfish megalomaniac.

So many South Sudanese people died in this war. As someone who considers himself a national leader, you owe it to them to comfort them whether you are to blame or not. And the apology being asked isn’t meant for President Kiir, who’s equally required to apologize for his camp’s atrocities, but for the affected South Sudanese.

A nonbeliever but not an Atheist!

Many people believe that if you don’t believe in any kind of god then you are automatically an ‘atheist.’ However, I don’t believe in god but I don’t label myself as an atheist. Many atheists, though not all, don’t believe in god not because there’s absolutely no god but because they don’t have any proof that god exists. I don’t know whether they’d believe in god should someone prove beyond any reasonable doubt that god does indeed exist or if god all of a sudden comes and proves by himself/herself that he/she does indeed exist.

I don’t see myself as an atheist because my nonbelief isn’t based on the existence or the nonexistence of god. Whether or not god exists, I still wouldn’t believe in god. I don’t see any role god plays in my life whether or not he/she exists. The tenets of life which I apply to value every human beings are internal to me not imposed from without. So I don’t see any reason why some ‘heavenly’ being would be interested in my praising him and condemning myself in order to win favors.

A powerful god would make me what he/she wants me to be anyway if he/she is the one who created me; so showering him/her with praises to win favors sounds like what many Africans do to their dictators. What’s the difference between an African dictator and a god who fancies being praised? The aim is to win favors in the government and national resources from the African leaders and to win afterlife in the case of god. I know this sounds simplistic but this is the state of affairs with the god thing. Prayers belittle gods and are superfluous for us.

So the onus is on god to tell me why I should believe in him.

While I don’t believe in god, I don’t go around denigrating religious people. Human beings are fallacious and weak entities and we thrive on fancies and imagination. To try to destroy that is complete utopia. People prefer to feel good rather than be right. We lie so many times to make our friends feel good even when we know we are lying. That’s the essence of our human-ness.

I understand atheists have the best of intentions. They don’t discriminate anyone on any basis and they’d want people to use logic, reason and science to be the basis of our life. But that sounds like the very same utopia of heavenly afterlife religious people have drummed onto our eardrums for centuries if not millennia!

To try to institutionalize atheism as an antagonistic organization against institutionalized religions is as fallacious and as wrong as the utopia church leaders have tried for centuries.

The beauty of not believing in god is the personalized understanding of oneself and what one wants in life and the moral standing one forges for oneself and exercises towards fellow human beings. Nonbelief could exist as clubs and professional associations but not as a proselytizing institution.

Religions is not bad as a concept in itself. What makes it unpalatable is its being as an institution. Institutionalization of atheism in a church-manner is a mockery of logic and reason.