By Spy Uganda
After years of planning, preparation, and anticipation, southern Sudanese citizens began voting in the weeklong referendum on southern independence on January 9, 2011. Preliminary results, released at the end of January, indicated that almost 99 percent of voters opted in favour of seceding from the north. That was confirmed with the announcement of the final results in February. Southern independence was scheduled for July 9, 2011, something that later came with deadly conflicts among the Sudanese themselves.
In early January 2016, the South Sudan government and rebels and other parties agreed to an arrangement for sharing ministerial portfolios in the transitional government, with an implementation date of January 22, 2016. The government was not formed, however, as there were still unresolved disagreements, including that of the contentious new 28-state structure. Meanwhile, in March the UN issued a report describing widespread human rights abuses committed by both sides during the ongoing conflict, with the government-aligned forces being noted as having been responsible for more of the violations within the previous year. The horrifying attacks on civilians included killing, sexual violence, and the systematic destruction of towns, including the deliberate targeting of hospitals, UN bases, and churches.
Amid the domestic troubles, there were some positive developments on the international front. In the last few months of 2015 and in early 2016, South Sudan learned that it would be allowed to join the East African Community (EAC), a regional trade and development bloc. The country was formally admitted to the EAC but even with all the above, bloodshed has not stopped in South Sudan, partially due to conspiracies, poli-tricks and greed among serving generals who want to control power and financial resources but also driven by a winner-takes-all mentality.
Our source clearly states that the sponsored 2022 renewed violence in Unity, Upper Nile and parts of Jonglei states resulted in yet another round of horrific human rights violations and abuses, and was driven by the ferocity of national political competition and abetted by the impunity of untouchable government officials. Some of the politicians and army officers alleged to be most responsible for the violations in South Sudan include; the most powerful Spy Chief Gen Akol Koor Kuc, Security Advisor NCP Tut Gatluak Manimne, and Dr Martin Elia Lumoro.
The source asserts; ”much of the violence currently plaguing South Sudan is clearly not “inter-communal violence” or solely between opposition groups. The South Sudanese government is further endangering its people by continuing to push this narrative and failing to hold perpetrators to account. By characterizing the current violence as “inter-communal”, or fighting between opposition groups, the government misleads institutions such as the African Union and the UN and increases its chances to continue to evade consequences for its actions. Let Kiir wake up and fire but also arrest these untouchable generals hiding in his armpits.”
