North tries to smuggle Athor back into South, says Kuol Manyang

Q. Jonglei was a battle theater earlier this year. Now it looks like the fighting has subsided. How did you do it?
Well, I didn’t do much effort. It is just like unrest goes up and comes down, it is the people. I think there is a mechanism that controls that. These are socio-economically generated actions. They are not tribal; they are not political, and are done by some few elements within the tribes.

This fighting has not been continuous throughout the history that we know. It comes at certain times and dies down. I do not want to claim what is not mine. We have been talking to our people, urging them – and appealing to them – not to kill themselves, not to loot each other’s cattle and so. But it is not only me, even those who preceded me, who were governors or commissioners long time ago. The drought, the flood which results into crop failure or when animals die or when they are not producing enough milk, then people think of replenishing, getting from others. I think those people have taken enough or they are tired. They are tired themselves and therefore they give themselves rest. We tried to disarm the population but of course disarmament of the population is difficult unless they are convinced to give up the guns. Some of the communities have given up their guns in the State. But when they feel that others are taking advantage then they look for guns or arms again. The SPLA, the police, the civil society have tried their best to sensitize the people and appeal to the people to give up their guns. Some have given up the guns, and some will say, we don’t have guns. They hide the guns. What could have helped us would be the effectiveness of the judiciary, but that is very weak. We don’t have judges in most of our counties.

At certain times when there are no roads and you have power driven vehicle like the four wheel drives, the heavy duty cars that can cross the land when there are no roads, we don’t have all these. And therefore, I don’t want myself or my government to claim what is not mine. It is the people, on their own, who decided to stop. Just like thieves. Thieves at certain times are not active. So that is it.

There were teams of legislators sent to constituencies to preach peace, how successful, if so, have they been so far?
Even up to now, we are still sending honorable Members of Parliament to their counties to meet with their people. It has worked in some areas but in some areas it has not worked because of nomads. Sometimes you talk to the chiefs and the chiefs and the elders do agree that this type of insecurity is not good, the killing and much more. But the young people who only believe that without cattle they can’t survive [insist]. So it is a matter of people looking out for their own future. This is why you find some people risking their lives.

You find them moving far away and they will not even listen to the logic. So we are trying. We are talking and we will send our people and ourselves to meeting them. To convince two out of one hundred is an achievement and we will continue growing and reducing the number of criminals by convincing or arresting them. It is only painful that it takes time and it is not good that it is destabilizing the population.

Is there anything other States can learn from your experience as Governor in Jonglei?
Well. I think, I believe – you know – the States that have problems are the states whose communities are keeping cattle. These are the nomadic tribes. And they have been doing the same. They have been also talking to their people so as to accept peace. So I don’t think Jonglei is doing that alone. All of us like peace. And I think as responsible people, we talk to our people and we appeal to our people to make peace among them. So they are doing the same.

You are a General, leading a state that has history of militia fighting. Some people think that to fight a guerilla militia you need an army that fights back using guerilla tactics, not a formal army. It has to be mobile, hardened foot soldiers, who are well supplied and must build a wide range of civilian informers. Would this work for the rest of southern Sudan?
Promoting peace and combating lawlessness, especially banditry and rebellion, is a joint work of very many parties. You find the police have to do its part at the highest level and when it goes beyond what the police cannot do, then the army comes in – the SPLA together joins the police and also the civil society and the local authority. It is team work fighting lawlessness. And of course rebellion and all those are children of lawlessness. And they have to be tackled by all peace lovers and the government is on top of the peace lovers and works for peace among the communities so that development comes in and social service can be able to reach the people and people can develop their potentialities.

How have you dealt with George Athor?

We consider the area free from George Athor. And the populations have come back to their areas and the members of parliament have gone to them so that they are consoled from this trauma and try to resettle them. The Tanginye groups, they have come, they are not there they have been absorbed in to the SPLA. And Tanginye because of his crimes against humanity, repeated crimes against the state, has now been detained now and will definitely face the law. And on those, what were considered to be political or military rebellions, those ones have come to an end. What is remaining now is the issue of cattle. That is what has remained in Jonglei. People are wrangling over cattle and all these. And there is an element of child abduction being practiced by one of the communities. Again it is not whole communities but elements with in some communities. But still I am happy to tell you people are coming to understand the badness of these and they want to make a campaign. We have also the young people, the youth and civil society who are moving and we encourage them to discuss and try to sensitize these people about the negative effects of these in the society. So there is optimism that the situation will definitely improve.

IN OTHER NEWS

Crisis feared as food traders suspend operations

Food prices have doubled in some instances in Malakal, Upper Nile, according to a Christian charity working the area.
“SOS staff are especially vigilant regarding food security affecting Malakal,” SOS Childrens’ Village says in an update. “Prices of essential food and non-food items have increase by 30-50 per cent (mostly felt on sugar and wheat). The impact is significant because the market of Malakal relies on commodities supplied from northern Sudan.”
At present there are two SOS Children’s Villages in Sudan, two SOS Youth Homes, one SOS Nursery, two SOS Schools, two Social Centres and two SOS Vocational Training Centres.
The absence of food is also partly due to reluctance by traders to keep large quantities of supplies in stock in case political unrest leads to looting, SOS says.
“In addition to this, widespread fighting over the pending separation of northern and southern Sudan may make fishing, the gathering of water plants and access to local markets increasingly difficult.

Unity State slams accusations against SPLA

State officials here have slammed accusations that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army knowingly burnt down homes and challenged the accusers to show tell them where 8000 homes could have been.
Gideon Gatpan Thoar, Minister of Information and Communication for Unity State, said the accusations were baseless and a misinterpretation of the situation on the ground by county authorities. The officials also said the militia groups turned anger against the population following defeat at the hands of the SPLA.
The allegations from Mayom County Commissioner Charles Machieng Kuol on 18 May that 7,800 homes had been burned down by the SPLA during fighting with militias in the area were later carried by a UN field report.
SPLA Major General Koang Chuol said his forces had not set any homes on fire, but that unintentional property damage was caused by crossfire between the militias and the SPLA.
“The SPLA forces in the state have been the vanguard and the protector of the people against barbaric attacks of militias in the area.”
Thoar and other southern officials accuse the Khartoum government of sponsoring rebel militias like those loyal to Peter Gatdet in order to destabilize Southern Sudan ahead of its independence next month.

He also accused them of planting land mines in Mayom and Guit counties.
“The militia further targeted humanitarian organizations and robbed them, blocking humanitarian assistance,” Thoar added.