Friday, March 29, 2024

Sudan Tribune

Plural news and views on Sudan

Why Mr. Kiir must go, now?

By Luk Kuth Dak

“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Abraham Lincoln, former US President.

May 21, 2014 – Most everybody in the republic of South Sudan agree that the disgraced President, Salva Kiir Mayardit’s compulsive appetite for murdering innocent civilians is what he was put on earth to do. And as far as the Nuer nation is concerned, he has done that and more, and in their heart of hearts, he will never again be a trusted figure and a champion for peace and harmony in the country.

Upon arrival at Juba International Airport from Ethiopia, Kirr told anybody and everybody who would listen that: he didn’t sign the agreement with his rival, Dr. Riek Machar on his own free will, but that he had been coerced to do so by an enormous pressure from the international community, on the one hand, and from the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailomariam Desalegn, on the other hand. “Either you sign the agreement or be arrested here, “he quoted the Premier as saying. To that I ask: do heads of states behave that way with one another? I have never heard it before.

Temperamentally, though, Kirr never left the bush mentality, where he was a top military assistant to the late, Dr. John Garang de Mabior, the former SPLM/A Chairman and Commander-in-Chief. He eared the nick-name ‘the bulldozer’ for crushing some of the commanders, who dared disagreeing with his opinions. Yet to this very moment, the people of South Sudan can’t seem to figure out, what is it that Dr. Garang saw in Kiir that they are unable to see, in crowing him as his first deputy!

For the past eight years, Kiir’s only achievement was deceiving the people of South Sudan, and making a fool of them. Eight long years ago, they are still saddled with the most divisive leader, who, in essence, became the most courageous advocate for injustice, corruption, despair, divisiveness and above all, the master-minding of the genocide of the innocent, harmless, helpless and unarmed Nuer civilians, all around the country, for no apparent reason other than their ethnicity. Now, given that bloody past, can Mr. Kiir still be an effective, legitimate and a trusted leader?

The answer to that requires an insight!

But, fairly or not, the tyrant is to blame for turning the country into a morgue; in his quest to quench his thirst for a fresh blood. And as I have mentioned before on this space, today, South Sudan is no longer a nation, but an ethnically divided society, which communities only see themselves as enemies… not as fellow countrymen. That madness must be stopped in a hurry. The stakes are now quite higher more than ever before to have a fresh start with a new leadership; a leadership that will put our unity at the top of its priorities. Hence, though, achieving that dream will only be possible with Mr. Kiir out of the picture… not in it, as some of the stooges want us to believe.

As I always do prior to writing an article, I recently polled some pundits, political scientists and elders from South Sudan, who have reached an alarming conclusion: “If free elections were held today, Kiir is doomed, they asserted. They also ruled out the possibility of him voluntarily leaving power, as he often said in recent months leading to the Addis’ agreement. “He must hold on to power to keep away from capture, and being handed over to the International Criminal Court, ICC, for the Nuer genocide, “they said.

Meanwhile, Kiir’s flunkies continue to extinguish the fire by adding more fuel. Just yesterday, Ustaz/ James Wani Iga, the tyrant Vice President told Sudan Tribune: “Any government of national unity without Kiir is impossible.” “He is a unifying figure, “he went on to say.

Really!

More to the point, in Addis Abba, Mr. Michael Makuei, the regime’s spokesman said: “Any suggestions that Kiir stays out are out of question, and any form of government MUST be under him,” he vomited.

Now you have it, people of South Sudan. This conflict is not between the Jieeng (Dinka) and the Naath (Nuer). It’s between right and wrong.

Luk Kuth Dak is a veteran journalist and a former anchorman at Juba Radio. He can be reached at [email protected], or follow me on tweeter@kuthdak
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