Breaking Sudan by Jok Madut Jok

Author:Jok Madut Jok
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Current affairs
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2017-02-02T12:57:03+00:00

In conclusion, when the north-south prolonged conflict ended by the fragile 2005 peace agreement, one of the most immediately expected peace dividends was a sense of security and stability. South Sudan was one of the most war-destroyed places on earth; it had no basic infrastructure, was in desperate need of basic social services and had some of the world’s worst human development indicators. An estimated four million people were internally displaced, and three million had died in the previous two decades. Notwithstanding these problems, security for their communities and their property was the issue the South Sudanese expected and hoped the peace agreement would resolve, and do so right away. Improvement in the level of security, and the ability of the state to protect communities, was the measure of the value of the CPA and the commitment of the parties to it. If the South Sudanese were to exhibit pride in the nation, rather than in their regions or tribes, individuals, civil society groups, political parties and foreign NGOs and human rights agencies knew security was the single most expected development and the primary demand of the citizens from their government. The CPA may have ended the war, but it also produced political and military disagreements within the south. These disagreements had a direct impact on Ror Col, and villages like it, and prolonged their suffering. Disgruntled members of the SPLA staged rebellions, supposedly against the leadership in Juba, capital of South Sudan, but they picked the softest targets to make their point, randomly attacking villages and looting their cattle as their way of declaring their unhappiness. Two rebellions relevant to the story of Ror Col were staged by Gatluak Gai and Peter Gadet, both from Western Upper Nile, an area bordering the north-eastern part of Bahr el Ghazal.

If the country is to restore stability, unite the people and become as prosperous as its citizens expect it to; if it is to create good policies, strong political and military leadership and fair civil society, its people need to explore their histories and use them as a starting point for reconciliation, attention to veterans and provision of justice for the communities and individuals who have done so much to make South Sudanese independence possible.

This chapter has used one village’s and one person’s experience of the war and its impact on the society. Ror Col’s and Bol Kuek’s stories reveal the underbelly of a prolonged conflict and show how people live with alien realities such as feeding armies and protecting their property without being persecuted. Their stories tell us that war is ugly, something no one would wish for, but since rural people cannot prevent it, they have to find ways to live with it.

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