Why General Gatdet Yak and group rushed to sign Peace with RSS, and what should be done by RSS to them?
BY: Mading Manyok Ajak, SOUTH SUDAN AUG. 9/2011, SSN; It didn't take many days when the rebel leader Galuak Gai was gunned down by his juniors in Unity State. This might have led to the quick subsequent announcement by General Gatdet Yak and his groups that they had hinted to President Kiir's amnesty offered to all the rebel movements to put down their arms and negotiate peace with RSS. But with the amnesty alone as their sole reason for peace negotiation, General Gatdet Yak and his groups should not fool the general public but should just accept that they have been defeated by different circumstances in the bush. The excuse of Presidential amnesty which they are using generates more questions than answers to start with, how many times did president Kiir call for amnesty and no one rebel group listened to his call, then, why now? The obvious questions are to do with the list of declarations that were made by Gen. Peter Gatdet and his groups in their famous Mayom Declaration, where the groups pledged to eradicate corruption and Dinka domination in Southern Sudan. Now, has corruption been eradicated? Is the Dinka domination reduced now? Is the political process now democratic and transparent? Are the children of the ruling elites brought back from abroad and studying in South Sudanese schools? Has water, electricity, roads, medicines, and development reached to Mayom county and other remote areas in Southern Sudan? Has? Has?.............? By leaving those questions unanswered, Gen. Gatdet Yak and his groups aren't telling the truth about their return, but the implicit part of their return was due to the following: The independence of South Sudan as a new nation. With the independence of South Sudan, the Government of Sudan which has been alleged as the main supplier of southern Sudan’s rebels has been denied a free access to southern Sudanese resources, which were used for destabilizing the south. With the independence, the sponsorship of rebel activities in South Sudan became a liability to Khartoum than an investment; the rebel groups therefore had to be kicked out of Sudan and found themselves with no resources to sustain their activities. Having been left with little option, the rebel groups saw peace as the only viable option for their survival; hence, the presidential amnesty was taken to cover-up this fact. The killing of Galuak Gai and the emerging culture among the rebels. The killing of Gatluak Gai signaled a new culture which targeted killing of most senior rebel leaders by their junior officers. Due to the war fatigue in the bush, the junior officers would want to have their own direct contacts with Juba and at least join RSS with some achievements from the bush to earn them good positions. This culture made Gen. Peter Gatdet and other senior officers in the rebel movements as the main targets for elimination. Gen. Gadet and his groups had to rush as voluntary returnees to Nairobi and Juba to save their lives; hence, the amnesty thing came into their minds and they wasted no time to let it go. SPLA Sophisticated weapons against the rebel’s traditional weapons. Reflecting from the war experiences, any one would agree with me that the bush life became unbearable for Gen. Gatdet Yak and his groups to sustain. It proved difficult for them to sustain the most sophisticatedly armed SPLA forces with their ill-equipped weapons, hungry and tired soldiers, who have been hunted for many months and who had no justifiable reasons for being in the bush. Gen. Gadet and his groups therefore, found it useful to report very fast to the SPLA instead of their army getting scattered and leaving them in the bush without soldiers, thus making them vulnerable for any attacks which could lead to their deaths which they didn't want to happen at these early hours when life is still sweet for them. They even rush not to let the amnesty expire again, and thus left without their uniforms on just to save their lives. Community Pressure As clearly stated by the spokesman, Mr. Bol Gatkuoth, on 4/8/20011, the rebels faced an intensive pressure both within their communities and the international community. With the pressure from Nuer Community which has not been in support of rebel activities right from the beginning; Gen. Gatdet and his groups were denied access to human resource supplies which they badly needed for their survival and sustainability. The groups became isolated and marginalized and hence, had no otherwise than to return in the name of peace negotiation and presidential amnesty. Failure of their Bosses to join them in the bush The surprise that General Gatdet Yak and his groups found themselves in is that their bosses who promised to join them in the bush failed to do so; this made Gen. Gatdet and his groups felt cheated and betrayed in the eyes of Nuer Bul community, Nuer community at large and Southern Sudanese people. The groups found themselves having been misused by people who ended up enjoying while they were suffering in the bush fighting a war that could not be well justified. Hence, Gen. Gatdet and his groups came back to the bosses to ask them why they failed to join the war against GoSS in the bush? Since Gen. Gatdet and the company have failed to state the reasons for their return, they have missed the trust of South Sudanese People, and RSS should be advised to do the following in dealing with returnees-rebels: • Develop clear guidelines for peace negotiation with any rebel group that would like to be integrated; • A probation period of one year be given to any rebel group willing to be integrated; this is to ensure that rebel numbers, movements and communication, are observed to deny them any chance of destroying the SPLA from within. •No integration with any group of rebels that doesn’t expose the hideouts and sources of funding for their colleague rebel movements which are still in the bush;. • There should be no inch of promotion to any returnee rebel, instead there should be lose of ranks for having rebelled against the mother movement, the SPLA. To be trusted by all Southern Sudanese, General Gatdet Yak and his groups should therefore openly accept their defeat and tell the truth instead of sticking to a naked lie in the names of Presidential amnesty and wearing of “an-owl-eyes” when the rebel movement is completely finished. Otherwise, personally, I congratulate General Peter Gatdet and the groups for their peace initiative with RSS, because it takes courage for one to accept peace and integration. Mr. Mading Manyok Ajak.; reachable through: [email protected] COMMENTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent those of the website. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
