A civil society activist and political analyst are calling on the government of South Sudan to embrace dialogue following reports that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) and the National Salvation Front (NAS) led by Gen. Thomas Cirillo have formed a military-political alliance to fight the government.
Last week, Gen. Thomas Cirillo, leader of the opposition National Salvation Front (NAS), confirmed that he has formed a military alliance with the SPLM/A-IO led by Acting Chairman Oyet Nathaniel, as First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar remains under detention in Juba.
Reacting to the newly formed alliance, Ter Manyang Gatwech, a civil society activist, said the alliance is a result of the violation of the peace agreement, a development he said disappointed citizens.
“There is a need for the parties to the peace agreement to resolve their differences at the table so that the country can have peace. However, their [SPLM/A-IO-NAS] current alliance poses a direct threat to the government. The government may either accept dialogue or reject it,” he said. “What I know is that we are in the rainy season, so the government will not have the upper hand in terms of ground forces. The Government of South Sudan is not as strong as many people think, especially since it does not even pay its civil servants, including the national army. Do you think the national army will go and fight without pay? No, they will not.”
“Many soldiers say, ‘I don’t want to be killed, I don’t want to leave my children alone. If I die, who will take care of them?’ This is something we have seen throughout the history of South Sudan,” Manyang added.
He said that when a soldier dies on duty, that is the end of him or her because even the state cannot provide services for the deceased’s children.
For his part, James Boboya, a policy analyst, called on the government to devise a mechanism to silence the guns as SPLA-IO and NAS are cooperating to form a formidable force so that they are also recognized as conflict parties and “later renegotiate themselves into government.”
“I know that the government is not interested in bringing in the holdout groups so that a peaceful solution can be found. So, that is the dilemma we are facing in this country, that even until now, the cabinet is not able to meet since the arrest of Riek Machar. We are unable to see the budget even being taken to the cabinet because it is not meeting,” he said. “We have seen that parliament is not functioning the way it is supposed to. So, everybody is worried about the future prosperity of this country or any prospects of this country.”
Boboya added: “Let us begin to think about the bigger picture of South Sudan as a nation, compared to the gains we are having right now from maybe stealing public funds, increasing corruption, nepotism, and think about power to one community as opposed to the power to the entire communities of South Sudan.”
He urged dialogue and for the government to make concessions for peace to prevail.
“The government must begin to build a common future by ending poverty, ending misery, ending suffering, and addressing diseases because this is where we have problems right now,” Boboya stated. “If you look at the people on the streets of Juba, they are more malnourished than people in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, etc., who look better and healthier than we do.”
“The more we do this nonsense, the more we will continue to have this kind of situation, and the impact will be felt for the next 100 or more years,” he added.
The analyst urged the leaders to reflect on the impacts of past wars and work to create a better life for the citizens and develop the country instead of fighting for power.