Letter to H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit First Vice President of the Republic of Sudan President of Southern Sudan

Date: 13/09/2010

Subject: Attestation For Chollo Ownership Of The Triangular Land

Formed By The White Nile And Sobat Rivers And The Boundary

Between The Old Kodok And Old Fangak Districts

Your Excellency,

With this, I the undersigned, having been domiciled in the aforesaid land, on behalf of our Chollo Community, hereby testify and empathetically confirm that our Chollo Community are the indigenous citizens of the places claimed in Resolution no 4 and no 5 in the Atar and Khourfulus Communities Peace and Reconciliation Conference of Jonglei State, held in Malakal , Upper Nile State from 1^st - 3^rd April , 2009 under your Excellency's Chairmanship. We lived there continually from time immemorial  and were only forced out by the Sudan Government's tribal militias, so-called friendly forces or brigades.

They terrorized and destabilized the Chollo people, killing them and looting all their property. The majority of these indigenous people sought refuge in the northern towns of Kosti, Assalaya, Kenana, Sennar, Madeni, Gedarif, Khartoum etc. Most of them are still living there under very miserable conditions of life.

The government accommodated the brigades in places like Doleib Hill , Jonglei Canal Project Site (Piji), Atar Secondary School , Watajwok west ,Makal and Anagdier , thus barricading Malakal town from the SPLA and depriving them of sources of support .Other IDPS , who happened to be from the same tribes as the brigades , hence , got the opportunity to settle in the land vacated by the Chollo people , who had fled away in search of personal safety , security and quiet.

Our Dear President,

It is worth mentioning that our relationship with our neighbouring Dinka Communities of Atar and Khorfulus, had been usually friendly and cordial. We engaged in inter-tribal marriages, mixed up in cattle camps, dances and fishing activities on islands in between the White Nile and Lol (Khor arami) rivers.

There were hardly any violent cases or cattle rustling or raiding between the two tribes .Occasional misunderstanding would only arise from elopement with a girl or stealing a cow, just as would happen in the same tribe. Iam  therefore greatly surprised that under your respectful chairmanship a resolution could be passed, which resolution encroached on the land of another state and affecting another tribal and friendly Community.

Our President,

You will recall that in 2006, the people of Adhidhiang (Piji) petitioned your good self, requesting your esteemed government to ask the IDPS, who had occupied their locality during the 22 years civil war, to return to their land of domicile, so as to enable them (Adhidhiang) to in turn come back home in order to resume normal peaceful life of calm.

In response and through your Honourable Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr. Luka Biong, you expressed great appreciation and thankfulness for the peaceful approach the Adhidhiang citizens had taken so as to secure their peaceful return to their home of domicile, unlike the Dinka Communities of Atar And Khorfulus, who were killing themselves, just for the location of the site and naming the capital city of the county. Your most Excellency promised to do everything in your power to have them return to their home land during the dry season of 2007 if security situation would allow. You mentioned that your esteemed government recognised the boundary between the old Fangak and the old Kodok Districts to be the boundary between the Jonglei and the Upper Nile States. You further stated that your respectful government was only concerned with the demarcation of the north-south borders as they stood in January 1956, as stipulated in the CPA and would not tamper with the local internal boundaries of the southern states and counties.

In another development, I cautioned the High Level Committee which you had formed ,headed by Dr.Deng Marial  Deng  with Justice Chan Reer as Secretary General , to investigate into the Dinka communities crisis, that I was highly suspicious that whenever each of the two communities claims to host the county , it is in fact having an eye  on a site on either the Sobat or the White Nile in the Upper Nile State .The Resolution No4 and No5 of the Peace and Reconciliation Conference April 2009 now has proved me right .My Statement was recorded  on oath by the Committee. Piji is the same as Jonglei Canal Project Site and Wunarop is the same as Wicbur, the 1st School built on Khor Nyitho by the Project.

During the inauguration of the school 1980, Mr.Abel Alier, then V/President of Sudan, declared that the administration of that school was to be in the hand of Upper Nile State. Mr. Abel and Mr. Venansio Loro, the first commissioner of Jonglei Province 1975/76, are present for verifications if they are asked to do so.

Our Dear President,

The Chollo Community feels greatly offended and dismayed by your Excellency's sudden shift of position   and action contrary to your previous expressed pledge not to tamper with the local internal southern states and counties boundaries .Your fellow indigenous people of the triangular land of Upper Nile State mentioned elsewhere above, view your action of resolving and reconciling of the warring Dinka Communities of Jonglei by encroaching into the Chollo territory of Upper Nile State, as wrong and unacceptable. The Atar and Khorfulus Communities' Peace and Reconciliation Conference April 2009 was purely a Jonglei State's Affair and  it should have found solutions within the Jonglei State territory. If part of Upper Nile State was envisaged in that case, then the people who own the two places in Resolutions 4&5, should have been included in the conference. The so-called Piji County has now stepped up their implementation of their resolutions 4&5.The Atar Secondary School on the White Nile in Upper Nile State is already being administered by Jonglei State. The Paweny are building in places like Dyel of Panyikango County. In the last election of April 2010, the inhabitants in the triangle were registered as voters in Jonglei State and they helped to pass candidate Gier Chuang of so-called Piji County of Jonglei State.

Our Dear President,

The British Administration which mapped out various districts in South Sudan based on tribal settlements in existence on the ground in 1930s, observed that the Atar and Khorfulus Dinka Communities were people notoriously fond of litigations who would not even owe allegiance to one head or leader. This they said prevented their administration from establishing of proper governing rules of conduct for them. Police posts were the only centres suitable for them (Ref. Upper Nile Province Hand Book). The rest is left to your own imagination.

Exactly as observed by the British Administration, the two communities petitioned the High Executive Council (H.E.C) of H.E Mr .Abel Alier in 1980/81 requesting to have the boundary between the Jonglei and Upper Nile Provinces moved so that the Sobat and the White Nile rivers be the new boundary. The Honourable (H.E.C)in the person of late Hilary Paul Logali,then the Minister of Regional Administration, Police and Prisons, in line with the British Administration Policy of not to disturb the tribal settlements , rejected their claims especially that these claims of land ownership were not supported by any previous documentation or initiated by the Jonglei Province Authority. H.E the Minister reasoned that the boundary between the two provinces does not touch the rivers anywhere except at Wathkec where it crosses the Nile to separate Kodok and Bentiu Districts of Upper Nile Province. The Jonglei - Upper Nile  boundary is actually drawn from a point 8 miles south of the place where Khorfulus pours into the Sobat river and stretched westward past the Jebel Zeraf and crossing the Nile at Wathkec.

The Communities again petitioned the (H.E.C) of Mr. Joseph James Tumbura in 1982/83.Late Charles Kuot Chatim, the concerned minister of the day also replied in the negative giving the same reasons as did his predecessor.

Again in the New Site Conference November 2004, Our Fallen Hero Dr. John Garang De Mabior rejected the move to disturb the tribal settlements.

Our Dear President,

Why on earth should your esteemed government be the source or cause of insecurity and instability in our beloved mothers 'land? The British, Abel, Tumbura, (H.E.C), and Dr.Garang Administrations all in a row of succession had rejected this notorious way of litigation, why have you to choose this wrong and unpopular path? Your fellow Chollo people are very anxious to come home in order to register themselves so as to cast their overdue votes in the coming referendum. They yearn to express their fundamental democratic rights  and freedom on their ancestors' soil.

However it is not too late to remedy the situation. After all the aforesaid Piji County has not yet been issued with a warrant of establishment. Mr. President, the greatest leaders of the world have often been those who after careful and honest examination of their wrong or unpopular decisions, have revoked and replaced them with such decisions as are satisfactory to the majority of those they govern. Your Excellency cannot be an exception. Your fellow Chollo people scattered in the northern Sudan and elsewhere are earnestly awaiting your responsible and prompt action to revoke your Executive Order if any, per Resolutions 4&5 of the Atar and Khorfulus Communities Peace and Reconciliation Conference April 2009 in Malakal Upper Nile State and to seek alternative suitable sites within Jonglei State territory.

With my highest compliments please.

Your's in the name of the people of South Sudan

James Ogilo Agor

A former  MP 1968-1969, 1974-1977 &1986 - 1989 in the

National Assembly -  Khartoum  and a Minister in the

Council for the South Sudan 1989.

CC

1.       H.E. Dr. Riak Machar Teny, Vice President of Government  of Southern

Sudan - Juba.

2.       Hon. James Wani Igga, Speaker and all MPs of Southern Sudan

Legislative Assembly (SSLA) - Juba.

3.       Justice John Wol Makec, Chief Justice  and Chairman of the Supreme

Court of South Sudan (SCSS) - Juba.

4.       H.E. John Luk Jok Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional

Development - Juba.

5.       H.E. The Chairman of South Sudan  Land Commission( SSLC) - Juba.

6.       H.E. Simon Kun Pouc, Governor of Upper Nile State- Malakal

7.       Hon. Sisco Lam, Speaker and all MPs of Upper Nile Legislative

Assembly (UNLA) - Malakal.

8.       H.E. Koul Manyang Juuk Governor of Jonglei State - Bor.

9.    H.E.  Abel Alier (P.H.E.C) 1980/81 and Advocate and Commissioner of

Oaths-Khartoum.

References:

• Recommendations & Resolutions of Atar and Khorfulus Communities Peace and Reconciliation Conference April 2009.
• Letters of Hilary Paul Logali and Charles Kuot Chatim to the two Dinka Communities.
• Minutes and Resolutions of New Site Conference November 2004.
• H.E Abel Alier's speech at the inauguration ceremony of the first school built by The Jonglei Canal Project at Wicbur Nyitho Upper Nile province 1980.
• Etc.