Does oil exploration mean border demarcation? A rebuttal to Padang Union Youth

By Deng Akok Muoradid

“ You can no longer see or identify yourself solely as a member of a tribe, but as a citizen of a nation of one people working toward a common purpose" Idowu koyenikan

An unknown person in the name of Padang Youth Union has written a fake and malicious petition to H.E President Salva Kiir, accusing our abled and powerful minister of petroleum Hon. Amb. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth of attempting to annex oil areas in Northern Upper Nile and Ruweng States to Maiwut and Northern Liech states respectively. The so called petition was as fake as the person who wrote it because it was bearing no signatures, stamps, letterhead and even the  logo. The frustrated member(s) of Padang Youth Union levelled many false accusations against Amb. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth which I will respond to in the next paragraph and all those accusations are intended to create sectional and tribal hatred among the three major tribes of South Sudan. Therefore, I find it necessary to defend the Honourable Minister Amb. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth from anti peace elements who are against the peace and development in our beloved nation.

In their so-called petition, the demoralised members of Padang accused Hon. Amb. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth of planning to annex oil areas of Adar County in Northern Upper Nile State to his home state of Maiwut through peace program which was launched in Rambo by him ( Ezekiel) and Maiwut State Governor Hon. Bol Ruai on 18th January 2019. They further accused Amb. Lol of attempting to annex oil areas of Ruweng State to Northern Liech State. Dear readers, the mandate of Amb. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth is to explore and drill the oil for the benefit of all South Sudanese, not border demarcation as claimed by his critics. Amb. Ezekiel Lol has no power to involve himself in the border demarcation because his constitutional mandate is publically known by every South Sudanese. Where can a national minister of petroleum get the powers to annex other people's land? The body that is entrusted with border demarcation is the Council of State.  I think the authors of this malicious petition might have misinterpreted "oil exploration" as " border demarcation" because they are suffering from language deficiency.

In addition to that, the Rambo Peace Initiative which was launched by Maiwut State government in collaboration with the national government, has nothing to do with the annexation of the land. Rambo Peace Initiative was a platform for disseminating the Revitalized Peace Agreement to the people of Maiwut State. Amb. Ezekiel Lol was delegated by the national government to attend the peace dissemination programs in Maiwut State because he is a peace loving leader. How can a peace program be defined as a land annexation program? I today believed that half education is more dangerous than no education. The members of Pandang youth who wrote such a malicious petition are war mongers and anti peace elements at the same time because they are beating the drum of tribal conflicts.

In conclusion, it has come to my attention that the authors of this petition are tribal minded people who are against the progress of our beloved nation.  Anyone who is encouraging tribalism and sectionalism is more dangerous than someone who took up arms against the people. Their fake petition was intended to create tribal animosity among Dinka, Nuer and Shilliuk. It is unfortunate for the intellectuals to create another war when our people are in peace implementation period.

In addition to that, the attack of the leader amounts to the attack of the people whom he is leading. Amb. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth is a national minister and whoever is attacking him is also attacking the people of South Sudan.

The writer is a Senior Human Right Activist. He can be reached via Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.