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Dr. Peter Adwok NyabaWhen the guns are rattling in Malakal cutting short the sleep of many people particularly the children leaving on the ground corpses, don’t think it is for worthy cause. The situation into which the Chollo people have been lobbed reminds one of the story in 1970 of the American priest James Jones and his flock of over one thousand he ensnared into committing suicide in Guyana. The fighting in Malakal which started in Dur on March 6th had many objectives flagged to it.

As per an acquaintance who confided to my sister in laws, ‘I am coming to inform you because you have always been good to me. We have come to fight and we are many distributed in different parts of the town. You should accumulate enough food for yourself. We have orders to kill your sister Abuk and her husband Adwok… We have people charged with shooting down Pagan’s plane if he dares to land in Malakal…. We are going to kill the Governor Simon Kun Pouch; we are going to break and take the money from the Bank; Yoanes Yor must fly the flag of Upper Nile not Simon Kun; Salva Kiir will not raise the flag of independence of South Sudan…. The flag will be raised by Dr. Riek Machar and Dr. Lam Akol.

These words seem to be from a Hollywood scene. It is a very sad thing that poor and ignorant people have been intoxicated with falsehood into a delirium whose antitoxin is their imminent death. I am writing this in response to the four who signed the so-called Collo Global Action and their piece protesting the killing in Panyikango County, South Sudan namely Peter Karlo, Olany Lueth, Lwanyo Awang and Jino Kak.

I am a veteran of the war of liberation in which two and half million people perished. We look back at the war years with nostalgia but full of pride that we have achieved the ultimate objective: independence and freedom for our people. The Chollo Land Defence Forces, as you may call them are indeed a militia groups supported and armed by the enemies of the people of Southern Sudan. They are not fighting to retrieve the Chollo land… their agenda is power to take power in Juba.

The war to take power by forces started in June 2010 in the Chollo Kingdom with the assassination of Kt. Peter Oyath and his entourage. The slogan of Chollo land was just a façade and a smoke screen for ensnaring the ignorant like some of you. There was no way this rag tag army would have defeated the SPLA and it was definite that the Chollo would lose their land for ever as they did to the Arabs in the While Nile area.

The peace agreement signed in Pachodo with the assistance of H.M. Rath Kwongo provided for the absorption of five thousand young men and women into the SPLA to constitute the defence of the area. Robert Gwang, who has a genuine concern for the land, acquiesced and has now been absorbed as a Major General. Olony on instigation and orders of his commander in chief rejected the leadership of Robert Gwang claiming he was a Lt. General. He relocated with his men to Malakal from where he again relocated to Dur with the agreement of the government in Malakal. He was joined by many youth, middle aged and elder men and women; some of them government employees in Malakal seeking army ranks. Little did they know that it was not a straight forward process.

The fighting in Dur was triggered by Olony’s refusal to go to Gaar in order to join Robert Gwang in the integration process. A good soldier will not jeopardise the lives of his men and the civilian population among who they lived and Olony whom Peter Karlo has now renamed the Reth is not a good soldier. He is just an adventurer like his mentor. After being dislodged from Dur, he stayed a few days in Abayo, west of Athikong with his men wounded in action. He has brought the war to Malakal hoping to get more attention and sympathy. They are fighting as small pockets without a defined front and therefore will not take time before they are flushed out of their hiding places. Many of the Chollo in town who have expressed sympathy will now just withdraw and shrink into gossip groupings and even the strong voices to the international community may become muted soon as the reality dawns on all. The intoxicant will have faded for good.

Now I want to ask the Chollo Global Action: don’t you think by heightening the issue to a military confrontation with the Government of Southern Sudan you may have indeed assisted in spoiling the case; that is to say after being defeated how will you again retrieve what has been grabbed, assuming that the Dinka follow up on you defeat and chase the rest of Chollo from their homes including Malakal?

My submission is that many of you particularly those in the Diaspora have paralysed your thinking mechanism and just follow like sheep the designs of diabolical person we all know. The issue was not land in essence although the decision to make Pijo the H/Qs of Paweny/Luach County was enough to invoke legal but not military action against the president of GOSS and his deputy. If you are careful enough to analyse the development since January 9th 2009 following the skirmishes in the Malakal Stadium, the attack of Anakdair and the burning of Abanimo, you will discover that the inaction on the part of the governments of Upper Nile and Southern Sudan was intended to undercut senior Chollo members in the SPLM [Pagan Amum, Oyay Deng and Peter Adwok Nyaba] for reasons to do with the SPLM internal dynamics and power struggle but more strategically to widened the divide between the Chollo themselves. In 2005 the Chollo was the only community in the SPLM that came out divided blocking each other. This was exploited by those who didn’t want Chollo holding such positions as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Army Chief of General Staff and the SPLM Secretary General, although they three gentlemen were qualified to occupy these positions.

I would say that Salva Kiir and Riek Machar intended to embarrass Pagan Amum [SPLM SG] in front of the Chollo after the massive reception he received in Malakal in December 2005. Dr. Riek Machar out of reasons best known himself has not implemented the GOSS decision making him the Chairman of the committee investigating the crisis between the Chollo and the Dinka. This inaction on the part of GOSS towards the Chollo outcry worked in favour of Dr. Lam Akol prompting him to declare his SPLM-DC in June of the same year. The pundits have succeeded to elbow Dr. Lam Akol out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oyay Deng Ajak out of the SPLA and to diminish Pagan Amum’s role as the SPLM Secretary General. In a piece I wrote immediately after the declaration of the elections results; I said that the vote that made the SPLM-DC capture all the territorial constituencies in the Chollo Kingdom was an anger vote against the SPLM. I still stand by that statement.

The real issue is ‘power’ and how to wield it. It is cynical to raise the slogan of land in order to ensnare the poor and ignorant and push them into battle front. The boys fighting in Malakal have SAF military attire and inner vest carrying the picture of Dr. Lam and the insignia of SPLM-DC. The SPLM-DC is a registered political party and one would presume that it is national in this case why should they come to attack Juba the seat of GOSS? Why should the Chollo land be destroyed because SPLM-DC wants power in Juba? Who is supporting and supplying the SPLM-DC with arms and money in its adventure? Is it SPLM Democratic Change or SPLM Destructive Cause? I want you to reflect on this seriously and its parallel in the James Jones case. I am trying to find out a paper I submitted to the Sudanese Studies Conference in Durham, England in 2000 entitled ‘The Chollo Predicament: The threat of physical extermination and cultural extinction of a people.’ I am beginning to think what I said then is being realised.