Ali Baba - Small Arms, Armed Violence, and Insecurity in Jonglei State

As the ALI BABA NEWS PAPER is continuing to be concerned and fully engage to fallow up and work for the welfare of South Sudan and to bring attention to the people of South Sudan and make sure that Mr. President is well advised to take the right approach and right decisions for this wonderful country. Also Ali Baba News paper will work very hard to expose those who misused the public funds and political interest . In addition Ali Baba News Paper voluntarily to provide and offer the simple and important advice to H.E Mr. President Salva Kiir Mayradit to be alert and careful about the people who want to fail the state of South Sudan. More over The ALI BABA NEWS PAPER is ready to continue advising Mr. President with NO cost and reveal those who are abusing the system and misusing the government funds for their own personal benefit or interest, and to educate the public and people of South Sudan on the issues matter for them.

There is overwhelming community sympathy for what they are doing The militants are seen as people who can stand up to the oppressors .I consider myself a person who can speak on these issue our problems and protests But getting to camp to negotiate the hostage release and seeing 6000 to 7000 young men in arms with, machines guns, rocket launchers and ammunition In the lead-up to South Sudan’s April 2010 national and presidential elections, numerous signs emerged of growing popular discontent with the national political system and indications that the 2010 elections would mirror the violence of 2009. The shadow of the 2010 elections hung heavily over the country, while the 2010 electoral process faced a number of challenges; Problems with voter registration raised concerns about disenfranchisement, whether intentional or not. The efforts of South Sudanese president Salva Kiir to modify the Constitution to enable him to run for a second term drew accusations of authoritarianism. Tensions between the SPLM/A Party and the SPLM/DC and other parties of the country persisted, as they have for years, and reflected the normal tendency of increasing in an election year. Growing unrest in the South Sudan brought a rise in violent incidents and kidnappings. Although not as violent as many had predicted, the elections exacerbated political divides due to widespread accusations of fraud from voters and national and international observers alike. The elections did little to resolve the political tensions in the country. These political tensions are compounded by the reality that South Sudan’s economy has grown since signing peace in 2005 and yet this wealth has been neither seen nor felt by the vast majority of South Sudanese. Nearly three-quarters of South Sudanese’s population live on less than one dollar a day in a country that has earned oil revenues of at least USD 650 billion over decades, not including the past few years of high oil prices. Ethnic tensions, tribal differences, limited economic opportunities, and numerous social and political grievances are all fuelling the unrest in South Sudan and contributing to flashpoints for violence. The challenges are immense, and Dr. John Garang’s successor, the newly elected, faces the difficult tasks of healing a divided country, addressing legitimate economic grievances, and reforming the police and military. At the same time he must devise a political solution to the crisis in the Jonglei State and other states and address the prevalent insecurity in the country.

This article aims to raise awareness of a number of issues relating to insecurity, armed violence, and the proliferation of illicit small arms in south Sudan since the return to democracy in 2007. To this end, the core of this report is divided into five sections. The first section looks at the causes of armed violence in South Sudan, including the context of the 2010 elections, the various dividing lines in South Sudanese society, and the long-term challenge of economic development and the redistribution of resources. The second section discusses the circulation of illicit small arms, the availability of legal and illegal arms, the manufacture of craft weapons, and popular demand for small arms. The third section looks at armed violence in South Sudan, with the intention of providing a more nuanced understanding of the types of violence in south Sudan, the contexts in which violence is more likely to occur, and the nature of the perpetrators involved. The fourth section concentrates on the role of armed groups in South Sudan by first discussing the types of armed groups that operate in the country, and then focusing on the evolution of such groups in the Jonglei region in particular. The fifth section presents an overview of the challenges the government faces in addressing armed violence and insecurity, and more closely investigates specific attempts by the government to tackle these problems in the Jonglei. The conclusion reviews the numerous challenges that the newly elected president now faces and must address in the coming five years to prevent further deterioration in the security situation in the country.

The following are among the key findings in this report:

1- Politics is extremely competitive and elections are perceived as zero-sum contests. This has led to the increasingly militarized nature of politics, the use of violence as an electoral tool, and the inculcation of a culture of violence

in society.

2- Armed groups are not a new phenomenon in south Sudan. There are numerous groups of varying character and intent operating in the country. However, today’s armed groups are better armed, better trained, and increasingly sophisticated in their actions compared to those of the past.

3- The militarized nature of politics combined with the prevalence of armed groups has provided an easy marriage between politics and violence. Armed groups have taken advantage of the opportunities presented by being hired hands, and have now developed their own bases of economic support, thereby freeing themselves from their political patrons. This has led some groups to engage in and try to influence the political process themselves.

4- Armed violence is not a random event. Acts of armed violence in South Sudan are purposeful in intent and directed at key targets, whether economic or political. Armed violence is about more than oil, tribalism, ethnicity, or politics. In essence, such violence is about access to resources, whether through committing crimes, playing on communal tensions, stealing oil, or winning elections. Without addressing the key issues of resource control and distribution, armed violence will persist. A political solution through dialogue will do more to address these issues than a military response.

5- While South Sudan supports international instruments to limit illicit proliferation and has put in place national laws to restrict the ownership and use of licit small arms, these laws are poorly enforced and as a result largely ineffective in addressing illicit proliferation. The inability of the police to provide law and order in the country, and the resulting insecurity among the population, has led some individuals and communities to acquire small arms for protection.

6- The security vote is an opaque budget line item that provides significant amounts of funding for ‘security-related’ issues, but which remains uncontrolled by requirements for disclosure. At best, this provides an easy source of money for corruption; at worst, it provides politicians with money that allows them to use violence as a tool of political influence and control by purchasing the services of armed thugs.

7- The government’s response to armed violence has been a mixed strategy of carrot and stick. The carrot development programmes has failed to deliver substantial economic benefits and development progress. The stick an attempt to meet force with force has provoked an escalation of violence rather than curbed it, generated popular support for armed groups, and led to an entrenchment of the positions of militants. The only solution to the rising armed violence in the Jonglei is a political one.

The causes of armed violence:

Violence is the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm. . The main focus in this paper is on the actual carrying out of violent acts, the driving forces behind these episodes of violence, and the tool used in committing acts of violence. Specifically, the concern is with armed violence, which, for the purposes of this paper, is defined as the carrying out of a violent act with ‘any material thing designed or used or usable as an instrument for inflicting bodily harm.

There is a common set of explanations in the literature for what causes violence in South Sudan. This includes politics and elections, the shift to democratic governance, the rise of armed groups, oil, ethnicity and religion, and poverty. These issues represent dividing lines in communities that have led to heightened tensions between and within groups. But to say that groups or individuals are fighting over any single issue is too simplistic. At the heart of many of these conflicts is access to resources and control over the distribution of benefits. This struggle for resources has led to a broad sense of insecurity, opportunism, and the pursuit of self-help strategies across the country.

The context of elections:

Democratic elections took place in April 2010. State elections were held on 14 April, while national elections were held one week later on 21 April. While the 2010 elections marked a significant step forward for south Sudan as it transitioned

from military rule back to democracy, and the 2010 elections marked the additional step forward of having two successive democratically elected governments, the 2010 elections are significant in the history of South Sudan in that they mark the first time that there has been a democratic transition from one leader to another. All previous democratic elections resulted in military coups. Elections in South Sudan are significant not only on the political level, but also in the area of economics. Given the highly centralized nature of government as a result of decades of military rule, political power and economic resources are concentrated in the hands of political leaders. As such, politics in South Sudan could be called the ‘politics of allocation’, throughwhich electoral victory isintimately tied to ‘access to the state as an avenue for wealth accumulation and conferment of status. Those who are a part of the system benefit from the system, while those who are outside of it are left out of the distribution process. Politics encourages competition not only at the national level, but also at the state and local levels, where the same patronage system holds away, making elections true ‘all-or-nothing’ contests that have resulted in violent clashes motivated by the quest for power and its advantages. These clashes have taken place both within parties, as political candidates seek their parties’ nominations, and among parties vying for seats in government. The perception that elections are truly zero-sum contests for access to resources, combined with a culture of impunity, has encouraged the use of violence by politicians to secure electoral success. Politicians have in the past provided weapons to privately funded militias who wield these arms as tools to intimidate the politicians’ opponents and the latter’s supporters. Similar tactics were deployed for the 2010 elections, with an interesting twist. The weapons provided during the 2010 elections were still held by those armed groups, who grew in power during the intervening four years, enabling them to use their firepower to influence the political process themselves rather than merely taking orders from politicians. Elections are also about representation. In addition to holding the economic reins of the country, the presidency also provides a significant symbol of ethnic and religious representation in a country with over 60 ethnic group; and significant Muslim and Christian populations. The origins of the president are viewed as important because of the perception that the group or groups that the president represents benefit during his time in power. As such, elections are more about candidates’ origins than their political platforms. While there has long been an unwritten, but accepted practice of rotating the presidency among the two south Sudanese geopolitical zones a pact made in 1972 established an unwritten rule that the country’s leadership position should rotate between the two ethnic groups. While the population still supports democracy as a form of government, the performance of the democratic government has been increasingly criticized and questioned. The population is questioning the democratic credentials of the present government, and growing impatient with the slow pace of reform. In part, this is the result of the failure of the government to utilize the country’s economic growth to better the quality of life of the people, the high levels of corruption that persist, and questions about the 2007 electoral process. But it is also likely the result of actions by the former president himself. Many South Sudanese are increasingly unhappy with the political system, feeling disenfranchised, as though their votes do not matter. Such sentiments were reinforced by Mr. President’s bid to change the Constitution to enable him to run for a second term.

This is the weekly simple advice to Mr. President for today. ALI BABA NEWS PAPER will bring more advisory merits next week to Mr. President Salva Kiir Mayadit

Do not ignore these advice they sound simple but they can damage and destroy the nations. I will urge the Ali Baba news Paper supporters to encourage the government officials to read the important advises to Mr. President Salva Kiir Mayradit.

Thank you all for continuing reading this simple advice and I hope that this advice will reach to the office of Mr. President.

God bless you all and specially the readers and supporters of Ali Baba News paper and God bless our nation South Sudan

Peter A. Amon

the Author can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.