Either Oppositions Unite, Or Are All Defeated One By One by The Regime

South Sudan President Salva Kiir, left, and First Vice President Riek Machar, right, shake hands after meetings in Juba, South Sudan, October 20, 2019, to discuss outstanding issues to the peace deal (FILE Photo / AP)

(Pachodo.org) - Since the crisis began before South Sudan's independence in 2011, there were several movements fighting the SPLM Government. There were genuine calls by the people who are suffering under SPLM for these numerous anti - SPLM movements to unite under one command.

They failed to unite, and the consequences was their failure to succeed in toppling the regime, and they willingly surrendered to the regime through fake peace deals that the regime never honoured.

The same experience reoccurred at the beginning of the ongoing political crisis that started in 2013 when the opposition failed to unite, and went for peace talks in Addis Ababa as groups, as was the case with the Tumaini Peace Initiative.

Today, there are still cries for opposition unity. Yet, the opposition couldn't come together – they still stand ununited, struggling against each other. Even with the March 6, 2026, Military and Political Cooperation Agreement between SPLM-IO and NAS, some are still posturing with empty rhetoric about this cooperation, and unity of oppositions.

While the country is disintegrating due to lack of good governance, war is everywhere, and citizens are suffering tremendously from poverty caused by bad leadership. The regime continues to commit atrocities on the local population and is violating R-ARCSS, which many still believe is holding.

Given all these opportunities, oppositions are still failing to take advantage of the current weakness of the regime, especially of the economic challenges the Country is facing. The challenges of internal political crisis within the regime leadership as well lack of morals within the security sectors to fight, yet the oppositions couldn't come together to establish a united front, and march to Juba, to bring the change the nation is yelling for.

Unity of the opposition is not impossible, and neither is marching to Juba to save the country – if only the opposition leaders have the will to put their long-standing differences, rivalries, and animosities behind them.

The opposition's unity and march to Juba to change the regime can be done. If they fail to do it themselves, then President Salva Kiir's regime will teach them an unforgettable lesson.

President Salva Kiir's regime will carry out policies of covert, quiet, and malicious incitement of political, ethnic, and selfish tendencies in oppositions – " to divide and win" as it has been doing

President Salva Kiir will do it to weaken and defeat the opposition, both politically and militarily. After succeeding in weakening us (oppositions), he'll force us to either surrender unwillingly to his leadership through a fake peace agreement or end up in exile forever – leaving the country to him and his associates.

We shouldn't underestimate President Salva Kiir; he has caused powerful individuals like General Pagan Amum, Kosti Manibe, General Oyai Deng, and General Thomas Cirilo – and now joined by General Nhiel Deng Nhiel – to be in exile for over a decade now.

If those mentioned individuals don't strive for unity and come together with other opposition fronts to march to Juba for regime change, they'll likely end up humiliated, forced to kneel before President Salva Kiir just to return to South Sudan as ordinary citizens, or remain in exile until death. President Salva Kiir is a dangerous person that "neither forgets nor forgives".

President Salva Kiir knows our individual weaknesses as the opposition, that is why he is unwilling to engage in any genuine peace negotiations with us, and will never engage in meaningful peace talks with us, the opposition fronts, as long as we remain ununited.

If we keep underestimating President Salva Kiir, thinking he can't do it – just a reminder that he's done many things we thought he wouldn't. Therefore, we either come together now or get defeated one by one.

I call on opposition fronts, especially our political leaders – that, enough is enough. Time for posturing and empty unity rhetoric is over. Let's have one opposition front under one leadership structure and march to Juba to change the regime, no matter the cost.

*By Major General John Sunday Martin - (SPLA-IO )*
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