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 نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009
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THE SOUTH SUDAN DEMOCRATIC FORUM:
SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE; JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN,
25th ▬ 27th APRIL 2009
CONFERENCE CLOSING STATEMENT BY BONA MALWAL
First of all, let me salute all of you, delegates to this second National Conference of The South Sudan Democratic Forum. You all know that our first National Conference was our founding Conference. However, the Sudan new Political Party Act now considers this as our founding Conference.
Our first Conference was held abroad, because, by then, the civil war in our part of the country, South Sudan, was still raging on. We could never have held our founding Conference in South Sudan, like we are doing here in Juba today, even if we wanted to do so. Our holding of the National Conference of this party, would not have been possible, not just because of the insecurity, caused to the entire South Sudan by the civil war, but clearly, those who were fighting to liberate us would not have allowed us to do so too.
There had developed, in South Sudan, a notion that persists, even up to now, that South Sudan is a closed territory, to those who said to us, that they were our brothers and sisters and that they took up arms to liberate us from our common enemy, the traditional rulers of Sudan from Northern Sudan. Our Northern rulers always thought they owned us in South Sudan. Now, unfortunately, our own would be liberators, think that they too, own us.
Colonialism itself was finally evicted from our country, Sudan, by the national struggle of all the people of Sudan. When colonialism handed over power to traditional leaders of Northern Sudan, colonialism and those national leaders of Northern Sudan, had not thought that South Sudan would object to the idea of being dominated by the North, to the point of taking up arms twice, as has happened. The traditional Northern Sudanese rulers of Sudan did not think that they would be challenged, not only by the South, but within Northern Sudan itself. We all know the results of the failures and of the political miscalculations by those who believe, so wrongly, that human beings can be controlled through the use of political power, or even by force of arms.
We have seen, or at least, those of you who are young, have heard about the political history of your country. There are so many of you, sitting in this Conference today, members of our very young party, a young party so young itself, only less than ten years old, who may not know that there have been at least 3 successful military coups in Sudan, since independence, on 1st January 1956: there was the Abboud military coup of November 1958, which lasted until October 1964; the Nimeiri military coup, from 25 May 1969, until April 1985. All of these past regimes have caused havoc to the political life of the entire country, over the last forty years and to the political relationship between the South and North in particular.
This statement before you, is not a critique of the various military regimes that ruled Sudan since independence. I need not waste our time, critiquing past regimes, let alone talking about the many failed ones. I give you the examples of the failures of dictatorship in Sudan, because that is the history of this type of a system the world over. This type of failure, will be the fate of anyone who believes that they can repress their societies by force.
You can be as ruthless with the ordinary people, as much as you want, the way we see it being tried with you, the people of South Sudan these days. But if you refuse to be frightened into silence, let alone be scared, as a party that believes in the right of the people of South Sudan to be free, then you will ensure freedom for yourselves and for all our people. Some of you could and may lose your lives in the process, given the ruthlessness that some want to introduce into the politics of South Sudan. Nevertheless, the success is guaranteed. Those who stand up to defend the truth, will finally succeed.
The wicked minded in our society call you Bona Malwal’s party. You are all aware, that my name is often maliciously substituted for your party. This is clearly a ploy to scare you and to make you think that I am an evil man that you ought not to associate with, let alone to follow. I know that you, more than anyone outside this party, would know my evilness, more than those outside this party. And yet, I am proud that you remain with me in this party. Internal evils are best fought from inside. This is the meaning of the political struggle that we must wage as South Sudan, with those who want to control our destiny and the destiny of our people. We must resist attempts to muzzle the voice of free expression, within the South Sudanese society. We have so far succeeded. But the challenge is real. We must not relent, even if that means a threat to a few of our lives.
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Re: نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009 (Re: Nazar Yousif)
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All of you must remember the saying of the famous American President, John F. Kennedy, who urged the political activists and thinkers of his country, exactly like you here today, in his only inaugural address to the American people: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. I am sure, we all know what our country needs from us.
I will never talk to you, as members of The South Sudan Democratic Forum, about gaining or losing power, because loss of power is part of the struggle. Gaining power is useless, unless one uses that power to serve the people.
Some of us have lost a bit of political power, as we have struggled for the cause of our people. As we struggled along for the cause of our people, some of us did not just lose political power many times over, we have lost our liberties many times too. Many times, some of us gave up political positions in government and repeatedly went into the enemy’s prisons, for a long time too, to uphold the cause of the people.
This is not the place to go into history at any length, but it is sometimes useful to remind ourselves, that the struggle of the people of South Sudan, was never one-sided, nor singlehanded. The history of the struggle of the people of South Sudan, is a long and glorious history. That history did not begin today, with one young movement. It must not end tomorrow, with the end of that single movement.
It is, however, important to remind our new young rulers, who believe that they control and have put the power and the right of the people of South Sudan into their individual pockets; it is necessary to remind them, that they will not be allowed to use the political power of the people of South Sudan, to marginalize and to repress the people. We want to tell them clearly and emphatically, that they are wrong. It will not work. We will not allow it to work.
WHERE AND HOW DO WE MOVE FROM HERE?
The Political ti####ble for the political work in Sudan, has been set forward for all of us, by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and by the National Constitution. But before getting into the details of the political work ahead of us, let me state clearly to you, as members of this party, what our political, constitutional and social responsibility to our people in South Sudan are:
First of all, the basis of founding ourselves into a political movement, or this party called The South Sudan Democratic Forum, has been to defend the right of the people of South Sudan to Self-determination. Since the 1947 Juba Conference, called by the British Colonial Authority, to influence the South Sudanese leaders at that Juba Conference, to agree to the annexation of South Sudan to Northern Sudan, to become one united country, the people of South Sudan have been looking for their right of Self-determination. The British decision of 1947 itself, was made under the influence of Egypt, a second Colonial partner of Britain over the Sudan.
All that the people of South Sudan have struggled for, since 1947, is their right of Self-determination. Since 1947, all the political leadership of South Sudan has struggled, at various stages, to up hold the principle of Self-determination for the South. Today, the South has got the CPA. We, The South Sudan Democratic Forum, support the CPA very strongly, because it contains that right of Self-determination for our people.
Personally, I am proud; to have been a part of that small history of South Sudan, that finally put the word Self-determination into the political history books of the Sudan, in black and white. At the 1965 Round-Table Conference in Khartoum, called by the interim government of the popular October 1964 revolution, which overthrew the Abboud regime, my very young party, like our party today, The Southern Front, without fear or favour, tabled the right of the people of South Sudan to Self-determination. By then, Self-determination, was a treasonable act to many Northern Sudanese politicians. Although no law of the land of Sudan prohibited the call for Self-determination, the Southern Front was persecuted for daring to call for the right of the South to Self-determination. Self-determination to Northern Sudan, was a code word for separation. The Southern Front persisted, inspite of all the threats and intimidation, not only to the political activity of our party, but to the life of its members, to defend the right of the people of South Sudan to Self-determination.
Self-determination for the entire Sudan, was part of the colonial authority’s constitutional development for a young Sudanese nation in the making, in the early 1950s, in preparation for the independence of our country. But the pervasive Egyptian influence over the politics of Northern Sudan, forced the British to abandon the
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Re: نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009 (Re: Nazar Yousif)
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Self-determination idea and to support the Egyptian- Northern Sudanese idea of voting for the independence of Sudan inside a parliament that was not elected for that purpose.
The 1953—1956 parliament, was elected, only to regulate and to supervise the transfer of the administrative power from Britain to a Sudanese Self-government and not the constitutional or political power. That process was called Sudanization of The Civil Service. The political power could be transferred from the colonial power to the Sudanese, only after the exercise of Self-determination, by all the people of Sudan, South and North. That is why the people of South Sudan still do not think, up to now, that they have voted for the independence of Sudan.
The Northern Sudanese politicians colluded with the Egyptians and forced the British, at the 1952 Cairo Conference, in which South Sudan was not represented, to agree that the Self-determination exercise, all over the country, could be substituted with a vote inside parliament, so that the country could become independent earlier. Why the hurry and the haste for such an important political step to be taken, is known only to the plotters of the idea at Cairo in 1952.
With all types of pressures brought to bear on them, even by the British, whom the South Sudanese trusted so much, the South Sudanese members of the 1953—56 parliament, sought to salvage something for their people, in the now moving forward political process in the country. The South Sudanese members of parliament asked for a federal arrangement with Northern Sudan, before they could vote for the independence proclamation, inside parliament. One has never really found any good evidence, why South Sudanese had such an overwhelming trust for the British, except, perhaps, the South Sudanese overwhelming mistrust for Northern Sudanese.
After the 19 December 1955 vote inside the parliament, independence was proclaimed. Northern Sudan took over power from colonialism and decided, without even meeting South Sudanese members of parliament, to whom they had promised federation, that federation was considered and found not to be suitable for Sudan.
The Takeover of power by the North, from colonialism, was complete and total. Of the nearly 1,000 civil service posts that had to be Sudanized from the British, not even one of the only four South Sudanese administrators, who were already known to be qualified, was given one of these jobs. To rub salt to the wound, all of these four qualified South Sudanese administrators, were placed as deputies, or even number threes, to their own Northern Sudanese colleagues and classmates in school.
When the CPA speaks of making unity attractive to South Sudanese, over an interim period of only six years, one wonders, whether those who made the provision at Naivashia, in Kenya, realized the tall order they were getting the country into, over such a short period of time. One may now ask, four years into the implementation of the CPA and with only less than two years left and given the behaviour of the two signatories of the CPA, towards one another, is there any hope, of making unity attractive to South Sudanese, before the year 2011?
The South Sudan Democratic Forum, is a party pledged to supporting the CPA to the end, because the CPA contains the right of the people of South Sudan to Self-determination. We uphold this right of our people to Self-determination, without prejudice to the outcome of that process. As a party, we are duty bound, to make our recommendation to the people of South Sudan, as to what we believe as a party, is in the best interest of the people of South Sudan. This is a responsibility that we cannot take lightly as a party. That is why our opponents in the South and the North, call us separatists.
However, we cannot decide in this Conference yet, what we should advocate to our people, because, deciding now, will undermind the implementation of the other long list of the political processes we must get into, before we make a public recommendation to the people of South Sudan, on how to vote in the referendum on Self-determination.
I call upon our Conference here, to authorize the National Executive Committee (NEC) of your party, whom you have just elected, together with the national leadership of your party, the formation of which you have also just endorsed, to meet, discuss and recommend to you, what you should say to your people, during the campaign for Self-determination.
On the other matters of the agenda, even though it is rather late in the day, because of my coming to your conference late, for which I apologize, I ask you to authorize the NEC to work on:
(i) The general parliamentary and presidential elections;
(ii) Our party’s position on the still undecided items of the CPA and the interim period, such as the result of the national census; and the border demarcation. These are matters best decided after researching and making the facts available. The central committee should make its
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Re: نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009 (Re: Nazar Yousif)
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public position on these matters, known to you and to the public as soon as possible.
On many of the above matters, your party has not been privy to what has gone on between the two parties, who are the signatories to the CPA, the National Congress Party (NCP) and The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). These two parties have committees between themselves, that discuss and decide matters, as if others do not exist. Those of you, who live in South Sudan, more than those of us, who live in Khartoum, know better, the arrogant manner in which people are ignored, as if they are not part of their country’s public life.
Anyway, it should be clear, to those who behave this way, that no one is capable of excluding anyone and that no one has the absolute power, no matter how much they pretend so. All powers have their own limitation. This one, in South Sudan, cannot be different. It is only a matter of time. Our people are not fools. They have suffered for so long and want to be careful about how they handle their future. We need to persevere and be patient with these power hungry new rulers of South Sudan.
Those who try to bully you, must know, that this party is a party of many competent professionals and young people. These young professionals want politics in their country to be conducted rightly. The future is yours and I know you will not be bullied into submission by anyone. Nor are you in politics and in public life for the same ulterior motives that others now use, to undermind the security and the well being of the people of South Sudan.
THE EMPENDING ELECTIONS
Our so called national liberators have already administered us for four years now. We all know the extend of their fairness and objectivity. Can we really rely on this group to run fair and free elections for themselves, as members of one movement, let alone being fair to others, including ourselves?
Just cast your minds back to their own party election process an internal affair, within one party. Can those who had cast their votes at their own party convention, in Malakal, Bentiu, Torit and many other places in South Sudan, only a few months ago, say that those elections were free and fair? And if the decision of the party electorate be put aside with impunity and those who were defeated in those party elections are permitted to continue to wield state power, while those who won the confidence of the party electorate are ignored, what chance does South Sudan have, for having a free and fair elections, under this system?
Because we know so well in advance, from the few examples we have given, we can say emphatically, that the elections that we are now embarking upon in South Sudan, will not be free. That is why your party has already appealed to the National Election Commission, to initiate the monitoring and the observation of the entire election process, from day one whatever the action on these elections on day one may be.
We are old enough, experienced enough, to know that elections are not stolen only at the voting booth. For a determined to steal group, elections are stolen long before the actual ballot papers are cast. In our case in South Sudan, because we have absolutely no confidence in our new rulers, we can see a situation, where stealing the result of the election will take place, long before the actual voting begins.
Just entrust this ruling group with the drawing up of the election constituencies and you will encounter a major fraud there; go to the registration of the voters and you can forget fairness of the electoral roll call; when you come to the nomination of candidates, you can expect a number of the leaders of this ruling party of South Sudan, being returned unopposed, in the electoral constituencies of their choice, because those who dare to contest against them, will be unfairly and illegally disqualified, if not implicated in non-existent crimes made up against them.
From here on, you can forget the remaining part of the election process. Who is going to guard the voting boosts, while the polling is going on; who is going to guard the ballot boxes at night, when these boxes are sealed with the ballot papers cast inside them, when the candidates and their agents are asleep?
I say these things to you, members of The South Sudan Democratic Forum, not really to discourage you from the elections, but to alert you, not to be fooled into thinking that without vigorous security and strict scrutiny, by all of us, the coming elections in South Sudan will be fair and free. Freedom and fairness, do not, unfortunately seem to be part of our new rulers’ values.
I know for a fact, that there are many of our people, South Sudanese generally, not just members of The South Sudan Democratic Forum, who hope that the election is one way of rectifying their disappointment with the current system. I want the general fair-mindedness of the South Sudanese, not to take the fairness of the coming general elections for granted, but for each one of us to be vigilant throughout the entire process.
If the National Election Commission responses to our appeal for the early observation and monitoring of the election, then we should scrutinize the electoral observers and monitors themselves. It is not beyond our ruling party, to sneak in friendly observers to them, who might turn a blind eye to the rigging process, when it takes place in their favour. If, however, the National Election Commission does not respond to our appeal and fails to constitute an early monitoring system, then we hold them squarely responsible for what may go wrong with the process.
Sometimes, many electoral observers, may be satisfied, that the election for a country like South Sudan, were free and fair, only because they were not accompanied by any violence. There is still the feeling, even abroad, that for a country that has just emerged from a long and bloody civil war, like South Sudan, any result in its first general elections, is fair and free, only by the mere fact that elections have taken place there at all.
Nor has the international community shown any fairness, up to now, whether in the way they shielded our new rulers into occupying more than eighty percent of the executive power in South Sudan or much more. We have seen the deafening silence by the world community, which is present in South Sudan today, in all sorts of forms and identity, have shown in the middle of the failure of our new ruling party, to administer our people. It just seems as if the world community feels that it is not important for the people of South Sudan, to have a government that cares about them and their welfare. It just seems that all that the world only cares about, is how our new rulers project their destructive power on our people.
As I have already mentioned elsewhere in this statement, elections are an important requirement of the CPA. We need to run them on time. But they must be free and fair elections as well. Otherwise, elections that are not free and fair, will not serve the purpose for which they are intended by the CPA.
The South Sudan Democratic Forum, is a party that totally supports the CPA, because that document contains the right of the people of South Sudan to Self-determination. Having founded ourselves as a political party, before the 2002 Machakos Protocol of the CPA, which wholly embodies the right of Self-determination, we could have called our party, a referendum party, when we founded it in 2001. But the referendum belongs to the people of South Sudan. It should not belong to a single political party. We cannot usurp the call of the South for Self-determination, because you know very well, we are not usurpers of anyone’s power or authority. Let alone the power and the authority of our people, like the power of the referendum.
Presidential and general parliamentary elections, which have now begun, are part of the CPA. So, we must carefully consider our role in them. I say carefully consider our role in the elections, because we cannot rule out foul play, by those who believe that the power in South Sudan is theirs. This very strange group, believe that they have bought the power of the people of South Sudan, by the barrel of the gun that we thought was the gun for the liberation of South Sudan; all the people of South Sudan and not just a group. If our new rulers want to exclude the people of South Sudan from their power, by the barrel of the gun, then, as a party, we must carefully consider what role we should play in the coming elections.
Election is a very involved process and we cannot, knowingly, allow any group to steal the election. If we knowingly permit the rigging of the elections to take place, this group will turn around and boast that they are a majority. Your NEC will follow the election process and will coordinate with other political parties of South Sudan. So that we clearly decide, whether or not, the election will be fair and free, for all the people of South Sudan.
If the recent history of South Sudan is any guide, we should be sure that the announcement of the election date, is not the last word from our rulers of South Sudan. We are clear in our minds, that they do not want elections to take place, even though they say that they will sweep the elections in the whole Sudan, not only in the South, because they are the only proponents of the “New Sudan” agenda. They usurp the power of South Sudan, granted to the people of South Sudan by the CPA and use it to pursue their “New Sudan agenda”.
The reason why this ruling party of South Sudan does not want the election to take place is because, they cannot defend their utter failure before the people of South Sudan in an election campaign. It cannot be the members of the South Sudan Democratic Forum alone, who see the utter failure that has afflicted the people of South Sudan under the ruling group in South Sudan.
Unless the coming elections are stolen in South Sudan, we do not see how a group that has failed to deliver any peace dividend to the people of South Sudan, can boast about winning an election, through the support of the people they have failed, so miserably to serve. Unless they have a plan to steal the elections from the people.
The people of South Sudan, cannot fail to notice the stark failure that has afflicted them under this group. How then, can the people of South Sudan be expected to reward such a miserable failure, unless someone thinks that the people of South Sudan are a bunch of idiots? The boasting of this group, inspite of its failure, tells us that we must all watch the elections process very carefully indeed.
Your party has joined hands with the other political groups in the country, who are calling for the invitation to the national and international election observers and monitors, to be invited to observe and monitor the process, from its very early stages. We all know, by long experience, that elections are not stolen only at the polling stations, but long before. This is part of our review of the elections process as a party. Your party will keep you informed of any development in this and of the results of its review of the entire elections process.
By the- way, if the ruling group in South Sudan has its way, we may not see the running of the general elections in the Sudan on the date announced, after all. Already, the group is talking of conditions under which it may, or may not go far elections. This is very typical of this group.
The running of the general elections is one of the most crucial aspects of the CPA and should never be conditioned on any other matter. Not even other matters in the CPA itself. We know that the rulers of South Sudan today, have over stepped all the norms of political behaviour. Only what they say, they think is right; must be right. They even dare to attempt to change the priorities of the CPA, when those have been set by dates and ti####ble, within the agreement itself.
Now, our new rulers of South Sudan, say that they will only go for elections, if such matters, as the result of the national population census are decided to their satisfaction; the border demarcation; and the full implementation of the Abyei Protocol are first completed. All these matters are important. We all care about them, but the running of the general elections, all over our country, cannot and must not depend on these things, what so ever.
If the running of the general elections, stipulated in the CPA, were to depend on the issues stated above, then the CPA would not have failed to condition the running of the elections on the full implementation of those things. All that the CPA says, is that these steps be taken. They would facilitate the running of the elections, somehow, but not impeding the running of the elections, to the extend that a ruling party of South Sudan, makes it a condition for the conduct of the elections all over the country. It is the duty of politicians; ruling politicians at that, to find peaceful solutions to the difficult problems that confront them, while in power, rather than mongering war with their partners in government, all the time.
What would become a condition of the running of the general elections, is the conduct of the right of the people of South Sudan to Self-determination. This step comes in the year 2011, as we all know. This ti####bling was done this way, so that the two ruling parties can use the time before the referendum in 2011, to cooperate amongst themselves, to make unity attractive to the people of South Sudan.
It would be a folly, if the leaders of South Sudan, were to make the running of the general elections conditioned on anything else, whatever the importance of that something else is. For, if the leaders of South Sudan now want to avoid the running of the general elections all over the country, no matter what good reasons they may give for this, how can they then deny others, later on, from demanding that the conduct of the referendum on Self-determination in South Sudan, be postponed indefinitely, because the country needs more time to make unity attractive to the people of South Sudan?
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Re: نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009 (Re: Nazar Yousif)
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As you know, as members of this party, we have a clear interest, in what goes on anywhere in Sudan. Not just what goes on in South Sudan. But our political interest, is clearly more in South Sudan. We support the political process in South Sudan, because it should finally lead to Self-determination for our people.
However, we do not and cannot isolate ourselves from the national Sudanese political process. That is why we are also a party in the Government of National Unity (GONU).
As broadly stated on the preceding paragraphs of this statement, we have some very clear interests, as South Sudanese, that we need to preserve, as part of the national political process of Sudan as a country.
THE NEED TO SUPPORT THE SUDANESE POLITICAL SYSTEM:
There has recently been some controversy, caused by the ruling party of South Sudan, over the recent national events, related to the International Criminal Court (ICC), indictment of the President of the Republic, over the situation in Darfur. Our new rulers of South Sudan, seem to suggest that South Sudan stands on the fence and watch, while these events take place. Sometimes, they suggest a mediation role for themselves, between the ICC and the Government of National Unity (GoNU) of Sudan, of which they are the second in command.
We support President Omer Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir, as the President of our Republic, because he is the man who made it possible for the CPA to become law. The CPA was negotiated in Naivasha, Kenya, as a peace agreement. It was then signed as an agreement between the NCP and The SPLM. It was not law at that point. If President Al Bashir decided, as many Northern Sudanese preached at that time, that the CPA, as a negotiated agreement, had given too much to South Sudan, he could have refused to sign it into law. One does not know where South Sudan would be today, in spite of the so much we hear, that Al Bashir is an individual and can go to The Hague and the CPA will survive!
As a party, we do not believe that the CPA can survive without Al Bashir. For one thing, replacing Al Bashir, as a result of a criminal indictment by the ICC, means that some foreign element has secured for itself, a role in how a Sudanese head of state is replaced. That foreign element, the ICC, will have, indeed, become part, of the most important aspect of the Sudanese political process. We must reject such notions, as South Sudan Democratic Forum.
It should be clear in our mind, that if President Al Bashir is no longer the head of the Sudanese State, then, we cannot guarantee that the CPA will remain as a binding legal document. And binding on whom?
Because President Al Bashir is the head of State today, his entire party, the National Congress party (NCP) and those members of the Sudanese State with the President, have committed themselves and support the CPA. If President Al Bashir was not the head of the Sudanese State tomorrow, then where do we have the power to compel others, within our state, to abide by a law signed by someone, we have now rendered a criminal by our own behaviour?
It is very difficult, to understand where those who think they wield the power in South Sudan, think they derive their power from. We know that it is in the interest of those power mongers of South Sudan, to behave normally and to cooperate normally, with their allies in the National Congress Party of President Al Bashir. This way, the new ruling party of South Sudan, can ensure that they continue to wield power in the South.
The reason they wield power over the people of South Sudan, in the arrogant way they do, is the fact that President Al Bashir’s NCP party and the International Community, gave the new rulers of the South, the absolute power over South Sudan, under the CPA. If this group continues to refuse to cooperate with their own allies in Northern Sudan, The NCP, not to speak of the rest of the political society of South Sudan, we can imagine that the situation in South Sudan will be dire, in not so distant a future.
It is incredible to watch, how a group, endowed with the privilege, to peacefully manage the affairs of their community, will so utterly fail to do that and then waste the time of everybody, scare mongering with war tactics. How many South Sudanese out there, who have not yet seen the benefit of the luscious peace agreement called the CPA, who are prepared at this stage, to go to war again with Northern Sudan, because the rulers of South Sudan have failed them so miserably?
THE SOUTH—SOUTH DIALOQUE
We, in the South Sudan Democratic Forum, have been calling for a proper dialogue, between all the political movements and leadership of South Sudan. Including the ruling party of South Sudan. But, since the South—South dialogue at Oxford, United Kingdom, of 2003, our efforts to have another round of a genuine South-South dialogue, have been frustrated, by those who believe that they alone are the power over South Sudan. They refuse to recognize others and insist that only their way should be followed. But what is their way? If I may ask you! Is their way the pursuit of the illusive “New Sudan” agenda, or is their way the squandering of the valuable resources of the people of South Sudan?
We will continue to appeal to the other parties of South Sudan, to join us, in evolving a South Sudanese consensus, on the future of South Sudan. We see no other way forward. Your party will continue to seek cooperation, even with those who think the power of South Sudan is theirs alone, to co-operate with us, in charting the future of South Sudan.
NOT IN SELF-DEFENSE
Many of you, if not all of you, as delegates to this Conference, may already know, that those who do not want to speak out, in the interest and for the cause of our people, have been targeting me as a person. They accuse me of having been bought by someone or another, from Northern Sudan. You all, of course, know the reasons why these accusations are labeled at me. The reason is, because I have refused to accept that the interest of the people of South Sudan, including many members of their own movement, should only depend on the whims of their small group. I raise this issue, not because I am bothered in anyway, by these accusations. I raise the issue, because I want you to know what the intention of these accusations is. It is the only best deflection of the major failure of this group.
As for myself, my political career has not depended on the group that has only just emerged and which seems to feel that South Sudan only started with them. What I have done, to promote and defend the cause of the people of South Sudan, will not be erased by the accusations against me, by these new rulers of South Sudan. So, I need not bother to defend myself before you. Especially, since you and I are members of this party, united by how we see the cause of our people in South Sudan.
I recognize that I am not the only individual targeted. I may be the only one that is being shown to the public of South Sudan, for not towing the line our new rulers want all of us to tow. Personally, I am not perturbed, even a bit, by this political targeting. I speak out publicly before you today, because if I continue to keep quiet and all others follow my silence, can you just imagine what this new ruling group will do with South Sudan?
It does not look to me, to be such a good thing, for a group, to fail to lead the country, squander its resources and then turn around and point fingers, to those they say are bought. I am not an accountant, but I know that the South Sudan is so well endowed with resources, under the regime of our new rulers, that our people ought to be feasting on the peace dividends by now, four years after this group took power over us. Even if they are right to say that they liberated us, are we not entitled, as a South Sudan society, to share with them, in the dividends of peace?
The figures of what has been squandered from the people of South Sudan are staggering. It is impossible to ignore asking questions about where these huge sums of money have gone, especially if you believe them. And there is no reason not to believe the figures. I do believe these figures.
Unfortunately, our new rulers have only relied on the fifty percent of the oil revenue, accruing to Sudan from the oil wells of South Sudan. The figures for this revenue are known and can be made public. What is not known at all, at least not in public, is where the money has gone. There is no accountability to anyone; no public records. Can you tell me, where to ask for this public accountability, since there are no public institutions to question on these follies?
No, if there are going to be elections, as we are now told that we are already in that electoral process, then now is the time to ask the hard questions. We will not get the answers. We know that. But at least our people will know that we are not afraid to ask these hard questions. It will be up to the people of South Sudan, to decide to continue to reward the clear failure of these rulers of South Sudan, with more power to them at the general elections.
I have already said enough to you, in this statement, about what to do, to ensure that the coming elections are not stolen from our people. I need not say more.
On the question of me, as Bona Malwal and you as my party, being bought by the North, I want to tell you that this is mainly so, because our ruling group wants to create the impression in the country, that everybody in South Sudan follows their orders. That only those who are bought, like myself, contradicts them. I know of no body out there, so generous to pay for us, to say things for the cause of the people of South Sudan, the way we do. If there is such a person, then that is a true friend of the people of South Sudan and we should be grateful to them, for enabling us to speak up against the terrible mess that is being caused to the well-being of the people of South Sudan.
As part of mudslinging at me and you as a party, there have been questions raised about where we get our funding for our party activities, such as our conference here. This is a legitimate question, that should be raised to all the political parties.
My answer to this question is simple and clear. If the group ruling South Sudan want to publish their party accounts, to tell us where they obtain the money from which they maintain the lavish life styles of their leaders and offices around the world, we would be prepared to publish our very modest party accounts as well. For now, we will only consider these questions as mere impolite and irresponsible accusations.
I told you at the beginning of this statement, that this is our second conference, since we founded ourselves into a party. It is our only major political activity since we returned from exile. There are at least 500 of you sitting before me in this hall. You have been preparing for this conference for two years now. The list of your membership was published in the national newspapers only recently, in preparation for this conference. If the party membership at large, who pay their party membership dues regularly and 500 strong conference members before me here, are incapable of holding one single national party conference like this one, then the accusation is not just an insult to you, it is in fact a revelation, that the new rulers of South Sudan fund their lavish party activities from illegitimate sources. We are as capable of scrutinizing others, as they are scrutinizing us. Show us your financial sources and we will be ready and happy to show you ours. Please do not try to play a policeman, even on matters you may come to regret.
We suspect that the funding accusation on us and on the other political parties of South Sudan, is based on the most incredible notion, by the new ruling group in South Sudan, that their party and themselves, are entitled to reward themselves and their party, from the public coffers of South Sudan. Because they have liberated the South. They also boast of the fact that they are funded by their big friends around the world. They forget, as they do about everything else, that it is against the new Sudan political party law, to accept funds from foreign sources.
Yes, I contradict our new rulers, but this is not because I am bought. It is because their behaviour and character, is so unusual, so incorrigible, so anti-South Sudanese character, that if we do not contradict them, this horrendous behaviour will become established as a way of life for the South Sudanese society.
I have always said publicly, that with the people of South Sudan on their way to exercising their right of Self-determination; and with so many in the country, especially in Northern Sudan, suspecting that the South is likely to vote to separate from the north, rather than vote for unity, it becomes so incumbent on the leadership of South Sudan, whoever that leadership may be, to work hard on establishing good relationship with Northern Sudan now, during the interim period. We can only establish good relationship with Northern Sudan, by co-operating with whoever in the North, is in charge of the political and public affairs of Northern Sudan.
At this moment, the body in charge of the affairs of Northern Sudan, is the National Congress party, (NCP). The National Congress Party, so happens to be the government of the day, that signed the peace agreement with our new rulers in South Sudan. That is why they dominate the power in South Sudan, the way they do today.
In fact, we in The South Sudan Democratic Forum, have a clear grudge against the National Congress Party (NCP), for signing away the power of South Sudan, all of it to our new rulers in South Sudan today. But we do not carry our grudge against the NCP on our sleeves, because of what we have gained in the CPA, as the South.
Without the NCP signing the CPA, the South would not be where it is today. It is in our best interest, as a political party of South Sudan, to co-operate with the NCP, so that our people can exercise their right of Self-determination in 2011. Co-operating with the NCP is the guarantee for Self-determination being exercised by the people of South Sudan in 2011.
By-the-way, without the CPA and the referendum on Self-determination that it guarantees for the people of South Sudan, we would never have allowed the new rulers of South Sudan to mess up things for us, the way they have done, while we have remained in such a long silence. It has appeared to Northern Sudan and too much of the world, that we are so fearful of our new rulers, that we have allowed them to bully us. The world should know, that because of our support and respect for the CPA, that guarantees Self-determination for all of us, we have taken so much that is wrong from our new rulers. We accept that there is so much that is wrong and unacceptable going on in South Sudan today. But we have so far kept the balance, between silence, to give a chance to a very young system of government in South Sudan to take some root, and rocking the boat on these young and very inexperienced ruling crowd of South Sudan.
Nations are only built through cooperating with partners and others and not by war mongering all the time, as we see now. Nor is it usual, in any nation building, to go blatantly in public, announcing oneself as an agent of a foreign power, the way we see it in South Sudan today.
If South Sudanese should vote for their separate independent state in 2011, then it will be more incumbent on the South to seek more cooperation with Northern Sudan. Northern Sudan will become the most important neighbour of South Sudan. The South will have the longest and the most stretched borders with Northern Sudan. These borders are impossible to police, secure and safeguard, in the state of hostility towards the North, that the present new rulers of South Sudan are pursuing. This is a political folly that is bound to hurt the South, in both the short and the long run. If the South is not already hurting! It is not responsible, for leaders to behave the way we see our new rulers behave towards the North.
War heroism is earned on the war battle field, not on the corridors of power and politics. Fortunately, for both the South and the North, no one was a winner of the terrible war that produced the CPA for us; no one is a vanquished. We have achieved the CPA through negotiations between us. We should cooperate to complete the implementation of the CPA, during the remaining time of the interim period.
We should all urge our new rulers in South Sudan, to refrain from being a tool in the hands of those who want to remove the NCP from power, through a change of regime. That will not be in the political interest of South Sudan.
We only have the NCP as our political ally and partner to the CPA. One does not, knowingly overthrow one’s own ally, in order to look for a new partner that one does not already have, or even know.
While we are on the issue of relations with Northern Sudan, we should urge our new rulers in South Sudan, to now concentrate their efforts, material and otherwise; their energies and their time, on building the image of the people of South Sudan, which they have so terribly tarnished, during the four years they, have been in power over our people.
The people of the Nuba Mountains are pursuing there political interest very well, according to the CPA. Thank God for that. The same thing is the case with the people of Southern Blue Nile. Both of these territories, pursued the political interest of their people, through joining hands with The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), in the South. The behaviour of their leaders indicate that they know what they wanted for their people. We salute them for that.
As for our new rulers in South Sudan, the only words they seem to have memorized so well, so far, are the two words: “we know”. For four years, the only answer to the people of South Sudan, who have been hurting so much, during the last four years, has been: “we know”. We appeal to the new rulers of South Sudan, to please substitute “we know”, with: “let us join hands to try together”, to move the South forward.
One of the first realistic changes the ruling group of South Sudan should adopt and we are in no way qualified to advise them, since “they know everything,” is to return to the pursuit of the interest of the people of South Sudan. The war of liberation, which gave the new rulers of South Sudan, the power over the people of South Sudan, broke out as a war of liberation for South Sudan, in May 1983. The “New Sudan” slogan, is a fiction that was coiled, according to the leadership of the new rulers of South Sudan, to deceive the enemy in the North. The slogan was to cloak the real intention of the liberation of South Sudan. Now that the war of liberation of South Sudan only ended up in the CPA, as a peace agreement, let us pursue the interest of South Sudan, under the CPA and not try to meddle in the internal affairs of the other struggling groups elsewhere in Sudan.
We can best help our other marginalized groups in Sudan, by behaving correctly, as part of the Government of National Unity (GONU), rather than masquerading as leaders of these marginalized groups. We will not be effective over the resolution of the Darfur conflict, for instance, unless we act sincerely, as part of the GONU, rather than as independent peace brokers over Darfur.
It is an utter waste of the resources of South Sudan, without any results to show for it, when we meddle in the affairs of Darfur, the way we have so far done. We do not know, how the new rulers of South Sudan read it, but we see it so clearly, that the groups in Darfur, even those staying so long in Juba, being hosted by the rulers there, cannot see South Sudan, being a mediator for the resolution of their cause, which has gained so much more publicity internationally, than South Sudan has ever attained, during its much longer war of liberation, that has taken so many millions of South Sudanese lives, than the war in Darfur.
We can see that the Darfur groups look to the efforts of the ruling new group in South Sudan, to play a role in Darfur, with utter contempt and disdain. The new rulers of South Sudan, should stop wasting resources and effort over Darfur. These resources can better be deployed elsewhere in South Sudan.
Because the ruling party of South Sudan, only listens to their own voices and not to any other voice, because they dream they know it all, they do not follow what other people say. Perhaps our new rulers of South Sudan, should consider a recent remark by the celebrated veteran Northern Sudanese politician, Dr. Hassan Abdallah Al Turabi. Interviewed by the International Arabic Television network- Al jeezira, Dr. Al Turabi said that he had told the new American Special Envoy, who was visiting Sudan at that time, that the solution to the conflict in Darfur, should be equated, exactly with what the CPA has given to South Sudan. Is that how the new rulers of South Sudan are counseling their Darfur guests in Juba?
At South Sudan Democratic Forum, we are committed to the well established norms of political conduct and behaviour. It is on this basis, that we cooperate with other political parties of Sudan, both South and North. Those who have grandous dreams, but have very little to show, as to how they intend to realize those dreams, can only defend their failures by accusing us and others. Let them go on with accusations. I am satisfied that as committed members of a party that stands tall, and strong, for the cause of South Sudan, I know you will never be scared or diverted from that cause by anyone.
What we should always remember, is that it is not beyond the current rulers of South Sudan, to go criminal. We have seen it happening with the misuse of the resources of the people of South Sudan already. It can only be a foolhardy person, who can believe that there is a limit to what such a group can do. But as creatures of God, we can only protect ourselves so much, from such machinations. Anything else, is left to the hands of God. Nor should we allow ourselves to be scared by anyone, into not speaking the truth, even at the risk of our own lives.
We have seen, how our new rulers in South Sudan, set about deceiving everybody. They tell us in the South, that they are not able to provide services for the people, because their partner, the NCP, has failed to provide the 50 percent share of the South from the oil revenue. Do we not know that the oil revenues are in fact flowing to the South regularly? Only that we do not know how it is used, in the South, because there is no transparency and there is no public accountability system in place to check the fact against.
Many other times, Northern Sudanese are told, that if they do not do things the way our new rulers of South Sudan want, then they, our new rulers, will let the South vote for separation, as if these rulers are the ones who control the minds of the South Sudanese, commanding them at whims, how to vote. This type of deception, of course, boomerangs on its users. If Northern Sudan has given up the unity with the South, why would it want to go on developing South Sudan, especially if the leadership of South Sudan gives the impression, that separation of the South from the North, is a threat to the North?
It is a well known fact, that deception does not go too far and if it is repeated with the kind of shallowness, with which it is used by the new rulers in South Sudan, then we have seen the results of that in South Sudan already.
Having spoken so much about the way the South has been ruled over the last four years and the problems that we are likely to encounter for the remaining period of the implementation of the CPA, it would be a major shortcoming, indeed a major failure on my part, not to acknowledge and appreciate those who made all what we are messing up possible for South Sudan. I want, therefore, to sincerely and wholeheartedly acknowledge the heroic role of The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in what the South has achieved. It is the SPLA, as the army of South Sudan, like their civilian population in South Sudan, that made the CPA and what it offers to the people of South Sudan possible. The SPLA have not been enjoying the fruits of the CPA, as the standing army of South Sudan, charged with safeguarding this precious agreement. We urge the SPLA, to ensure that South Sudan gets to the promised date of 2011, to exercise their right of Self-determination. This is the greatest reward to the SPLA, for the long years of liberation of South Sudan, that it has endured.
We also want to salute all the fallen heroes of the SPLA, in the struggle for the liberation of South Sudan. This was a just war, for the people of South Sudan, by any measure. God Almighty, always just and fair, will rest the souls of all our fallen heroes in eternal peace. The memory of the fallen heroes of South Sudan, are enshrined in the eternal memory of the living and the dead of South Sudan. I bow my head before you, for them.
Finally, but by no means the least, let me say something very personal about my good brother and friend, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, The First Vice President of our Republic and President of the Government of Southern Sudan. I know that there are those who have been telling him regular lies and made up stories about me. I know that he is being told, that I am one of his greatest enemies and that I am working day and night, to overthrow him and to take over the Government of Southern Sudan myself. My predisposition, is to think that Salva Kiir Mayardit, would see through these stories and would not believe them. For a very long time, more than four years in fact, I have left it at that. But since this is politics and anything ridiculous in politics is possible, I want to assure my good country cousin, Salva Kiir Mayardit, that under no circumstances will I ever compete with him for the leadership of South Sudan, now or any other time in the future.
Yes, the coming elections in South Sudan, allow for a Presidential contest, between Salva Kiir Mayardit, as the current leader of the SPLM and anyone else, if the SPLM allows Salva to run as the official party flag bearer. We hear a lot that says other things.
Since I am not a member of Salva Kiir Mayardit’s party, nothing prevents me from running against him on your ticket, as The South Sudan Democratic Forum, if you were to give me that chance and I accept. But this is not the case. So, let me declare it before you, as delegates of this party, at your National Conference, here today, so close to the elections, that I will not run against Salva Kiir Mayardit, for any office, including the one he currently occupies, The President of The Government of South Sudan.
Yes, I have been unhappy, like most South Sudanese out there today, of the many failures in the administration of South Sudan, under Salva Kiir Mayardit’s leadership. As head of that administration, Salva Kiir Mayardit knows he is responsible for what has gone wrong. But, I cannot join those who may wish to dethrone him for those failures. It would be too disloyal, as to be dishonorable, for me to run against Salva Kiir Mayardit, who hails from my own district, Gogarial. He has been very close to me in real life.
One of my greatest wish in life, when Salva Kiir Mayardit assumed the leadership of South Sudan by providence, was to be of help to Salva, as he took over the very difficult task of leading South Sudan, at such a difficult time. But Salva chose to work exclusively with his current ruling SPLM group. Seeing the current mess South Sudan is in, I am only grateful that my brother Salva Kiir Mayardit, has so kindly spared me the ordeal of a collective blame, if I was ever part of this debacle, called The Government of Southern Sudan. It is enough that I have decided to publicly voice my personal criticism of what has gone wrong under Kiir’s leadership.
If the South Sudan Democratic Forum has any idea of putting a candidate against Salva Kiir Mayardit, the party will have to look elsewhere, for a candidate besides me. This is Sudan; no one should deny another their political ambition.
I thank you so much, my dear delegates to the Second Conference of The South Sudan Democratic Forum, for listening to me, at this closing hours of our very successful Conference. I wish you all well, in your personal political endeavours, in this very active political season coming up.
May God Bless You All and May God Bless South Sudan.
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Re: نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009 (Re: Nazar Yousif)
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جاء خطاب بونا ملوال فى 34 صفحة
وأبرز ما جاء فيه دعمه للرئيس البشير
رافضا أن ذهاب البشير الى المحكمة كفرد
لن يؤثر على اتفاقية السلام الشامل قائلا
بالحرف الواحد اذا ذهب البشير لن تكون اتفاقية
السلام قانونية أو ملزمة ، لذا علينا رفض فكرة محاكمته.Quote: As a party, we do not believe that the CPA can survive without Al Bashir. For one thing, replacing Al Bashir, as a result of a criminal indictment by the ICC, means that some foreign element has secured for itself, a role in how a Sudanese head of state is replaced. That foreign element, the ICC, will have, indeed, become part, of the most important aspect of the Sudanese political process. We must reject such notions, as South Sudan Democratic Forum.
It should be clear in our mind, that if President Al Bashir is no longer the head of the Sudanese State, then, we cannot guarantee that the CPA will remain as a binding legal document. And binding on whom? |
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Re: نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009 (Re: Nazar Yousif)
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Quote: THE EMPENDING ELECTIONS
Our so called national liberators have already administered us for four years now. We all know the extend of their fairness and objectivity. Can we really rely on this group to run fair and free elections for themselves, as members of one movement, let alone being fair to others, including ourselves? |
عبر بونا ملوال عن قلقه تجاه نزاهة الانتخابات القادمةوألمح
الى " المحررين" ويعنى الحركة الشعبية والتى حكمت لأربع سنوات .
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Re: نص خطاب بونا ملوال فى ختام مؤتمر الجبهة الديمقراطية جوبا 27 أبريل 2009 (Re: Nazar Yousif)
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الحركة الشعبية ترفض انتقادات بونا ملوال
بتاريخ : الأربعاء 29-04-2009
أجراس الحرية
رفض المتحدث الرسمي باسم الحركة الشعبية ين ماثيو، الانتقادات التي وجهتها قيادات بحزب المنبر الديمقراطي لجنوب السودان لحكومة الجنوب، و وصفت فيها حكومة الجنوب بالفاشلة إدارياً. وقال ماثيو في حديث لـ(مرايا اف ام) إن أي أخطاء أو انجازات لحكومة الجنوب يجب أن تحسب لكافة الأحزاب التي تشكل الحكومة الائتلافية في الجنوب، والتي يشارك فيها المنبر الديمقراطي، واصفا تلك التصريحات بالضبابية. وكان القيادي بالمنبر الديمقراطي لجنوب السودان بونا ملوال وجه انتقادات لحكومة الجنوب
و وصفها بالفاشلة إداريا في الكثير من الجوانب.
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Nazar Yousif
بدر الدين اسحاق احمد
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست