Cpt. Mabior Garang’s opinion on Security arrangements

By Cpt. Mabior Garang

Apart from Ruweng and Pibor, the unified force has not been trained and cannot possibly be trained and deployed in three (3) days. The RPF cannot be deployed in three (3) days; it is a logistical impossibility. President Salva has made an astute political maneuver and made it look to the public like he has compromised when he has not. This has caused a situation in which the government will be formed by force, with the forces not unified. This essentially means returning to the status quo of July 2016, which ended in the infamous J1 dogfight. If the SPLM/SPLA (IO) and the regime of President Salva Kiir fail to resolve the outstanding issues in the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-GoNU), we should only expect one outcome – and we have been here before.

If the government is formed without proper security arrangements and without lifting the state of emergency, it means we shall have a unity government by name, but in essence we will have surrendered to the heartbreaking status quo. A repeat of 2016 is happening right before our eyes. We are rushing to form the government in ever more unscientific ways. Those who have gone to school and taken social studies understand that there are three branches of government – Executive, Legislative, and Judicial – which are co-equal. In the case of our peace process, what will be the constitution for the new regime? There will be none! The Parliament should be reconstituted and the Transitional Constitution Amended to incorporate the Agreement. It is on the basis of this constitution that the cabinet shall be sworn in. If this is not done then what constitution will the cabinet be swearing to uphold?

It’s a mischief

If we are serious about peace, then we would not be asked to compromise our security. The Security Arrangements are not about the security of Dr. Riek Machar, it is about security in the country. It is about demilitarization of Juba, major towns and other public spaces, disarmament, unification of forces and more. This Security Arrangements cannot be compromised; it is what the entire Agreement hinges on. To pressure the SPLM/SPLA (IO) to form a government prematurely under the pretext of compromise will only embolden the regime to continue violating the negotiated settlement and ultimately abrogate it. This is not the time to speak of compromise; that was done in Addis Ababa. People compromise during negotiations, not implementation. The negotiations ended and the Agreement was signed. This is the time to honor what was signed. To speak of compromising now and accepting the regime’s return to legality as such is a devastating blow to the peace process and it is an indirect reppeal of the Agreement.

Instead of rewarding the genocidal regime in Juba – refer to the African Union (AU) Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan – by legitimizing the continuation of the barbaric status quo in the country, peace loving people of the world should call evil by its name and use drastic measures to persuade the regime to see sense. If the current pressure the regime is under had been applied eight (8) months ago, we might have seen progress. The anti-people regime in Juba only knows one language, pressure. The little progress we have made in the last week has not been a compromise but it was through pressure from various angles including “People Power”. If the regime is allowed to get away with these political gimmicks, it is really tantamount to a set up – again.

We must remain vigilant in these uncertain times in our history and not lose sight of the fact that we are still in the early stages of the peace process. We have achieved little to nothing in what was to be an eight (8) month pre-interim period, which was extended twice. It is in the context of these contradictions that the world is forcing the SPLM/SPLA (IO) to form a government to launch the interim period of the peace process. There is even more to be done during the interim period with regards to radical reforms, culminating in elections for the first time in the history of our nascent Republic. The success of the peace process is fixed to the implementation of the negotiated settlement. We shall arrive at peace at the end of the peace process, not at its beginning.