A Point of No Return

I have lived with and among the Southern Sudanese and I continue to be fascinated by their yearning for an independent Southern Sudan. It is not independence by its very nature that amazes me; it is the quest for it. Independence for Southern Sudanese is the only uniting factor even with great differences in life, politics, and; in views on what shape the Southern Sudan country should take. But, I also understand that there are legitimates rifts within the populace that must never be ignored. These apertures are sometimes incorrectly reported in many works of journalism as deeply rooted in tribal differences. This region hosts the greatest ever ethnic diversity than one can name in the world. Sure, tribal division is prominent and is naturally expected, unless you are an extreme optimist, in places where tribal affiliations are social capital. To live a tribal life here is to live within the reality of Southern Sudan. But this is a reality that bothers me so much so many times. It makes me question the long term viability of the Southern union—the country of South Sudan. There is something fundamentally wrong with us—the Southern Sudanese that needs serious tackling, if we are to stay independent. A testament to these problems can be explained using the following examples. Currently, there has been ongoing disagreement within the Eastern Equatoria and Lake States. I recently read the divide between the governor and the State Legislative Assembly (SLA) of the State has deepened too big that the SLA is now suspended indefinitely. I heard of a rift among the state MPs and the governor of the Lake State—Sudantribune News September 25, 2008 reports that the honorables became unruly to the point of savagely beating each other inside the parliament. Besides, about few months back, there were reports of intertribal killings within Warrap State. Also, presence of tribal conflict can never be understood fully anywhere else then in Jonglei States. The rest of the States have their own problems which, if written about, would filled many more pages. I put all these challenges to my colleague, Levy, at the Volunteer for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA) to know his views on the tribal problems plaguing the Southern Sudan and on the much anticipated referendum in 2011. He confidently told me “the separation is eminent”. “These rifts in the South are being fueled by the enemy” he continued. My colleague, Levy, trivialized these challenges as internal affairs, which would be solved once a complete independence is obtained. He illustrated the situation as this. What goes on in Southern Sudan is like a circumstance where a person is being chase and is running away from a lion. And on his way escaping for his deal life, he ran into a snake. When caught in such conditions, he would rather deal with snake a head of him then daring to go back to the lion that is chasing him. This characterizes southern Sudanese at the moment. They feel that the oppression by the northern Sudanese is far worst than the tribal divisions in the south. I am more and more convinced that Southern Sudan is a country in the waiting. Quest for independence, for Southern Sudanese, has reached a point of no return. Its fundamentals are so strong such that no forces of any kind will stop it from happening sometimes in 2011.