The committee formed by the national government to collect public views about the controversy surrounding the naming of the newly built bridge over the Jur River in Western Bahr el Ghazal State on Thursday met a group of youth from Jur River County.
Last month, tension gripped Wau when a group of Luo youth presented a petition to the state authorities rejecting the name Clement Mboro Bridge resulting in some of their leaders being arrested.
The national government then formed a committee comprised of five members and headed by the deputy speaker of the national parliament, Kornelio Kon Ngu, to go to the state and meet officials, youth, traditional leaders, and state parliamentarians among others, and sound them out and understand the genesis of the controversy.
In 2020, the Chinese government offered a bridge to the government of South Sudan and agreed to be constructed on Jur River with the name Jur River Bridge.
In 2020, the Chinese government offered to build a bridge in South Sudan and the government agreed that they constructed a new bridge over the Jur River in Wau.
In March 2021, China Tianyuan Construction Group Company Limited together with China Aid for Shared Future started the construction of the new bridge which was referred to as Jur River Bridge in the cooperation agreement and subsequent documents between the two governments.
However, one year after construction works commenced, the national council of ministers unanimously endorsed a new name, Clement Mboro Bridge, in honor of a veteran South Sudanese politician who hailed from Wau County in Western Bahr el Ghazal State.
Before that, the youth body from Jur River County wrote a petition letter to the state Governor Sarah Cleto Rial accusing her of being behind the changing the bridge’s name and immediately asking her to revoke her proposal presented to the council of ministers in Juba.
This week, the committee has been meeting the state executive, parliamentarians, and local chiefs from Jur River County.
On Thursday, the committee met with a group of Luo youth to hear why they are rejecting the name Clement Mboro Bridge.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, Gabriel Dhal Yak, the chairperson of the Luo youth in Western Bahr el Ghazal, urged the committee to remove the newly installed signage bearing the name Clement Mboro Bridge as a way of de-escalating tensions.
“I would like to thank President Salva Kiir for being concerned about the feelings of the Luo Youth Union and sending a committee to come and investigate the matter. We Luo youth are not ready for any crisis in the state and we are known as peaceful people but we are being pushed to become violent,” he said. “The state government said that the resolution naming the bridge came from the national council of ministers and it should be revoked because we also have our position. We are not ready for war but we have rejected the name Clement Mboro Bridge.”
“I am also requesting the committee to collect the people’s views and take them to Juba and if the government wants the name Clement Mboro after listening to our views, then so be it, otherwise the name we have chosen has to prevail,” Dhal added.
For her part, Abek Manyuat, a women representative, said the state government is not partial in distributing development projects in the state and that Jur River County is lagging.
She added that the women in Jur River County have rejected the name Clement Mboro on the river since it is creating instability in the state.
“Our position as women in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, and particularly in Jur River County, is that we are calling for peace in Wau. However, development is not balanced and there are no services like hospitals, schools, etc. in Jur River County and you only find them in Wau County. So, we are voicing our concerns to our president that we need a lot to be done,” she said.“Regarding the naming of the new bridge, we as women from Jur River County rejected the name Clement Mboro because it is meaningless to us and it is just linked to politics and meant to stir up political emotions.”
According to Kornelio Kon Ngu, the chairperson of the committee, since they arrived in Wau, they have met Governor Sarah Cleto, the state council of ministers, lawmakers, local chiefs, intellectuals, and the youth on Thursday.
“We started our program by meeting legislatures. We discussed with them and they suggested that there should be a conference conducted in the state and this was echoed by the traditional chiefs,” said Kon. “We also sat with the Islamic Council and they advised us that the issue is not about the naming of the bridge but that a general conference of the people of Western Bahr el Ghazal needs to be called to resolve the underlying problems in the state. The Islamic Council said that the names of some villages have been changed.”
“This is not our mandate but as a committee, we will report all these issues back to the president,” he added.