South Sudanese civil society leader Deng Athuai today gave a forceful address in the presence of President Salva Kiir in which he denounced the ongoing civil war and pointed out that Kiir himself has no sons fighting in the war.
Athuai was addressing a consultation conference initiated by Kiir’s SPLM-Juba faction to deliberate on whether to accept a proposed power-sharing agreement with the SPLM-IO faction led by Riek Machar.
He urged the two warring parties “to accept peace and to sign peace now and not tomorrow.”
The civil society leader went on to refer to the ‘Mathiang Anyor’ – a Dinka term for SPLA troops recruited primarily from the Bahr al Ghazal region – saying that Kiir has no son fighting with these frontline troops.
“Because those who are paying the cost now are not the leaders… sometimes those who are really paying the real cost are the grassroots citizens. And plus the recruitment that took place called Mathiang Anyor – meanwhile Mathiang Anyor there is no child of our president Salva Kiir within that Mathiang Anyor.”
He also pointed out that Riek Machar has no son fighting with the ‘White Army’ – a term used for various Nuer tribal forces: “Meanwhile, the White Army, there is no child of Dr. Riek Machar to be there.”
“It is a time to call them to sign peace right away and come without all these excuses,” he shouted.
In further remarks, Athuai demanded separation of the military from politics, and “to bring [to justice] those who killed the innocent people.” He cited the example of a child whom he said police shot to death in Juba, which he said he witnessed. He also cited the example of a woman raped by SPLM-IO forces in Bor.
Athuai ended his remarks with a stark warning.
“This is our nation and we will not turn away from here. We need peace now and if the party is not able to do that he should choose one of two – either for this party to be like what Mandela did in South Africa or can be like Gaddafi.”
Kiir responded to these remarks in his own speech, pointing to his own record of military experience and also claiming that in fact he does have a son in the army.
“Comrade Deng I fought in two wars – I fought in Anyanya I as very young boy – and then I fought – I led this second war myself. So nobody can challenge me on that,” he said.
He went on to say that a son of his called Patrick, also known as Manut, serves in the military: “I have my son in the army. He is in a combat unit, not a logistics guy.”
Kiir noted that he disclosed this because “many people may go away with assumptions that the leaders here don’t have sons in the [army], they just want to kill the people of South Sudan.”