South Sudan was initially referred to as part of Sudan which was dominated by the Arabs who ruled the whole country then referred to as The Sudan.
South Sudan’s independence on 9 July 2011 was a result of signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by the Sudan’s Peoples Liberation Movement/Army and the then Government of Sudan in 2005.
The Sudan by itself had diverse cultures, norms, morals, and social values that made the members of the community feel that they belonged to one entity known as Sudanese.
Indeed after the formation of SPLM/A in 1983 due to propaganda of the Arab and the Southern Sudanese elite, the social connections were disentangled by the creation of divisions amongst the ethnicities within Sudan. People living in the Sudan started feeling gaps of identity, differences, unequal treatment, uneven distribution of resources, wrangles over power, dominance of minority tribes, and land grabbing, and many Southerners started joining the SPLA due to raised concerns by the southern elites. Communities started disentangling, realizing their differences, and there were those fairly treated and those who were superior to the inferior. This led to a high influx of the Southerners picking up arms to fight against the Arab dominance within the Sudan.
In addition, Southern Sudanese leaders drifted from patriotism and nationalism to the promotion of tribalism and this cut off social ties. As SPLA continued to expand, there was a question about who founded the SPLA yet in the beginning, the objective of the formation of the SPLA was to liberate the Sudanese people and not only one tribe. Another arising matter was which tribe within South Sudan would dominate the movement. This created fears and worries amongst the liberators with many of the senior officers who emerged from other tribes starting to have worries about the fate of the SPLA. It therefore made SPLA become a rebellion/movement group of a specific tribe yet as visualized now, it has become a tribal entity. Thus the above expression that manifested led to disunity which affected social cohesion within the communities as well as in the movement since leaders of the SPLA emerged from all tribes within the Sudan.
As much as disunity had occurred, some of the regions of Sudan felt neglected by the SPLA leadership. A case in point was the Kordofan and Blue Nile regions in Sudan. They participated in the liberation struggle in the then Sudan yet it only emerged that the Southern Sudanese did not factor their grievances into the peace leading to the cessation of war in the southern part of Sudan which became semi-autonomous with the signing of the CPA and after South Sudan gaining total independence on 9 July 2011. It is from this that most South Sudanese citizens believe that their internal hidden agendas manifested through the series of conflicts that occurred between 2013 and 2016 to date. Most of the South Sudanese leaders have continued to use the divide-and-rule strategy in continuing to create space for them to manipulate and use loopholes to embezzle funds, and practice nepotism, and sectarianism, as well as others becoming chauvinistic, leading to the suffering of South Sudanese.
The above descriptions and manifestation of such vices continued and led to disconnection amongst the tribes in South Sudan. This has further caused hatred between tribes and has also led to the loss of lives, and destruction of properties and also led many South Sudanese to flee their country to the neighboring countries for safety and protection by the international community. Most of the South Sudanese in the refugee settlements in the neighboring countries are those who have become marginalized by the several phases of the conflicts in South Sudan.
Those who are superior have continued to negatively impact the lives of those who are vulnerable within the country. Most of those who are unable to place food on their table on a daily basis continue to be used as those who were treated by the Arabs. In real justification, there is no difference between the Arab domination of the past in Sudan and the Government of South Sudan. It has similar practices and the new rulers in South Sudan just exchanged shoes with the Arabs who handed over to them on 9 July 2011.
More so, social cohesion was a great attribute in the unification of the different communities and societies. It had its principles overseen by observers who were respected elders in the society. Today, globally, most communities have been affected by the so-called modern life, globalization, and modernization that led to the transfer of values from different continents to some that were considered backward. The norms, customs, and values considered backward were able to be observed by the community members. The rules were clear in governing certain behaviors and with these values, most of the community members were influenced through indoctrination from the childhood stage aligning their beliefs to honour the righteous and disregarding the unrighteous. It is from this that communities lived in harmony with their neighbors because they had penalties if one did not honor or respect the values of the other communities. This led to the promotion of peace and harmony amongst people in the different parts of the country.
It is just from the formation of SPLA that cattle raiding became rampant in the whole country and also harassment of non-pastoral communities became a case in point. Since the pastoral communities had differences in cultural perspective from the non-pastoral communities, it propelled disunity amongst the different communities within South Sudan. Pastoral communities like Toposa, Dinka, Nuer, Murle, Mundari, etc. have led to several misfortunes in distorting the social cohesion even amongst themselves. They developed mistrust leading to disunity, conflicts, raids, revenge attacks, loss of properties and lives, destruction of livelihood, and also famine due to distortion of social amenities leading to hatred as well as insecurity amongst the tribes.
The differences between the communities were further messed up by the turn-up of the different cultures when the CPA was signed in 2005. This made all the global communities export their values, norms, morals, and also the art of socialization thus affecting the South Sudanese both positively and negatively in terms of strengthening their social cohesion.
With the above highlighted, it is worth noting that the family is an important and the first actor or agent in the promotion of social cohesion. Social cohesion can only be enhanced if the societies and communities we are living in honor their evolvement from the household level. In childhood with much reflection on children’s nurturance, there is discipline by any member of the community. However, today, what is considered discipline by the communities now varies. It is therefore that children have now become uncontrollable and have a strong stand in the different families to be honored and listened to by elders due to values assimilated from other cultural backgrounds. To correct this, we need to clean the dirt within our households, first by practicing and acting the acceptable values, then the other family members will practice the same and parents will become role models, for the assimilation of righteous acts into the communities.
As much as leaders emerge from households, we shall have leaders with integrity reputation, social values, and norms within the communities, hence it will assist in discarding behaviors that will lead to greed, embezzlement of funds, corruption, sectarianism, and nepotism amongst the people of South Sudan.
Let us continue to advocate for peace, unity, and harmony amongst the citizens of South Sudan.
The writer, Mogga Loyo Junior, can be reached via moggaloyoloyo@gmail.com
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the responsibility of the author, not Radio Tamazuj.