Of late there have been references to an SPLM/A-Juba faction in Radio Tamazuj news, and possibly on other sites as well. We have seen news of ‘SPLA-Juba’ soldiers harassing people and of troops loyal to Salva Kiir, references to a ‘Juba government’, Salva Kiir as leader of an ‘SPLA-Juba faction’ – this in an article about when he was invited to Washington DC as the President of the Republic of South Sudan – and we’ve also seen a cacophony of profiles on ‘who’s who’ in the SPLM-Juba faction.
Initially I had assumed that SPLM-Juba was yet another newly minted group within – and yet trying to appear to be without – the main SPLM, i.e yet another faction.
That is, until I read the introduction to the ‘Who’s Who’ series, which carries a definition of this SPLM-Juba faction: “SPLM, the ruling party of South Sudan, has fractured since the start of a civil war in December 2013. The faction of the party based in Juba remains under the leadership of President Salva Kiir. The SPLM-Juba faction controls the cabinet, the presidency, a remnant of the SPLA, and several governorships.”
I think this was meant to clarify – but I remain very confused. If the ruling party and the national army is now relegated as a faction (definition of faction: “a small, organized, dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics”), then who now is the main group/party? Did a coup actually happen and we are unaware?
And if the national party now controls a ‘remnant’ (remnant: “a small remaining quantity of something”) of the national army SPLA, then which is this new, larger army? And more importantly, who is in charge of it?
Lastly, I keep wondering if Radio Tamazuj has single-handedly, and retroactively disenfranchised the 93% of us who voted SPLM – our current political affiliations notwithstanding in simple words, whether we now think the government is legitimate or not is beside the point, and a matter of conjecture.
Also, by denoting this faction as ‘SPLM-Juba’, does that mean that it has no membership or support outside of Juba? None in Aweil? Wau? Rumbek? Kwajok? Yambio? Torit? Bor? Bentiu? Malakal? The rest of the country does not matter?
Words do carry weight. And how we choose to express certain things might be taken as evidence of bias. I would like to assume that all this is an oversight on the part of Radio Tamazuj, and if it is, then let us move on and stop the sectarianism. But if it is not – then this raises questions on impartiality and credibility.
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made are the responsibility of the author, not Radio Tamazuj
See also:
Factbox: Factions of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement