Every nation eventually faces a defining choice: whether it will be governed by the rule of law or surrender authority to chaos disguised as freedom. In today’s digital age, that choice is increasingly tested not on battlefields or in parliament, but on social media platforms.
The ongoing cyberbullying of Ambassador Monica Achol Abel Aguek, President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s envoy to the Middle East and Gulf nations, presents South Sudan with exactly such a test. This is no longer about harsh opinions or political disagreement. It is about whether digital anarchy will be allowed to mock state authority with impunity, or whether the law will assert itself to protect institutions, national cohesion, and public order.
Ambassadors do not act in a personal capacity. They are extensions of presidential authority. To repeatedly harass, demean, and delegitimize a presidential envoy online is not simply an attack on an individual—it is an attack on the office of the President and the constitutional power of appointment itself. If such conduct goes unpunished, the message is clear and dangerous: state authority can be ridiculed without consequence.
That message does not stop with one ambassador. It spreads. Today it is a presidential envoy; tomorrow it is a minister, a governor, or the presidency itself. When the state fails to draw a legal boundary in the digital space, disorder becomes normalised. This is why cyberbullying in this case rises beyond a social issue to a national security concern.
National security is not only about soldiers and borders. It is also about legitimacy, unity, and discipline within the political system. President Kiir’s leadership has depended not only on constitutional authority, but also on cohesion within his support base. When cyber bullies—often operating from within that same base—publicly humiliate a senior appointee, they weaken internal trust and erode political solidarity. Such internal erosion is how governments lose strength from within.
The international dimension cannot be ignored either. Ambassador Achol Abel Aguek represents South Sudan in a strategically important diplomatic region. Allowing her to be publicly abused online by her own citizens undermines the country’s credibility abroad and signals institutional weakness. No serious state tolerates the public degradation of its envoys without response. Some will argue this is about freedom of expression. It is not.
Freedom of expression protects criticism, debate, and dissent. It does not protect harassment, intimidation, or coordinated cyber abuse. Cybercrime laws exist precisely because unregulated digital spaces can quickly become tools of destabilisation.
Failure to investigate and prosecute cyber bullies sends a signal of impunity. Impunity breeds imitation. What is tolerated today becomes widespread tomorrow. Inaction would embolden many more to engage in similar behavior, accelerating the descent into digital lawlessness.
Holding cyber bullies accountable is therefore not an act of repression—it is an act of state preservation. It affirms that the law applies online as much as it does offline, and that authority cannot be dismantled through keyboards and anonymous profiles.
South Sudan stands at a crossroads. It can either allow digital anarchy to corrode its institutions, or it can enforce the rule of law and protect the dignity of the presidency and its envoys. There should be no hesitation. Accountability is the only deterrent. The rule of law must prevail.
John Bith Aliap is a South Sudanese political analyst and commentator on governance, leadership, and state-building in post-conflict societies. He can be reached @ johnaliap2021@hotmail.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.