NUER AKOBO: DO NOT GIVE IN ANUAK THREAT!
BY CHUKER NGER MACHAR
An article by Koang Tut Jing appeared in Southsudan.net on march 30th 2008 paints an unfortunate picture of how our community including our intellectuals are wont to be so forgetful and superficial in tracking problems that no wonder we find ourselves regurgitating failed history over and over again.
Mr. Koang picks on AKobo issues and attempts to use it as a case of bad ethnic politics thriving in Sudan. He avers that
Quote:
“People of Akobo are suffering due to political favourtism and clanism. Both Nuer and Anuak tribes are daily crying for change in Akobo leadership but no give them ears. Mismanagement and lack of fairness in the area remain the looming disaster for people of Akobo”
Wow! Only naïve Nuer politician would retreat, reflect and re-engage with Anuak threat. Brother Koang also needs to know that no Nuer Akobo claimed for change, mismanagement or lack of fairness, only Anuak tribe without empirical evidence threatening Nuer Community in the Sudanese Media and internets that we are outlaw society.
Of course, politically I do agree with Mr. Koang Tut that ethnic politics is a dangerous cancer that has stifled and continue to stifle democracy and democratization process in Sudan. And it will polarize communities and indeed will causes unwarranted tension, clashes, mistrust, misunderstanding, and generally socio-economic and political retardation. However, I find Mr. Tut Jiing’s arguments lopsided, narrow, shallow, and ii-informed and devoid of any scholarly and critical analysis of events as they have been unfolding on the political landscape in Sudan, where people choose violent over dialogue.
“DIPLOMACY WITHOUT AN ARMY IS LIKE MUSIC WITHOUT INSTRUMENTS”
Dear Mr. Koang Tut Jiing this expression “Diplomacy without an army is like music without instruments” is attributed to Frederick the great of Prussia, Who ruled from 1740 to 1786. Frederick was both an excellent military commander and a clever diplomat who helped build small Prussia into one of Europe’s major powers. He fully understood the military component of diplomacy without any fear; and however Mr. Jiing to your case about Akobo issues, I will refer your argument to two Stanford professors –historian Gordon Craig and political scientist Alexander George- who remind us that the move from hostility to trust takes many steps, all of them reversible. In classic diplomacy, the first step away from armed tension was détente. if the process went further, the two communities or countries achieved a rapprochement.( détente is a French word meaning relaxation of tensions between two communities or countries and rapprochement means approaching each other, getting together again to established reasonable relations.). If that worked they two communities or countries might go on to reach an entente, a mutual understanding of who had what turf. And if that succeeded, one side of could conceivably offer the other a goodwill token, called in classic diplomacy appeasement. Eventually, if two communities saw mutual advantage, they could even form an alliance, a pact to help defend each other, as the fact goes brother we could not give in to Anuak threat if we didn’t following the above steps with them.
And finally, Mr. Koang Tut Jiing I pray that the wind that measures leadership ability on the basis of foreskin has not blown your way as long as human being have lived in political communities that come in contact with other communities, security has been the number one political interest of society It would be a betrayed for Nuer Akobo if we just give Anuak tribe their Justice without approaching us in a diplomatic channels and remember active and informed citizenry is a dream we must all struggle for in our community not fear. How then do you engage in intellectual discourses? I hope you are not advocating for apathy and aloofness amongst the citizens of Akobo.
Thanks,
Chuker Nger machar
Colorado, U.S