The Republic of South Sudan after One Year of Existence (2-2)

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 is considered as a huge socio-political turning point in the history of the Sudanese nation. The CPA promised the peoples of Sudan the advent of sustainable peace complete with democratic transformation. The IGAD nations, together with various friendly nations, the international community, international organisations lead by the United Nations; all unanimously agreed on the content of the CPA and its consequences; and in fact; they all assumed the role of sponsors of this historic agreement.


The SPLM/A does not believe in political pluralism whatsoever to the extent that; the resolutions of the South-South dialogue of October 2010 became nothing but ink on paper. The SPLM/A either bought off many supposedly opposition political parties in the ROSS; or used its military and other security organs to cow the other opposition parties into absolute submission whereby; these terrified political parties  either joined the SPLM or echo the SPLM/A political sentiments in all political institutions including the legislative assembly. With this kind of political paralyses attained in the ROSS; the SPLM/A then embarked on political polemics and political rhetoric aimed at the creation of permanent political escape-goat in the form of Sudan.
The SPLM/A has proficiently perfected the art of politicising all its comprehensive mistakes; recklessness; and gross negligence in the management of the ROSS and packaging them as political devices used by Khartoum to undermine the peoples of South Sudan. The SPLM/A demonstrated a total lack of capacity to admit its own shortcomings. Instead; it played politics of escape-goating with its own shortcomings in order to buy political time; while in fact misleading the peoples of South Sudan. The government in Khartoum has no hand in the perfection of tribalism as philosophy of governance in the ROSS. The same is true with the marginalisation of all other political parties and groups plus individuals who do not necessarily subscribe to the visionless policies of the SPLM/A. All alternative political ideas presented by others not belonging to the SPLM/A are considered ideas emanating from Khartoum; and thus those who carry them in the South Sudan are outright traitors.
It is very difficult to decipher national politics within the remit of the ROSS and regional plus international politics in the political formation of the ROSS. The SPLM/A appears to be playing a combination of national politics mixed up with regional and international politics and then presenting this as the political foresights of the ruling tribal oligarchs clique in Juba. Whether consciously or subconsciously; the ruling oligarchs are busy executing foreign political agenda camouflaged as a national political agenda. The politics of hate and permanent mistrust which Juba is bent on entrenching within the remit of political culture in the ROSS do not in essence and in fact represent the political aspirations of the peoples of ROSS whom the SPLM/A claim to politically represent.  The SPLM/A appears to be indifferent to the fact that; a nation built upon political hate shall also fall due to the very hate used as its foundation. This political hate is detrimental to national stability as to whether the hate in question is directed to neighbouring countries in this case the Sudan; or the hate is directed to nationals within the ROSS on the basis of tribalism which is in fact tearing the social fabric of the nascent ROSS apart.
The politics of exclusion and suspicion which characterise the political landscape in the ROSS is comprehensively depriving the ROSS from benefiting from cumulative knowledge; skills; experiences; and innovativeness of the sons and daughter of the ROSS who are kept out by the repulsive politics in the ROSS. The first one year as sovereign State has put the ROSS on the league of those undeveloped countries which are totalitarian and verging on fascism; and saturated with political sentiments akin to apartheid.  Therefore; it can be summed up that; the first one year in office as rulers of a sovereign South Sudan has exposed the SPLM/A as an armed and a tyrannical political party; devoid of constructive positive visions as to how to develop the ROSS and at the same time coexist with its neighbours especially extremely important neighbours such as the Sudan. 
Dysfunctional Administrative and Bureaucratic Systems
The SPLM/A has corruptly succeeded in institutionalising the ascription of roles in the civil service as opposed to meritocracy which emphasis knowledge; skills; experience; attitude; morality and more objective criteria for the recruitment and employment of public servants. In the ROSS, the civil service institutions are filled on tribal basis, and the result is that; there is total bureaucratic failure in the ROSS, and to make matters worse; foreigners from East Africa and further away from Europe have been recruited to fill the gap created by marginalizing more qualified sons and daughters of the ROSS who are not SPLM/A and who do not belong to the right tribal groups. In conclusion; the formal institutions in the ROSS are being run informally and this explains the chaotic situation prevailing in the ROSS one year on as an independent sovereign State.
Racial and Religious Diplomacy
During its one year as a sovereign State; the ROSS spent all its energy vilifying the Sudan around the world. Total lack of experience in this field made those in charge of foreign policy in the ROSS assumed that; by tarnishing the image of Sudan as regards regional and international governments; their political star shall shine more; and the nascent State shall find warm and cordial reception by these communities. This has made countries like Uganda in particular to come out openly against the Sudan as exemplified by the speech of the Ugandan President in Juba on the July 9, 2012 during the ROSS celebration of its one year as a sovereign State. The ROSS foreign policy appears to revolve around the racial and religious themes. It is ever presenting the Sudan as a ruthless Arab and Islamic nation which the regional and international governments ought to be careful about. In the African continent; the ROSS always presented itself as the sole custodian of the African heritage in the Sudan; and with its exit subsequential to the referendum result; it has therefore taken with it the Sudanese Africannees. This is of course a very misplaced notion, but it is still the card that the ROSS continues to play in the African continent; and it is succeeding as shown by the attitude of Uganda and others.
On the international scale; the ROSS has succeeded in the USA in portraying the Sudanese government as the hater of Africans in particular and the black race in general. This is clearly shown by the dangerous enthusiasm of the Black American Caucus in the USA legislative institutions. The ROSS is tactfully playing the racial card in order to isolate the Sudan; and it appears to be gaining ground and may dangerously succeed if not checked by a more robust diplomatic rebuttal; based on logical and shrewd socio-political text; aimed at the regional and international audiences respectively.  Therefore; in this front; it can be argued that; the ROSS foreign policy appears to be crud and raw, but its crudeness and rawness is touching certain raw religious; political and racial nerves around the globe; and that must be reckoned with.
Constitutional Vacuum

Kiir

The ROSS has during its one year as a sovereign State existed in a Constitutional vacuum. This impacted negatively on all spheres of life in the ROSS in general; and on the performance of the government of the ROSS in particular.  The various actors within this government are constrained due to the fact that; the Amended Interim Constitution in the ROSS has made a king of the President. This functionally suits the political ambition of the SPLM/A; which is the usurpation of all political powers; and the relegation of all other political actors outside the ring of the SPLM/A to politically voiceless majority.  The one party system in the ROSS has undermined all civil and political rights of the majority of the peoples in the ROSS. The majority of the peoples in the ROSS are obliged to render their duties but no rights and privileges in return. It is a sheer police state and the Constitution is there but in name. The SPLM/A is actually in fact the embodiment of all the branches of governance in the ROSS to the extent that; any political queries about this is considered a treason against the State of ROSS. It is therefore obvious that; Constitutionalism and its various and precious Conventions and Norms are all but dead in the ROSS.
Tribalised Judiciary and the Rule of Law
The Judiciary in the ROSS resembles a customary law institution; whereby; tribal chiefs and other wise men gather to pronounce judgments on tribal matters within a homogenous tribal community. This has made the search for justice in the ROSS an impossible task. The SPLM/A and its Judges in the ROSS are the law. The tribal selection and promotion of Judges and Justices throughout the legal hierarchy in the ROSS is something of a legal and judicial joke. More than 90% of these civil servants emanate from one single tribe and this has tarnished the image of this vital branch of governance in the ROSS. The Judiciary is actually the extension of the SPLM/A and the rest of the population are literally under the mercy of the SPLM/A whenever they go searching for legal redress. Conversely; the Rule of Law is conspicuously absent in the ROSS; and during the first one year of its existence as a sovereign State;  the ROSS succeeded in claiming for itself a place in the league of nations considered as being near lawless to say the least. For example; the town of Juba has surpassed Nairobi in Kenya; and Kampala in Uganda; in terms of rate of murders; robberies; rapes and all institutional criminal practices known to modern societies. In terms of legal transparency and the institutional upholding of the Rule of Law; the one year of the ROSS as a sovereign State has been dangerously abysmal.
Jingoistic and Murderous Military and Security Institutions
The main danger that shall continue to haunt the ROSS is the marriage between the SPLA as a military outfit; and the SPLM as a political organization. The belonging of the SPLA to the SPLM has produced a very dangerous military environment in the ROSS in particular; and in the Region in general. The SPLM as a Political Party owns the SPLA as an army. This has produced a very unequal political playing field in the ROSS. To a greater extent, the SPLA with its tribal genesis has negatively affected socio-cultural relationships in the ROSS. The SPLA has no capacity to transform into a national army. It is still made up of the same rural angry men; who think that; anybody who is not one of them is their enemy, simple. This applies to all people in the ROSS. Worse still, the SPLA thinks that; its allegiance is first to the tribal and then to other intuitions; this means that; the SPLA is continuously used to safeguard tribal interests; and which include cattle wrestling; border custom looting and all types of acts and omissions which are not supposed to be attributed to an ideal national army as it were.

South Sudan peoples

Within the remit of international law; the SPLA has no clue whatsoever about the contents of various International Conventions including the UN Charter as regards the conducts of national armies and the ubiquitous meaning of armed attacks against neighbouring countries and across international borders. This ignorance or jingoism or both has made the SPLA to perpetually attack its neighbour the Sudan. The SPLA finds it extremely difficult to wean itself from past guerilla warfare attitude and psychology. This in general has made the first one year of the ROSS existence as a sovereign State a very dangerous one as regards its relationship with the Sudan. With its current setup; the SPLA shall continue to behave like a tribal army and it shall never resemble a modern army with strict discipline on all aspects of a national army properly so-called. On the other hand; the SPLA is very dangerous loose cannon; and a dangerous military pawn in the hands of foreign interests such as Israel and others; in Europe and America. This must be taken into serious considerations.
The security institutions in the ROSS are killing and murdering tools used by the SPLM/A to terrorize the population in the ROSS. The ROSS Minister of Interior; Alison Manane is on record when he stated that; the culprits killing and murdering peoples in Juba are organised in the security apparatus of the ROSS. This is a very dangerous admission and confession by the man who is supposed to be in charge of internal security in the ROSS; but he himself is marginalized due to the tribal nature of governance in the ROSS. The security institutions are responsible for the starting and the sustenance of all tribal warfare in the ROSS and then blaming it on the Sudan that it is the Sudan arming these tribes to create permanent instability in the ROSS. There are plenty of evidences in the ROSS of ethnic cleansing having taken place like the genocidal murdering of the Murele tribe with the support and cognizance of