Tonight at 10PM Eastern time, on Al Jazeera America, the show Fault Lines is broadcasting a special about South Sudan. “South Sudan: Country of Dreams” has been months in the making…I know, because I was interviewed for this special in January.
When I was contacted by Al Jazeera America to participate in a show about United States’ advocacy for South Sudan, I will admit that I was conflicted. On the one hand, it was Al Jazeera. On the other other hand, I have seen many Al Jazeera reports on Christian persecution and felt as if the subject was covered extremely well. I decided to go ahead when a friend who is often interviewed by Al Jazeera explained that he would rather have Al Jazeera hear about the subject from him than from (fill in your favorite appeaser/dhimmi).
I have no idea how much air time I will have in the show. . . maybe none! Nor am I sure of how what I said will come across, or of how the entire special will come across, in light of the promotional materials on the Fault Lines website:
Fault Lines travels to Washington, D.C., and South Sudan to investigate how the U.S. helped create the world’s newest nation, then watched it spiral into civil war.
South Sudan is less than four years old, but the world’s newest nation now tops the ranks of failed states worldwide.
Thousands of people have been killed and almost two million displaced in a civil conflict that erupted in late 2013.
Fault Lines investigates how a select group of U.S. politicians and advocates shepherded the nation into existence—and asks what responsibility they now bear for the political and humanitarian disaster unfolding there.
Also included in the promotional email from Al Jazeera America were quotes from Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, a South Sudanese former government member and two of the Sudan/South Sudan experts that they interviewed.
The operative word for Akol is “former.” Like Riek Machar Teny, the former Vice President of South Sudan who organized the coup attempt in December 2013 described above as “civil conflict that erupted,” Akol has switched sides several times during South Sudan’s long journey. And like Machar did with his “rebel” forces when he defected to Khartoum in the 1990’s, Akol claims the SPLM name for his use. Machar’s forces, responsible for slaughtering thousands of their fellow Southern Sudanese, were called SPLA-Nasir. Akol calls the political party of which he is chairman the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – Democratic Change (SPLM-DC).
Why I am telling you all this “inside baseball”? Because it is necessary background to understand the irony of this quote from Akol:
“The two [civil] wars [with Khartoum] were wars of liberation…people were fighting for their rights, against repression and oppression. This one is a war over power, and has no justification whatsoever.”
Then there is the contrast between the quotes from Sudan/South Sudan experts Dr. Alex de Waal of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and Dr. Eric Reeves of Smith College. de Waal says:
“The leadership of South Sudan got accustomed to being indulged, to being treated with kid gloves and even to getting away with murder.”
Reeves’ perspective is somewhat different:
“Remember that South Sudan never existed as a government, as a country, that transforming a guerrilla movement into a government is one of the most difficult things that can possibly be demanded of a people. That’s what was demanded of the people of South Sudan.”
I agree with Dr. Reeves. And I would add that not only was transforming into a government demanded of the guerrilla movement, but accepting back into leadership those who had betrayed them and committed mass murder, like Machar, was the price they had to pay for continued support from the United States. (Did I say this in the Al Jazeera special? Frankly, I can’t remember what I said. But I don’t think they asked me about that issue.)
Since the coup attempt took place, South Sudan’s legally-elected president, Salva Kiir de Mayardit, and the official armed forces of the country, have been treated as equally guilty of “civil war” as Machar and his rebels, including the 2013 “White Army” who reproduced the mass atrocities in Bor that Machar’s SPLA-Nasir and White Army troops had perpetrated in 1991. Yes, the Kiir government has had terrible corruption problems. But corruption is not morally equivalent to mass slaughter.
I have not written much about the crisis in South Sudan. Many say, “it doesn’t matter who started it.” But the truth is, as the Khartoum-appeasers used to say during the war against southern Sudan, “complicated.” Very complicated.
Will “South Sudan: Country of Dreams” delve into the complexity, or will it take the path of least resistance, the “both sides,” “government needs to be more inclusive,” moral equivalence path?
I will be “live tweeting” @Cuchulain09 and/or FB posting on the IRD FB page as the show goes on tonight. I’d love to hear what you think, as well. The Al Jazeera America website can tell you if there is a station carrying the program in your area. If not, don’t worry. The show will be posted online after it is broadcast.
The focus of the special, asking what responsibility US advocates bear for the crisis in South Sudan now, took me by surprise (silly me!). But I am glad it did because it is now spurring me on to write more about South Sudan and escape the paralysis that the devastation had caused me. You may not agree with me, but I think we can all agree that South Sudan needs prayer. I still believe that GOD had a hand in the birth of South Sudan, and He will bring about His purposes in it.
No comments yet
