![SSPM leader Stephen Buay Rolnyang at Nairobi peace talks. [Photo courtesy]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/438239164_1502383383723049_3386364021194626433_n.jpg?resize=1612%2C634&ssl=1)
On 5th August 1962, Nelson Mandela was arrested in KwaZulu Natal on accusation that he was planning to rebel and to topple the apartheid regime of South Africa. Mandela’s woes and worries began following his journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In this questionable trip, he had travelled to participate in the Pan African Freedom of East and Central Africa conference, allegedly to rally support for uMkhonto we Sizwe, an underground wing of the African National Congress (ANC). During his colonial court Trial in Rivonia, he was found guilty of violating the Communist Suppression Act, 1950. Consequently, Mandela was sentenced and sent to prison, where he spent 27 years in Robben Island and Verster Prisons. Mandela’s arrest and subsequent detention ended his long search as the ‘Most wanted Man’ in the colonial era according to his pursuers and captors.
On 11 February 1990, Mandela was released and granted his freedom unconditionally after many years of persistent pressures and activism drawn from all walks of life. On 10 May 1994, Mandela was elected as the first black President of the independence South Africa. However, despite his growing popularity both locally and internationally, Mandela decided to decline his party push to run for a second term. He then said, ‘enough is enough’ and that it is time to rest after serving for a single but successful term in office as President.
Mandela’s presidency of forgiveness was successful by virtue that he reconciled and reunited all South Africans after which he designed a rainbow flag and the new constitution before stepping down in 1999. With all these traitorous trials and imprisonments that Mandela went through, no one imagine that he would later champion and campaign for forgiveness, Unity and reconciliation of all South Africans regardless of creed and race et cetera. By the look of it, Mandela’s imprisonment was intended not just to kill his legal and political careers but also to eliminate him physically so that the idea of independence, free and prosperous South Africa would be gone. Thus, it was by luck and God’s grace that Mandela survived the 27 years in colonial detention.
Relatively, on 31 May 2018, General Stephen Buay Rolnyang was apprehended after being assaulted on accusation that he was planning to rebel, and to overthrow the de facto regime. He was jailed in an underground bunker full of rats and snakes. In Buay’s book entitled ‘‘Trails of Betrayal in South Sudan’s Power Struggle’’, the bunker in which Buay was detained was built and used by the Arab colonial authorities before South Sudan’s independence. Following his apprehension, Buay was ferried to Juba where he was detained incommunicado after which he appeared before the 6-man Court Martial.
On 31 November 2019, the General Court Martial released its verdict and found Buay guilty of treason resulting in his dismissal and demotion from the ranks of General to private in accordance with Articles 60, 61 and 67 of SPLA Act, 2009. This second verdict conflicted and contradicted with the previous ruling of the first court martial led by Gen. Michael Manok Thot that found him innocent on 16th June 2018. In his respond and reply to the ruling of General Court Martial, Buay protested but declined to appeal for obvious reasons that the court was not independent. Of course, he maintained that he was innocent, adding that the way his tormentors apprehended him was designed to tarnish his image and dignity.
Professionally, General Buay is a trained liberation soldier and commander with proven track records in military leadership. Prior to his dramatic arrest, detention and trials, Buay had been the commander of five Army Divisions in the three greater regions of Upper Nile, Equatoria and Bahr El Ghazal. I always believe that if he was not falsely accused and removed from SPLA army echelon, he could have been the third Nuer General to be appointed as the Army Chief of General Staff after General William Nyuon Bany and General James Gathoth Mai. Luckily, he is now the chairman and commander in chief of South Sudan People Movement and Army (SSPM/A). Through our concerted efforts, if we make him President then that will be blessing in disguise.
In December 2023, President Salva Kiir requested his Kenyan counterpart President Dr. William Samoei Ruto to mediate between the Opposition Groups and his de facto government. The latter accepted and appointed the mediators who then invited the parties for talks in Nairobi. Fortunately, General Buay happened to be among the selected invitees. Bravely, he honored the invitation without hesitation. By then no body imagine that he would accept the peace talks owing to his trials and tribulations.
But because he is a patriot and forgiving man of Peace and Reconciliation, he risked coming for talks with his country’s men and women, whom he toiled with during the days of our liberation struggle. PL0 says ‘‘those who seek will never fail to find.’’ General Buay is currently committed to the Tumaini Initiative with a view to restore hopes for peace in order to embark on the journey of constitutional making process. Finally, July is month a like no other. And as we wait to mark 13th anniversary of South Sudan’s Independence on 9th July, let’s pray and work together for peace because the bible in Mathew 5:9 says blessed are the peace makers, because they will be called sons of God.
The author is a delegate to the Tumaini Initiative on the tick of SSPM/A. He can be reached via: eligodakb@yahoo.com.
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