Opinion | Perspectives on danger of modern weapons to human lives in South Sudan  

By Santino Ayual Bol

OPINION – “Mankind must put an end to weapons of mass destruction or weapons of mass destruction will put an end to mankind.” by John F. Kennedy

The foregoing bell ringing quotation from the former 36th President of the United States of America John Frederick Kennedy was a wakening up call to humanity that weapons invention, technology, and production has reached dangerously cataclysmic stage and the usage of these weapons if no reason was going to be applied to regulate or even prevent them at all could end instantly human lives and human civilizations altogether on earth.

It was a timely appeal to both friends in NATO and foes in the USSR/Warsaw Pact alike to give reason a chance. The horrors revealed by the explosion of Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and thereafter several launching tests of other more dangerous nuclear weapons like Hydrogen Bombs unmistakably meant the end of the world. People of great moral principles and correct conscience like John F. Kennedy, Nikhrushev, and several other contemporaries could not tolerate it anymore. Their timely call resulted into treaties banning these lethal weapons completely.

They were banned from being used, from being tested, and/or from being produced completely. Superpowers’ competition which was underlying these weapons invention and proliferation was abandoned and replaced with friendship and international cooperation or multi-lateralism in world affairs. This worked and humanity was saved from self-destruction ominously posted by these weapons. The world is now relatively safe compared to the cold war era. But this is now not the case in our small location here on the world map

South Sudan is now mindlessly mowing itself down with no qualms at all using various kinds of modern weapons not any less lethal and effective on killing than the Atomic Bombs/nuclear weapons. It is as if we freed ourselves from Arabs in order to come and quickly finish ourselves completely. If nothing is urgently done to stop these mindless killings it will result into black people wiping themselves out in part or in whole of South Sudan. Ugly events of communal fighting popping up every now and then in Jonglei State between the Murle versus Lou Nuer or Dinka are troubling.

Archaic anarchism in Central Bhar El Gazal region especially Tonj, Chueibet and Rumbek where villages or cattle camps inhabited by innocent children, women, elderly, are sprayed with hell of bullets is madness pure and simple. Cattle rustlings among the Toposa, Buya, Lotuho, Didinka, and Pari in Eastern Equatoria is almost reaching catastrophic peak with daily bad news of attack and counter/revenge attack, cattle raiding and counter cattle raiding using machine guns. All these events mean human beings being killed or injured badly and other collateral damages involved.

The Centre for Control of Tropical Diseases issued in 2018 their verdict of danger by civil and tribal wars and lawlessness/anarchism on human lives in South Sudan and they backed it up with data on precious lives lost standing at 400,000 from 2013 to 2018. That was at the fall of 2018. Calculate and think about more lives lost between 2018 and 2021 in South Sudan. The figure of lives lost will not still be standing at 400,000 persons dead by now. With NAS goons every day killing women, children, elderly, in their villages in Yei, Lainya , Morobo, Kaya, and Kajokeji, and as if that is not enough mindlessly spray bullets on any passing vehicles on roads without minding about identities of the travelers in those vehicles whether be they military or civilians, South Sudanese or foreigners. It is as if NAS is being possessed by the same evil spirits that captured the minds of Joseph Konyi, and Ali Lakwena of LRA of Uganda in 1990s.

The insecurity resulting from the civil/tribal wars in the country has further caused famine and hunger, poverty and diseases which are further mercilessly and silently killing South Sudanese people. Children are no longer going to school in some parts of the country as education is no longer a priority but survival. This is the case in UNMISS POCs and deep inaccessible villages across the country. Can somebody describe the situations of life in villages like Tore in Yei or Murangipi in Kapoeta or Wadakona in the Shilluk Kingdom? The point is whether there are functioning schools and hospitals serving children and citizens in the aforementioned locations and all these because there are wars in the country.

The central point is all wars which are the sources of violent deaths and misery in South Sudan must be brought to an end right now and not later. There are no convincing justifications of the current wars being fought right now by SSOMA, NAS, or Agwelek. President Salva Kiir, and Dr.Riek Machar deserve appreciation and support for 2018 Khartoum Peace agreement. That peace must be implemented in letter and spirit and to the full. There should be no repeat of 2016 in that peace.

Both President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar with full support of all government institutions and the citizens should together wage peace campaigns to bring home through peace Gen Thomas Cirilo, Gen Paul Malong, Gen oyay Deng, SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum, and Gen.Johnson Olony. After all the sons and daughters of South Sudan have come home from the bush of rebellions and self imposed exile, and have reconciled, then the next stage should be comprehensive disarmament and destruction of all weapons in our beloved homeland.

Enough is enough. Modern weapons have killed more South Sudanese than the Atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined in 1945. Juxtapose Hiroshima 146,000 deaths, and Nagasaki 80,000 deaths due to Atomic Bombs totaling to 226,000 deaths and our own 400,000 deaths (2013 -2018) alone and the yet to be tallied death figures from 2018 to 2021. Why is our individual and national conscience not being disturbed by these meaningless deaths of our innocent people after the two liberation wars and subsequent independence?  Human lives in South Sudan have become so miserable due to unending wars and wanton killings with machine guns and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

This was exactly what Thomas Hobbes in the Leviathan predicted 500 years ago that “ in the state of nature life was nasty, laborious, brutish, and short.” Carefully examine the daily occurrence in South Sudan and compare it with other countries near or far. You will more or less come the same conclusion with writer. South Sudanese prefer refugee camps than their own country currently. Anyanya One war alone (1955 – 1972) killed 2 million South Sudanese and SPLA/SPLM liberation war (1983 – 2005) killed 4 million. Is it not time to save the succeeding generations of South Sudanese alive now from the scourge of pointless unending wars and modern weapons of self-destruction?

Even wild animals have sensed great dangers that have befallen both human and animal lives in South Sudan and have spoken by their hooves by leaving for safe game parks and game reserves in other countries which are refugee camps for them. The remaining ones are being killed daily and they have no protection.

The bottom-line is it is time South Sudanese people began to view their addictions to modern weapons and their uncritical usage for self-destruction differently in old fashioned rebellions. Our archenemies are now busy setting up weapons industries and weapons warehouses in our proximities to supply to us for the same purposes of speeding up our self-destruction and we seem not to realize it!

The author holds Master of Arts in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Nairobi. He can be reached via: ayual@students.uonbi.ac.ke.

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