By, Gabriel Makuei Tor
Is the South Crying for Oil, or Lives?
The Southern Sudanese leadership in Juba and its people care more about lives of the people than the wealth of oil in the land. Khartoum must get this right before she reinstates herself to meddle with Shaira Law victims’ lives. The decision has been taken to the point of no return to Unity. Our Referendum votes are for Freedom not bribery; South Sudan as a Country of its own. Bashir have just said, on the 3rd week of December, 2010 to his leadership thugs. If South Sudan vote for unity of the Country then North would give up their 50% share of oil to give the South full control on South Sudan oil revenues (100%). Ask yourself! Why now and why at the eleventh hour? I have seen this as part of NCP’s wishful thinking. You can’t give people power by saying and not by doing it. Southerners knows very much that Bashir’s statement was meant to influence the Referendum outcome but the Northern dirty tricks have been known for years. Khartoum has it as part of it strategy. That, “drop of oil is worth a drop of human blood”. You may be tempted to think that Sudanese presidency has come to term or behalf by thinking this wishful thoughts but this is negative. Why did people starved to death and fell sick and died without treatment, while the oil flows in their soil?
If the North has done nothing to help correct the justice system, freedom of press and speech, power and wealth sharing in the Country during the last five years, then nothing will make them think sharing of power, or wealth should be the way to go. They (Northerners) have fooled the Southern region for decades but nothing, and I said nothing will make them fool, pull or push Southerners to their wishful dream, any more. When Atem Garang of Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) reacted and responded to president Bashir’s talk of “oil for Unity” according to Al Jazeera News. Garang said it all very well – when he said, “it’s a matter of principle” - Meaning South’s separation from the larger and olden Sudan is not about wealth but about justice for all Sudanese citizens, which had never come to exist.
Like the Sudanese YouTube video- woman being beaten with 50 lashes by two Sudanese policemen by turns for wearing a pair of pants, tortured mercilessly by beating with a Hippo treated skin from her head to toe, during the brought day light. And endorsed by Omar El Bashir. A priest who had a chance o watches that tearful-video had to say this: “if they could do this during the broad day light, what can they do in the dark?” - On Dec. 13th, 2010 during the Southern Sudanese Leadership Summit in Phoenix, Arizona (organized by American Episcopal Church for Southerners in the United States). The leadership Summit was attended by spiritual and community leaders. From DC to California, from USA to Southern Sudan. His lordship, Bishop of Nzara, South Sudan, Bishop of Arizona Diocese, and Southern Sudanese priests and community leaders from the States were among the attendees.
The meeting under the themes “Considering the past, Contemplating the present and Collaborating for the future” was chaired by Pastor Angela Ifill from Dec. 10th through the 14th. The Southern Sudanese priests of Zacharia Char, Abraham Anei, and William Deng and Community leaders of Bul Mabil, Simon Jada among others had a chance to speak to the media about their experiences as war kids inside Sudan, East African Countries and Middle Eastern Countries. Interestingly! There was a Peaceful Demonstration in Washington DC on Dec. 11th, 2010 by the Sudanese and Friends to remind the world about Sudanese war victims, sharia law victims about their future and their well being from 2011 onward, and the political situation in Sudan in regard to referenda, peace talks and popular consultations.
Bashir’s NCP has found it shameful to cut the Sudanese Map into parts. It’s because of their shameless rigidity to crisis in the Country. So, trading oil for unity votes for Sudan is never a ticket to Unity still.
South Sudan must succeed as an independent Nation for the Sudanese political grievances’ peaceful settlement.
"No matter what we do we will reach this conclusion which will be recognized by the entire world… we must not deceive ourselves or cling to wishful thinking, we must resign to facts and realities," Nafi Ali Nafie, said to SUNA News on Dec. 16th, 2010.
By Gabriel Makuei Tor
