Kiir and Museveni. Unholy alliance?
[Op-Ed: Africa]
Don’t let Uganda’s President Museveni Destroy South Sudan
The South Sudan Human Rights society for Advocacy (SSHURSA) calls upon the sincere members of the international Community and the African Union to disallow Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who has already prepared to destroy South Sudan.
Considering President Museveni as one of the key central figures in IGAD-Peace led mediation and reconciliation over South Sudan’s recent crisis, is a terrible miscalculation by the regional body, the IGAD and unforgivable betrayal of the people of South Sudan by the international Community. The United States and British Governments as well as other nations should rise up to prevent more bloodbaths fueled by Mr. Museveni in South Sudan.
President Museveni is known by many South Sudanese citizens as partial, one sided self-proclaimed mediator and great mouth in meddling in South Sudan’s internal politics and security matters. For the last one year, he had been accused by sections of citizens in South Sudan and Uganda Parliament as a man who encourages crises in the South Sudan’s ruling SPLM party internal affairs as he has been alleged of misadvising South Sudanese President Salva Kiir to listen to no one but believing in military might of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces to back up the latter’s own military guards against any internal political critics.
Against that background, Mr. Museveni cannot be one of the mediators on South Sudanese internal crises as he has always been known by sane South Sudanese and Ugandans of his partiality by taking unilateral military decision to deploy UPDF to fuel violence in South Sudan.
SSHURSA recommends the following:
1) Calls on the International Community should strongly condemn and urge Mr. Museveni to stop meddling in South Sudanese internal affairs and restraint him from uttering statements that don’t serve purpose of peace and reconciliation in South Sudan but fueling violence
2) Urges Mr. Museveni to stop mobilizing IGAD countries to destroy South Sudan militarily under the claim of fighting SPLA forces against Juba under former South Sudan’s VP Riek Machar.
3) Urges Uganda Parliament to pass a motion against illegal deployment of UPDF to call on Mr. Museveni to withdraw them from South Sudan before it is regarded as forces of occupation.
4) SSHURSA urges sane members of South Sudan Legislative Assembly to pass a motion against the deployment of Uganda’s troops in South Sudanese soil which fuels internal conflict.
5) SSHURSA calls upon IGAD to pursue peace and reconciliation by discussing root causes of crises with the ruling party SPLM rather than taking sides to further deep wounds among the South Sudanese people who are well educated in what has been going in South Sudan and how the current crises started.
6) Calls upon international human rights groups and people of good will to expose and condemn Museveni’s acts of partiality that is fueling crises in South Sudan and throwing Great Lakes region into crises. Any sane human being must ask; if Museveni’s UPDF failed to defeat the rebellion of Northern Uganda Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army for over 20 years, what miracle would he have to be successful in foreign land if not yearn for organized anarchy in South Sudan to divert the intention of Ugandans from their own internal governance crises?
7) SSHURSA also calls upon international community to pressure on President Salva Kiir to release the 11 political detainees he alleged of staging a coup against him. The release will pave way for dialogue between him and his former deputy Riek Machar.
8) SSHURSA calls upon UN to create buffer zone between the fighting forces to prevent more escalation of violence and pressure the two leaders for talks genuinely meant to bring sanity, peace and true reconciliation to South Sudan.
9) Calls upon Uganda and South Sudanese civil society to stage demonstrations against illegal deployment of UPDF in South Sudan.
10) Finally, SSHURSA condemns the violence and the irresponsible SPLM dictatorship that has thrown the country into deep insecurities and also pays deep condolences to all families for the loss of dear ones in the senseless war.
South Sudan Human Rights Society for Advocacy (SSHURSA) is an incorporated non political and non profit making Human Rights organization founded in June 2007 by South Sudanese Lawyers and Law Students at Makerere Law Development Centre (LDC), Kampala-Uganda.
In 2009, it became operational in South Sudan with its head office in capital city Juba and co-ordination offices in the states. It membership composes of individuals and organizations who believe in its human rights protection mandate. Its vision is for a democratic and human rights abiding South Sudan and with its mission to monitor, document and publish human rights status in South Sudan and also train general public on Constitution, the importance of human rights, fundamental freedoms of an individual, Rule of Law, democracy, Transitional Justice and International Humanitarian Law , all geared towards creating a more responsible, justice and good governance oriented South Sudan.
SSHURSA pays special focus on the rights of children, women and other vulnerable groups.It also keeps close attention to the strict observance of the supreme law, The Constitution.
For more information about SSHURSA: [email protected] and www.sshursa.org
