War Or Peace: A Choice For South Sudanese!

And will peace be realized in the country when a rebel leader is charged with treason? Peace is for all, and leadership for unambiguous few politicians, I urge our leaders to have hearts for their nation. We should prioritize peace and reconciliation. Millions of lives were lost in the decades of protracted civil war in Sudan. There is no need for war anymore in the new nation. Let's opt for peace in order to repair broken coexistences among ethnicities for better South Sudan. As rebels attacked the town of Malakal on Tuesday, this shows that Dr Machar is not interested in peace – and the IGAD, Western leaders and well-wishers should hold him accountable for all atrocities committed by the rebels.

Who is interested in war? And who is not free or marginalized again? People have had been wordingly skirmishing to find the root cause of the incident that erupted at military barrack in Juba where presidential guards side-lined ethnically and confronted themselves militarily, which turned a rebellion. Dr Machar has rebelled but that isn't a solution to presidential aspiration. We are yawning for peace not war. I wondered why South Sudanese are supporting Dr Machar when he infringed the constitution by masterminding a failed coup attempt where lives were lost. We should be law abiding people – constitutionally own our nation.

I potholed the warring parties, especially the rebels loyal to Dr Machar to stop violating the cessation of hostilities signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. If Dr Machar believes fighting to overthrow a legitimate government is the only solution to power or lasting peace in the country than tabling political differences that caused a rebellion, then he will not handle to remove an elected leader and nobody will support him in the few coming months. He is supposed to be tolerant or give a room for negotiation. I urge any soldier or individual who rebelled against the government of South Sudan to put down his/her weapons and go back to where he worked for nation building. I am also calling upon the white army to stop killing civilians.

The SPLM came to stay or will live forever. If there was no SPLM/A, there would have been no peace or country called South Sudan. Likewise, if there is no peaceful SPLM as a ruling party, there will be no peaceful South Sudan, believe me or not! The SPLM has to begin again – think big – and strive for change, democracy and prosperity as its vision affirms.

The leadership should strategize in order to find a lasting solution to political chaos for peaceful coexistence in the nation. It should also prioritize solving internal crises within the SPLM to avoid problems, since SPLM is where political tribulations started in the country. Furthermore, ethnical conflict or recruiting people from your ethnic group can't solve the current political turmoil. As one people, one nation, we should rally behind President Kiir, while expecting him to unite all South Sudanese in order to win in the upcoming election.

The government should ever be ready for talks and adhere to IGAD proposed initiatives for peace. The UPDF should also stay until peace is restored in the country. Thereafter, the SPLA has witnessed a massive defection of its troops to the rebels that created a gap in the national army to be filled by UPDF. It's a right for any country to invite another country into its political or military affairs. We have had helped UPDF to eradicate LRA in the borders of DR Congo and Central Africa Republic. The presence of UPDF in South Sudan is not a surprise.

Finally, the Juba politicians should be agents of change at this crucial time. How long are we going to cling or sing: coup, coup, coup and coup every week on SSTV without finding a solution? Can we stop eating that Dr Machar planned a failed coup attempt to overthrow President Kiir? The MPs should reasonably educate the nation on unity purposes. The nation has to move forward. We can live and grow without Dr Machar but we need peace. Let's think of orphans whose fathers sacrificed for the sake of our freedom. These orphans need school fees, shelters and feeding, not war after their fathers liberated us from enemies in Khartoum. I know our people do not stand criticism but truth can't be hid if we are striving for change as a nation.

Deng Mangok Ayuel lives in Aweil, South Sudan and blogs at theshoeshinereyes.wordpress.com. He can be reached via [email protected]