What was behind the rumours of President Kiir’s death?

South Sudan since coming from its 21 years of civil war had been in its different political landscape. Here the politics rotate around those from the bush and other Southern political parties. It’s a cut throat competition but in its silent deadly manner ever since the Juba declaration, in which various guerrilla movements were absorbed into one united national army, the Sudan People\\\'s Liberation Army (SPLA). The aim was to end the enmity between Southern rebel leaders who either split or were having different organized forces defending their communities from Khartoum or the SPLA rebels then.

The unity that was forged was a vague one. Some of the political or the then rebel leaders like Paulino Matip Nhial, who had over 50,000 soldiers, were included into the government. Matip himself became the SPLA deputy commander in chief. Before the death rumors of President Salva Kiir Mayardit that sparked up on the 8th of November 2009, the two had develop a bitter relationship. Matip accused Kiir, who is also the Commander in chief of the SPLA, of conspiring with the governor of Unity State, Taban Deng Gai, to plot against his life through his guard.

The governor’s entourage picked up some difference when Matip’s guards claimed that they were being provoked by the governor’s guards.
In the clashes ten lives were lost while others were injured when tanks from the military base stormed the family home of Matip in Unity State.
After the incident the President ordered Matip to step down, in reaction Matip called for a press briefing in Juba in his home. The government, however, blocked the press from hearing Matip’s story saying that the whole thing was a military issue hence the press needed not to intervene.

Some aides to the Deputy Commander in Chief however said the genesis of the clashes was the intention to terminate Matip who holds a large number of armed units in Bentiu and Juba. He is seen as an illiterate who holds the position without any work. The tension between the two leaders did not only end within them but it has torn the communities of the two apart. As a result Nuer of Matip and Dinka Kiir still remain enemies with the recent incidents of the tensions between the two leaders.

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It is not the first time that misfortunate befalls the President. In May this year one of the President’s sons was murdered in Juba. According to the family the deceased seems to him been stocked by electric wire and his limbs and manhood were removed.

During the burial, that only government dignitaries were allowed to attend, the family accused the enemies of the President to be responsible for the death. These enemies were not named but those who were fighting for his position probably were the ones who in fact wanted his life terminated but only that they found the son. Madut, a family member, said each year the President’s family loses a member in which the cause was not known. As a result of the killing of the leader’s son Juba then experienced tightened security, movement at night was restricted.

According to the Minister of Information of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) the rumor about the President’s death was initiated by those in the system of government who wanted to cause anarchy. Dr. Riek Machar, a one time enemy of the SPLA/M whose split in 1991 led to the Bor massacre and who is now in the movement again, said the President’s death rumors was engineered by those who wanted to take the South back to its days of mess and the enemies of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in the South who wanted to get money from the Khartoum government by causing confusion in the South as it had happened during Dr. John Garang’s death.

The current leadership is widely blamed by Southerners for failing to control tribal division. Certain communities dominate others and were given the total privilege by the government which the same community controls 98% of it. According to a source that requested anonymity leaders come from the President’s tribe and were given ultimate powers while those leaders from certain communities promoted on merit have no voice. Even the juniors from the privileged ones have more powers than them.

The tribal conflicts that started in front of the President of Sudan Mr. Omar Al Bashir and his First Vice President Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit, started in Malakal when the Dinka community - Kiir’s community - wanted to perform their traditional dance first before the host Shilluk community. As a tradition in South Sudan the host welcomes an important person before the neighbors, but the Dinka - because their son was in charge of the South Sudan - wanted to be the first to welcome him. This resulted into clashes in which hundreds lives were lost. The SPLA soldiers, when sent for operation, backed their own tribe, since of course the Dinkas as the majority of the commanders use to silence other tribes using the government as a cover.

These acts are being viewed by other South Sudanese as a total weakness of the President, hence wishing him death such that they would be able to help stop the dominance when another leader comes. In the government today tribe is the qualification for any job in all the ministries. The community were he/she comes from always has the majority of its workers from that community. In the president escort term alone there are no Equatorians, only those from his community and close relatives. Education scholarships were not equally distributed to all the tribes or states. For example, those students sent to Canada, Egypt, and South Africa for studies were purely from the noble Dinka ethnic.

In most of my interviews within Juba as a core area I found that most citizens take the President rather as a traditional leader of the Dinka than being the president of the Government of Southern Sudan. He failed to unite the people as Southerners by giving them equal opportunities from ministerial positions to the army. His death rumor was a wish by those who seem to have no hope in the government but for it to die to set a new beginning.