By: Justin Ambago Ramba

24 December 2016

The privileged few who enjoy unlimited access to the world’s mainstream media will surely agree with me that there exists a huge disparity in the way this industry has over the years reported on the ongoing crisis in South Sudan as compared say to other hot spots like Syria, Iraq or Yemen. Furthermore, if you are lucky to live in the western world, you probably must be getting more news about the relatively peaceful Egypt of Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi than any of the massacres orchestrated by the state on a daily basis in the Greater Equatoria region of South Sudan.

The pro-government ‘Mathiang Anyoor’ Dinka tribal militiamen have for the better part of the last five months carried out a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing in the Equatorias. Coupled with a Scorch Earth campaign in and around the Yei River county and in every inch of the Equatoria region, Salva Kiir has more blood of innocent civilians on his hands than did the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein over a similar period.

However, how many of us can testify on the media coverage on South Sudan? Besides the targeted killings of local journalists by government security agents, even foreign journalists have frequently been deported on the orders of the regime’s chief watchdog and its Minister of Information Michael Makuei Lueth the ‘Liar.’

Under such conditions who cannot see the reasons why any of the countless heinous events ever make it as a Breaking News on the CNN, MBC, Sky News or even the Aljazeera TV!
But here I am doing my level best to convey revolutionary greetings and the season’s best wishes to our brave freedom fighters who continue to resist the regime on every front.

Some would say, then what is the point of dedicating a season’s revolutionary greetings to any of the freedom fighters operating deep in the jungles and swamps of South Sudan at this critical moments?
The sceptics may be right when the chances are that they may never get to read it or will only do so around Easter time, three months or so from now!

Nonetheless, the answer to the above question is that not all media houses are hostile to the cause of the people of South Sudan. Again, when it comes to core national issues, there will always be means of reaching out not only to the freedom fighters but even to God in the Heavens.
So, let’s not allow ourselves to be put off by what we have no control over. There are the social media out there plus many other South Sudanese managed online websites like SouthSudanNation.com which has for a very long time been at the forefront of South Sudan’s political cause since its very inception in 2003.

Now the number of similar sites have increased. They compete to not only disseminate the news but also enlighten the world and the stakeholders alike. The South Sudanese based media outlets are doing a great work educating the world about the revolution and the struggle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light in this new country’s long political journey towards good governance, freedom of speech and expression and above all the ‘rule of law.’

This season’s core message is to convey revolutionary greetings to all our freedom fighters in their trenches and wherever they are operating on the front lines. As they battle the genocidaire regime of Salva Kiir Mayardit, Kuol Manang Juuk, Michael Makuei Lueth, Paul Malong Awan and the tribally based support of the so-called Jieng Council of Elders (JCE), it is necessary to inform them that they are not alone in this noble struggle.To all the faithful sons and daughters of South Sudan who have put their lives on the line in a genuine effort to liberate our masses from the fascist and dictatorial regime in Juba, we wish you ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.’

As the people’s revolution moves slowly but surely, may the Lord be kind enough on ‘His Birthday’ and grant us a ‘Christmas Gift’ in the form of smashing victories over the enemy!
This much-needed victory is necessary to start to move the wheel of a good peaceful settlement that the arrogant regime in Juba is often inclined to ignore in search of an elusive military victory!
Fellow compatriots and comrades in arms, I would like to assure you that your struggle for a better South Sudan like those of your fathers’ and grandfathers’ before you will never be in vain. For the entire world understands how the rogue and notorious regime of Salva Kiir Mayardit and the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) have imposed this destructive war on you.

It is also now well documented that the regime hasn’t stopped there, but it has of late sought the path of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the other ethnicities as it aims to implement its expansionist policies and sustain its grips on political, social and economic powers in the new country.

While you the freedom fighters deserve every single bit of our season’s revolutionary greetings and best wishes, we too appreciate the great sacrifices from your end as we are also aware of the immense human sufferings of our displaced populations forced into exile, refugee camps in the neighboring countries and the PoC sites under the UNIMISS.
None of these sacrifices of our people and the sufferings imposed on them will be allowed to go in vain. For one day and very soon we shall reclaim our country and lay authority over our ancestral lands and territories.

We all know that there is no easy walk to freedom and the price of reversing the expansionist invaders’ scorch earth policy will be measured in human lives, but that too is doable. The dawn of total freedom is just around the corner.
And not too long from today that our freedom fighters will embrace full victory and fly our ancestor’s national flag all across the liberated territories and mark an end to this current ’One Tribe Oppression.’

The Christmas season has traditionally been a time for reflections, and this 2016’s is no exception. Some 2000 years ago a savior for mankind was born in Bethlehem in Palestine and in the December of 2013, the seed of the South Sudan people’s revolution was sown in Juba.
This was the rebirth of the same quest for freedom, equality, and justices when those who claimed to have liberated us from the tyranny of the northern Sudanese Arab ‘Jallaba’ suddenly chose to become the new oppressors.

But it was also the culmination of many years of disappointments which those at the helm of the SPLM/SPLA injustices and corruption empire sought to get away with.
They, by design set the rules of the new engagement when they first unleashed the ruthless illegally recruited one-tribe militiamen on an indiscriminate killing spree all across the Cty of Juba, throughout that fateful week of December 2013.
What happened was a massacre of an immense proportion which could have received an entirely different reaction from the international community had it happened somewhere else other than South Sudan!

But then, not too long, an instant karma happened, and it was indeed sooner than ever expected that if not for the Ugandan Peoples Defence Force’s (UPDF) intervention, Kiir forces were on the verge of being defeated.

The very people who set what was later identified as the ‘Fire of Revenge’, were suddenly at the receiving end, for at least that was what President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s speech made it appear at the time when he dressed up in a full military fatigue.

Today in December 2016, South Sudan is at a very advanced stage of that popular revolution, that only a political hypocrite of the first order may dare to deny. Of course, there are a few out there who have made a habit of having their heads always buried in the sand. Remember that their ignorance about something doesn’t say that the thing doesn’t exist. But as they consciously made the choice of playing ignorance, it only helps the revolution to flourish and grow and no matter whether the D-day will find them sober, intoxicated or in a coma! An apologist is always apologist.

As far as we have come, every revolutionary South Sudanese, man or woman, young or old, a refugee in a camp or freedom fighter in the frontline, without exception we all have a national obligation and a human duty towards this popular revolution as it sweeps all across the new country.
Little did anyone know where the arms, ammunitions, supplies and logistics needed to resist this evil and the dictatorial regime will come from once the resistance starts. Today that question has been put to rest.

It is now an open secret that the revolution is continuously benefiting from the enemy both militarily and organizationally, thanks to the military hardware and ammunitions that the freedom fighters find easy to capture from those ill-trained ‘Mathiang Anyoor’ pro-government tribal militiamen of Salva Kiir, Kuol Manyang, Michael Makuei and Paul Malong.

In this Christmas season, we are already seeing that the same God who allowed the regime to instigate the very revolution that will uproot it from power – is again rendering it without a choice but to supply the freedom fighters with the necessary military hardware and ammunitions whenever the enemy troops fall in an ambush.

Those who know the difficulties associated with first negotiating and paying for arms destined for non-state actors and delivering them clandestinely across secure national borders will appreciate what General Paul Malong Awan and his ‘Mathiang Anyoor’ tribal militiamen are doing.
The regime will never disappoint our freedom fighters as long as they continue delivering military hardware, ammunitions, and supplies on time, and exactly where they are needed when the UN Security Council has decided against imposing Arms Embargo on South Sudan in it’s 23 December 2016 Session.

Viva Christmas – Viva Peoples’ Revolution – and long live the struggle of the South Sudanese masses for freedom, justice & equality.

Author: J.A.C Ramba. A concerned South Sudanese citizen. A voice for the people’s revolution and a voice for the several million voiceless.