And back again.

akon and akon 2 have been travelling{and ignoring the blog}.
Speaking for myself things have been a tad depressing lately.
Economy in free fall and the exchange rate soaring to terrifying heights.Attempted{and failed} coups, the central bank and minister of finance defying common sense and a population that is struggling to make ends meet.
Will soon post a decent entry.

downward spiral to political repression?

I am worried about the (political) progression of South Sudan- especially in the last few months.  Often I –jokingly- state that we are not a democracy- and it is true that it takes quite a long time for any country led by its liberation movement to adapt democratic ideals. So on paper, yes we are a democracy but  on the ground?

But I am worried because it feels like things are slowly getting more repressive –if that makes sense. 

·      First there are the human rights reports

o   Denouncing the soldiers involved in disarmament in Jonglei – accusations of beatings and torture of citizens in certain counties of Jonglei

o   Reports on unlawful detention and imprisonment and the prison conditions- we keep our cattle in better conditions than we keep most of our prisoners, basically.

o   The death penalty- 2 men were hanged in Juba prison in august. With a very weak judicial system, very few lawyers- most of whom are unaffordable, two distinct systems of law, customary and statutory- which are sometimes contradictory- its hard to say if these men received anything close to a fair trial

·      There are the arbitrary arrests by the police. It’s very easy to get someone arrested in South Sudan. E.g. you could spend a night in prison if you are head of an organization and you dismiss someone working in your organization. Does not matter if they deserved to lose their job, or if the case is still in the court system but has not been resolved. Does not also matter what the law states. (this happened last week to someone I know). i am not sure you are supposed to arrest an individual in a case that involves company policy- unless they broke the law. i am also not sure if prison is a justifiable response to this kind of civil suit.

o   If there is a (criminal or civil) case against you that the police are investigating- they put you in jail until the case is resolved. There is no system to go to court to ascertain guilt or innocence prior or soon after this detainment. There is no ‘innocent until proven guilty’. You simply go to jail and then wait. So.. for example if I accuse someone of theft- the police will arrest him, put him in jail and then ‘investigate’. Only if the accuser comes and states that the case is resolved will the person be released- in most cases. So the family usually has to follow up with the accuser... And lets not even talk about issues of customary law…

2 members of the South Sudan Civil Society Alliance were kidnapped and tortured earlier this year (July and Oct). One was released after the president instructed the security forces to find out where he was being held (makes you wonder if they were not the ones holding him in the first place.) And the other was found dumped- severely beaten but still alive- at a juba graveyard. Both had received threats and had been accused of working against the interest of the new nation. (And obviously, whenever one criticizes government- one is often accused of not having been in the bush fighting, therefore having no right to make any demands).

Then came the expulsion of the UN Human Rights Commissioner in November. I haven’t heard any official explanation given for this – but maybe I just don’t follow the news.

Then yesterday comes news of the murder of an journalist who was critical of  South Sudanese leadership- Isaiah Abraham.  Apparently he too had been warned and threatened several times against criticizing the government. 

http://www.cpj.org/2012/12/south-sudan-should-investigate-columnists-murder.php

All this makes one wonder if this is not a downward trend into state-sanctioned repression and to a lack of rule of law. Seemingly there is no freedom of expression- or rather it only exists when you are not critical of whatever is happening in the political sphere.

Does not portend well

security in juba

There was a demonstration this morning by the Ethiopian community- an Ethiopian was recently killed – don’t know the details.

And they were protesting insecurity in Juba.

About 2 months ago I was in Nairobi in a cab and somehow we started talking about Juba- and the cab driver (assumes I am Kenyan) starts to go on and on about how south Sudanese are xenophobic because he knows of 3 kenyans that have been killed/targetted in Juba.

I’ve also heard Ugandans talk a lot about this- our people are killing their people

One might begin to think that it really is that we are targeting foreigners.

What I find interesting is that we are all aware that that

-       South Sudan is a post-conflict country- meaning that guns are everywhere.

-       We do not have established institutions (we don’t even have a number for the police or the fire brigade). 

-       This town has grown exponentially- not just due to returnees but also foreigners coming to work and do business here.  Not all these people are of the savoury type – not excluding returnees but also including foreign workers.

-       Im sure add on the austerity measures and….

-        

Insecurity is to be expected.

And it doesn’t only affect foreigners. 

In fact I’d wager that the majority of the people dying as a consequence of the insecurity in Juba… ok lets speak in relative terms, not absolutes- the proportion of south Sudanese dying Juba as a consequence of the security situation is much higher than that of the foreigners, in Juba.

We all should be aware of the risks associated with working and living here, and (hopefully we) make an informed decision when we stay. I’ve lived here for 3 years…  I know that the level of aggressiveness here is higher than anywhere I have lived in, but I have never been hit or shot at- … threatened… yes. But that’s about it, insha’allah

We should be aware of our surroundings and who we associate with And yes, by all means have a demonstration against insecurity in Juba. But not that you are being targeted by the local community, instead that it is affecting everyone in Juba- local community included.

Lastly, this is the only East African country that allows any unskilled worker to come and set up business (Ugandans selling sugarcane on the streets, Ethiopians owning little shops- oh and big hotels etc.).  Everyone claims this leads to resentment, grumbles about ‘they are taking our jobs’ etc.  But this hasn’t resulted in targeted violence toward local business owners so… lets not cry wolf (yet)