[allAfrica.com] Claims of Oppression: The Zande People Speak Out African Church Information Service NEWS April 28, 2003 Posted to the web April 28, 2003 Nairobi The Zande people of Western Equatoria in southern Sudan have told Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), that they (SPLM/A) are rapidly losing credibility among non-Dinka people. They have presented a list of grievances against the rebel movement, most of which constitute human rights violations against members of their community. SPLM/A entered Western Equatoria region of South Sudan after a swift military operation against the Sudanese Army in 1990. This is the home of the Zande people, abutting Congo and Central Africa Republic to the west. The Zande did not help the Sudanese Army in resisting SPLA military thrust, but did all they could to facilitate victory of the advancing liberation movement. But now, after 12 years, the Zande are virtually against the Dinka in their home areas due what they say has been 12 years of misrule and poor governance. Their leaders recently presented a memorandum of severe censure of the SPLA record in Zande home areas of the South. The 33 leaders comprise intellectuals and businessmen, including women. They say, "the Dinka in the SPLA have already shown our people what a new Sudan would be in practical terms". Asserting in their document of censure that there are serious concerns against the SPLM/A and their commanders on the ground in western Equatoria, they urge top SPLM/A leadership to take their listed disquiet with the seriousness it deserves. Otherwise, they declare, the Dinka will not in future be expected to convince other ethnic groups in the South, "as nobody will listen to them after all what has happened". The catalogue of Zande claims against the Dinka are serious. For example, they charge, "It is also said the mistreatment of the Zande by the Dinka is purposely done as a provocative measure to precipitate a crisis and justify massacre of Zande people, should they quest to resist Dinka oppression". The Zande say that "some people believe that the Dinka want South Sudan for themselves alone". They go on to make a far-reaching claim that the Dinka "were committed to demographic changes through forced marriages". Quoting an unnamed SPLM/A official in the Cairo office in 2001, they say that the Dinka officer reported "with obvious pleasure" how he and other colleagues participated in the abduction of over 30 Zande children in Meridi area, and took them to Dinka home areas where they were tattooed according to Dinka custom and brought up as Dinka. With apparent bitterness, the Zande recall how they received the SPLA (after their victorious arrival in Western Equatoria 13 years ago) with open arms, providing them with food, medicines and information about the movement of the enemy. Hence the memorandum of severe censure states: "Little did the Zande know that soon the Dinka soldiers were to turn against the Zande population and start the most atrocious humiliation and oppression that the Zande, in living memory, have ever witnessed. Following the victory of the SPLA against the Sudanese Army in Western Equatoria many Dinka men, women and children, flocked to Maridi, Yambio, Tombura and the surrounding countryside. But, the Zande complainants say, when their people could not provide enough food for the new comers "the Dinka went on the rampage , looting, beating and sometimes killing their hosts. This scenario has been the state of affairs during the last 12 years, since the area fell to the rebel movement. Many Zande girls have been abducted as slave wives and some sent to Dinka villages to learn Dinka culture, according to the Zande community leaders. They say that chiefs have been subjected to flogging, imprisonment and even assassinations. The assassination of Prince Bakumbasayo in Bongasu resulted after he reprimanded a Dinka soldier who had beaten up a civilian. Not only was nothing done to the soldier, but his unguided colleagues at Bongasu's funeral went as far as preventing his decent burial and performance of funeral rites. Another death that the Zande community cite as an example of regular abuse of human rights is that of Luka Kpakasiro, military commander of Tombura country. He was shot dead by his deputy, Major Khamis Mazingo in 1998 "for attempting to prevent the mistreatment of the civil population in the country". Again, say the Zande, "no investigation has been done by the SPLA and Khamis and his accomplices have gone unpunished". They say the same Major Khamis recently ordered the disarmament of all Zande soldiers in Western Equatoria and that when the Zande refused to comply, Khamis demanded the arrest of the entire leadership of Yambio County. Those targeted included Commissioner of the County, Hon. Mrs. Mary Biba and her deputy, the County Police Commander, Severino Morris, the wife of the governor of Equatoria region, Mrs. Costanza Abu John, among several others. The Zande also claim Brigadier (Rtd) Damiano Dabi received over 130 lashes between Yambio and Yei from the same forces in 2001. They conclude that men like Major Khamis, who have carried out many human rights violations against them, would never be so bold if they did not feel protected at higher levels of the SPLA hierarchy. A source from SPLM/A however, who preferred not to be named, denied the allegations by the Zande, but admitted that there were internal issues that needed thrashing out. "These are internal matters. The Zande are SPLA. We are planning to hold a national conference next month, during which all these issues will be discussed," said the source.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2003 African Church Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================