S. Sudan: Bari and the Mundari fight one another on the streets of Juba

Recently in southern Sudan, inter-tribal conflict in Jonglei and Warrap states claimed more than 300 lives. In April, as noted here at Sudan Watch, Bari and Mundari communities clashed over cattle raiding in Jebel Lado area, north of Juba. Now the Bari and Mundari are fighting one another on the streets of Juba.

From Sudan Radio Service, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 –
No Referendum Without Rule of Law Says Advisor

(Khartoum) – The Presidential Advisor for African Affairs, Bona Malwal, says southern Sudanese cannot go for a referendum to determine their destiny in 2011 when there is an absence of the “rule of law” in southern Sudan.

Malwal was speaking in Saint Matthew’s Cathedral in Khartoum on Sunday.

[Bona Malwal]: “The question that we must ask ourselves is: 'Are we justified as political leaders, are we justified as politicians, to drag our people into the referendum on self-determination without the rule of law in our country at the time when the Bari and the Mundari are fighting?' In my entire life, I have never seen the Bari and the Mundari fight one another, they are fighting today on the streets of Juba under an autonomous, almost independent Government of Southern Sudan. Is this the way we want to ask the people of southern Sudan to choose between separation and unity? I say this thing not to side with any politician, I say this to raise the awareness of the young people in front of me”.

He called upon southern Sudanese not to make northern Sudan their greatest enemy if southern Sudan secedes after the referendum.

[Bona Malwal]: “If southern Sudan is honest about its right to self-determination which I have been supporting personally since 1965, then I think southern Sudanese politicians and all of you as southern Sudanese are duty-bound to ensure that when you become an independent southern Sudan, northern Sudan does not become a permanent enemy because the first people to suffer as a result of hostilities will be Southern Sudan”.

Bona Malwal was speaking in Khartoum on Sunday.