30/07/2025
Martyr's day message by CAPT. MABIOR GARANG MABIOR.
REKINDLING THE EMBERS OF THE NEW SUDAN VISION TWENTY YEARS LATER
Fellow Junubeen,
Today marks 20 years since the untimely death of Commander Dr. John Garang de Mabior. Every year since the tragic helicopter crash that took his life, our people have lit candles to honour his memory. As we light our candles again this year, we must also take a moment to reflect on what these past 20 years have meant for us as a people.
I still remember the moment I heard that his aircraft had gone off the radar — I feared the worst. When, 24 hours later, the crash was confirmed and there were no survivors, I understood, as did the majority of our civil population, the hardships which lay ahead. I remember the thought that kept ringing in my mind in my native tongue: “How will I live with these people?” At the time, I couldn’t imagine surviving five years, let alone two decades.
Commander Dr. John Garang is the most quoted, and the least understood, leader in our history — dead or alive. His name has been used by those who claim to love him for political expediency. He is still being fought in his grave by his detractors, even 20 years after his death. At the same time, he is admired by the people for whom he sacrificed his youth and eventually made the ultimate sacrifice.
Compatriots,
As we mark this twentieth anniversary of the passing of the leader of our liberation struggle, let us allow him to rest. Whether we loved him or opposed him, it is time to take responsibility for our own destiny. The grudges held by his detractors will not fix our country. Nor will the nostalgia of supporters who imagine what might have been, had he lived, contribute to the welfare and prosperity of our people.
The best way to honour the memory of Commander Dr. John and that of all our heroes on this important Martyrs Day, is to concretely understand the vision they died for — the vision of the New Sudan. I won’t go into detail here, as it would require a series of discourses. But it is enough to say that it was a vision rooted in unity.
There is no contradiction between the idea of unity and the secession of our country. As much as we would like to blame individuals, the root of our current crises lies in a widespread failure to grasp the fundamental difference between secession and separation. The SPLA/SPLM was never a separatist movement; its objective was a united, democratic, and secular Sudan. Secession became inevitable only after the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime failed to make unity an attractive option. That failure remains a major source of instability in North Sudan today and continues to threaten further disintegration.
The traditional elites in our country have failed to grasp the vision of the New Sudan. Many secessionists have reduced it to a simplistic argument between unity vs. separation. They miss the point that the vision remains relevant to our contemporary realities, and can guide us in resolving the new contradictions that have emerged in our society since our political independence.
The New Sudan vision offers a framework for resolving the contradictions of power sharing, wealth sharing, and the broader question of building a just society. Unity must be the foundation on which we build our modern state. If secession is misunderstood as a separatist ideology rather than a process that can also lead to unity, then division becomes the foundation of our nationhood, with devastating consequences for the future.
The sectarian politics, which continue to tear our communities apart, are a direct result of founding our national identity on the idea of separation. This mindset has trickled down to our communities and even threatens to divide our families at the nuclear level. If we remain on this divisive trajectory, we will continue breaking apart until there is nothing left to divide.
Compatriots,
As we remember the first Chairman and Commander in Chief of the SPLA/SPLM and all our fallen heroes this Martyrs Day, let us begin an honest national conversation about the true meaning of the Vision of New Sudan. We must stop reducing the legacy of our liberation struggle to a futile competition to control it as a political brand. Instead, let us draw inspiration from that vision and come together as one people. Only through unity can we lay a strong foundation for the welfare and prosperity of our people and the future of our nation.
Fellow countrymen and women,
We must be united! 🍅✊🏿
Mabior Garang
30/07/2025
National Conversation - South Sudan
