21/12/2024
| What kind of a reward will President Kiir’s Administration accord Gen. Garang Mabil Deng, while he is still alive?
By Ateny Wek Ateny
I woke up this morning and logged into my Facebook’s Wall as usual and saw the picture of Gen. Garang Mabil Deng published. Before I could read what was written above the picture of this great man, I almost collapsed. I thought it was another bad news. However, it was an article written by Gen. Aleu Ayieny Aleu in praise of Gen. Garang Mabil, published on Facebook Timeline of Dr. Thiik Yak Cithiik. I was relieved.
In fact, Gen. Aleu wrote what I have been thinking about for two years now. The question as to what can the SPLM- led government do to reward Gen. Garang Mabil Deng, while he is till alive, has not only been my question, but also from general public. Gen. Garang Mabil has been one of the few selfless living liberator I can never imagine.
Gen. Garang Mabil Deng is truly a nationalist of first order. In the aftermath to the formation of the then Government of Southern Sudan in 2005, Gen. Garang Mabil was left out both in the army and in the political arena, but he kept quite unshakenly. He never uttered any bad word against the government even when he saw men/women from other armed groups flourishing in the army he once defended from being destroyed by these groups.
Another thing Gen. Mabil did was to volunteer for the defense of Juba when he heard that the SPLM/A IO forces were marching on Juba, and was shot on his armed at Nile Safari. He then refused to go for treatment, but President Kiir gave orders for medical transfer and treatment of Gen. Garang in Kenya. He was unhappy about the senseless war that broke out between brothers and sisters, but he felt duty bound to defend the government in Juba.
We cannot mention how best Garang Mabil fought the successive Khartoum Regimes. One major battle he fought, was the attempt by the SPLA to capture Juba in 1990, under over all command of our hero Dr. John Garang.
