06/02/2025
THE STORY OF SPLA VETERAN GUET ARET ANYANG (in Equatoria during the liberation days and now in 2025): In this video (please scroll to minute 21:45) is Guet Aret Anyang. Guet is a veteran of SPLA Zindieya Battalion, Koryom Division. Guet's first engagement with the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) was in 1985 in Owing Kibul in Equatoria under the Command of Major Arok Thon Arok. It was during this theater engagement that Guet distinguished himself as a valor PKM Machine Gunner during which he led his comrades in overrunning the Sudanese Armed Forces Garrison at Owiny Kibul. Guet would survive thirst episode that almost wiped out Zindieya combatants on their way back to Mongalla Campaign. On the western side of the Nile, his nephew Ayor Achiek Aret Anyang (Ayor Achiek Mabil) was killed in action while engaging the enemy in Terkeka as a member of Raat Battalion, Koryom Division. During this time, Guet would participate in Achara Alip campaign that successfully kept the enemy confined to Bor-Juba Road thereby saving Bor villages from being destroyed by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Fast forward to the late 1980s and early 1990s, Guet would participate in the most successful SPLA Bright Star Campaign that liberated Eastern Equatoria and the rest of the Nile Eastern Bank all the way to Nyinthar Malual in Upper Nile.
All of these selfless sacrifices happened in Equatoria, folks. And this is just one person’s example.
Upon the signature of the CPA, Guet ended up like many abandoned SPLA veterans that had to fend for themselves, and he rightly resorted to cattle keeping as his post independence livelihood.
Last week, Guet’s cattle camp at Aru Junction (Nyolo Village), now under the leadership of his able-bodied nephew, Beny e Wut Ajang Achiek Aret Anyang (brother to fallen Ayor I named above), was raided by Equatorians during which 41 lives were lost and thousands of cows taken. This led to the post tragedy interviews where you see Guet interviewed by Mading Ngor Akec Kuai.
Given this historical context, you can understand why he clearly stated he couldn't leave Equatoria. He is a veteran who dedicated his formative life to liberating Equatoria, and he does not understand why he is being told he does not belong here when all he is looking for is a grazing grass in Equatorian bushes (something that is seasonally burned by wildfires).
Here is my question. Who, in the post independent South Sudan, can tell Guet Aret Anyang and his nephew Ajang Achiek Aret that they are foreigners in Equatoria? I get it when Equatorians say it because they are driven by their hatreds of Dinkas. But who among the petrodollar thieves and property owners on dubiously acquired lands in Juba have the moral authority to question Veteran Guet in light of his story I just shared? Here is my “ask” for those individuals, please share your stories of the liberation days in Equatoria and let’s see if they will hold up against Guet’s before you tell him (who is legitimately owed a retirement package by this government) he is a foreigner in Equatoria.
Lest I might be misunderstood as contradicting my acceptance of Kokora II message, all I am sharing here is a real story of an Equatoria liberator who is now abandoned post-independence and told he does not deserve to fetch grazing grass in Equatoria. Yes, I am in for a developed confederacy. Each region stays on its land and keeps it resources. We need to do this for at least one year and see where this takes us.
Copied from Muordït ëke Aköl Aguek Ngong Kur
