User:Sallah Lasu

MOJE-WONDURUBA CONFLICT

Wonduruba County is part of Jubek State, one of the states created by the government of President Salva Kirr in 2016. It was a payam that formed part of Juba County during the Khartoum administration. It is bordered by Lainya County to the South, Katigiri to the north, juba to the east and Dollo and Mukaya to the west.

Causes of the conflict.

After the signing of the CPA, the pojulu community headed by Dr. Samson Kwaje requested for the creation a county which shall comprise of Mukaya, Limbe, Kenyi, Loka, Lainya, Wonduruba and Katigiri payams. To their favor, Dr. John Garang de Mabior approved the formation of a Pojulu county in 2005. The elders and the elites reunited and discussed about the name of their new county. Due to the central location of Lainya payam, it was named the headquarters and therefore, county adapted its name. Some individuals (minority group) from Wonduruba rejected the idea. The group wanted a name that does not make certain payam to own the county or dominate the county. The Pojulu are proud people and anything pointed to a particular name will make the rest feel out of the equation. They believed joining Lainya and Wonduruba was intended by Dr. Samson to serve his own national political interest and not for the interest of the Wonduruba or Pojulu people at large. Therefore, they demanded creation of Wonduruba County or the area should remain under Juba County. They were paid little attention to. In the years 2007 to 2008, the group grew in number and they anonymously refused to be under Lainya. Dr. Samson Kwaje who was by then the minister of Agriculture and a member of the SPLM’s Political Bureau and National Liberation Council filed a complaint with the National Elections Commission (NEC) over the controversy and the Commission ruled in his favour, deciding to place Wonduruba under Lainya County. Many had criticized his way of handling the move to annex Wonduruba to Lainya County. For they believed it was an act of forcing his people to be under Lainya county. On November 15, gunmen ambushed Dr. Kwaje’s motorcade near Mankaru village. Three people died in the shootout that ensued and the minister escaped with minor injuries to his right arm. He was in his village to register for the forthcoming general elections and help mobilize people to sign up. In response to this incident, the governor of Central Equatoria State Clement Wani Konga issued a decree that effectively brought under his control Wonduruba payam, appointed a coordinator and replaced the administrator for Wonduruba Payam. The government refused the calls to make Wonduruba a county as it has no budget and also the demography and physical size of the area doesn’t allow it to be a county. The conflict intensified in 2010 with the death of Dr. Samson Kwaje, a pocket of the Lainya-group (those who support the annexation of Wonduruba to Lainya) believed that he was poisoned by the Juba-Group ( those who want to remain under Juba county), a claim which the Juba group denied. The paramount chief of Wonduruba, Gordon Shasha who is prominent figure among Juba-Group grievingly denied having hand neither in the attempt to assassinate the Dr. Kwaje nor in his death. He claimed Dr. Kwaje was like a son to him and he will never do anything to harm him. However, Moje community and the other members of the Lainya Group could not buy his denial and termed it as crocodile tears grief. The situation got worse when the coordinator of Wonduruba payam took sides which left the Lainya group cut off from the government of south Sudan. Their voice was unheard and the Juba group started using force and intimidations to make sure the Lainya Group join them. In 2011, Some Moje people were arrested and others driven off their homes by the local police and soldiers sent from Wonduruba payam in an attempt to enforce creation of immigration post in the area. Many analysts believed the creation was not necessary; it was a ploy to intimidate the Moje Boma people where Dr. Samson Kwaje comes from. After many critics, those arrested like Michael Lukudu (a local medical personal) for blocking and participating in the breaking down the post were later released without any charges. Many Moje families had their houses and food stores destroyed and took refuge in Lainya County as the brutality continued. Later the government ordered the withdrawal of the Wonduruba police from Moje and the area came into relative calm in 2012. Many efforts have been exhausted in peaceful methods to solve the conflicts. However, little has been achieved as the Moje demands that the Juba group headed by Gordon Shasha should hand over those responsible for the attempted assassination in 2009 and the actual assassinator of Dr. Kwaje in 2010; a demand the Juba group could not meet.

Impacts: The conflicted has bigger social, political and economic impacts on the people Wonduruba Payam. Schools were shut down and many children could not attend to school. Social services such as medical care were inaccessible in some areas. Educational materials, teachers’ salaries and medicines could not reach places like Moje as they were to come through Wonduruba payam administration which is now an enemy. This led to marginalization of such areas. In 2014, when the SPLM-IO expanded their network to Equatoria region, some wrong elements from the Juba group took advantage of the situation and termed some members of the Lainya Group as rebels and used the SPLA to terrorize these areas. This forced some of the youth in these communities to join the SPLM-IO to protect themselves and their families. CES governor assumes control of Wonduruba payam