War veteran at Bor peace rally: “I lost my leg in the fight for independence … but this peace is good, it must reign”

unmiss south sudan bor peace rally freedom square wrestling for peace revitalized peace agreement

Organizing a tournament of traditional wrestling was one UNMISS contribution to a recent peace rally in Bor.

1 Mar 2019

War veteran at Bor peace rally: “I lost my leg in the fight for independence … but this peace is good, it must reign”

Gideon Sackitey/Filip Andersson

 “I lost my leg in the bush in 2004 during the SPLA’s war for South Sudan’s independence”, Garang Goch Garang says through an interpreter, referring to the former name of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces.

Mr. Garang speaks as he and his small group of fellow disabled war veterans are attending a peace rally, supported by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, for example by organizing a first-ever “wrestling for peace” tournament, at the Freedom Square in Bor.

While the peace loving crowd numbers more than 10,000, Mr. Garang and his peers are just about a dozen or so, walking past the dais at put in place on the Freedom Square. Some of them have lost an arm, others a leg. Others have one other deformity or other. Their flagstaff read “Wounded Heroes”.

Held up under his improvised metal crutches, standing on one leg and with a piece of trouser flapping in the wind where the other leg should be, Garang Goch has seen better days.

“Life was good, and South Sudan was just starting on the path to durable peace when the wars started,” he recalls, as the content of the revitalized peace agreement to sort out his country’s problems, is being spread and explained to those attending the event of the day.

Garang Goch describes the peace rally as “significant and important”. To him, “it sends a clear message to all that peace must reign in the country and in our communities”.

He agrees with the words of Deborah Schein, head of the UN peacekeeping mission’s field office in Bor: “Peace does not come easily. You must all work towards building trust and confidence in the peace process.”

If the motley lot of peace celebrants is anything to go by, there is a consensus that peaceful harmony must be given a serious chance. At least that is what they all say: governors, other local authority figures, religious and community leaders, men (mostly) in uniform representing government and opposition forces alike.

Alier Aluong Ajak, a paramount chief in Bor, couldn’t agree more.

“Nothing is bigger than peace. Peace makes people live together in harmony. This peace is not for one person, it’s for all of us and it must stay.”