Chol Elijah

I’m really enjoying being home, the air is fresh and the view is spectacular. This ‘Ariek’ tree has been here for centuries, it served as the court center for my Duor clan. Sitting with me is my uncle and Sultan Awuol Akuoch Awuol. His uncle and my grandfather Mun Awuol Akuoch sat under this tree for close to 50 years adjudicating cases for his people. His father and my great grandfather Awuol Akuoch Ayom served as Duor chief sitting under this tree. As I small kid, I have sat on my grandfather’s lap while he was discharging his duties under this tree. I am glad God kept me alive for the last 35 years away from my birthplace.

It’s been 35 years since I left my home town of Duk-Padiet. Today I came back after three decades away. It was very emotional for me seeing the place I last knew when a small boy. My ancestral village and birthplace is 5 kms south of this township. I am overwhelmed by the reception accorded to us.

During this drought, the riverbed comes handy, testing its potential to supply the much needed water.

South Sudan’s economy is expected to grow.

I found this young @SSBFed fan yesterday deep in a village in a very remote part of South Sudan. @MTNSSD

The youth are throwing in their hats into the political arena and my mate @paulkasii is definitely going to be my Member of Parliament in the National Assembly representing Duk Constituency No. 12, Jonglei State. There is no better replacement for the retiring Hon. Philip Thon than this young man. @zack_diary

Is Juba International Airport ready? We did well managing the land borders with Uganda and DRC, but the air traffic Nairobi and Juba is heavy and will pose a challenge.

In this town, you will see kids carrying plastic chairs while going to school early in the morning, when I asked the kids why, the answer was obvious: not enough desks at school. I saw kids in different school uniforms going to opposite directions, so it must not be just one school problem.

Last evening, I couldn’t resist stopping to take a snapshot of this beautiful view of the sun setting over the Didinga Hills, Eastern Equatoria state.

Last evening, President Kiir dissolved the national and sub-national governments and all the legislative assemblies including the upper house, the Council of States. This was done after the enactment of the National Elections Act (Amended), 2012, paving the way for elections in December this year. However, the National Election Commission (NEC), is still very much behind in electoral preparedness: voter registration has not yet begun, no voter education and other election related civic education among others. Funding for the elections has not yet been secured. Tomorrow on the 24th, the inter-party dialogue committee, a body comprising of the representatives to parties to the just concluded agreement shall be meeting to agree on a raft of issues in regards to the conduct of the election. But what is not being talked about is the possibility of this body unanimously agreeing that the period remaining to conduct the election might be too short, and therefore, could extend the period of the caretaker government or recommend a totally new government of national unity for an extended period until elections are held. If this suffices, how will the new parliament be reconstituted or can the new government be formed without a function National Legislative Assembly and the Council of States? Will another constitutional amendment be needed to extend the life of the government in lieu of a functioning national legislature? The more people are think about this the more confused things appear to be.

South Sudan has potential mineral resources but are not mapped properly or quantified. The government has been trying to promote South Sudan as a mining destination to attract foreign investors. We only have artisanal and small-scale gold mining production going on in various states of our country, this is not enough to fund the budget for development like the oil revenue can. Recently, some companies have expressed their desire to replicate what the DRC did some years ago where mineral rights were issued to a consortium of Chinese companies in exchange for infrastructural development. The literature is out there to show how this scheme works and what success or failures of such schemes. Here we toyed with the same idea of oil for road projects which ended with mixed results. There are discussions in the tea places with the desire to entice the US government to replicate what they are currently doing in the DRC, many think that if South Sudan can offer mineral resources to the US companies through mineral diplomacy, then the Trump administration might give this a consideration and allow the US mining companies to invest in the mining industry here. But what are these minerals that can attract the US or the Chinese companies? Certainly the US companies will not come here to mine gold, there is gold everywhere including in jurisdictions that are far much attractive then South Sudan. The superpowers are looking for critical minerals and Rare Earth Elements (REEs): lithium, copper, cobalt, graphite among others. Do we have these minerals in South Sudan? Yes and No, but the best answer is, we don’t actually know. Why is that? South Sudan must invest in an integrated geological mapping and survey to identify and somehow quantify various types of mineral occurrences within our borders. This is an expensive undertaking but necessary requiring a budget of about $180 million to map the best mineralized zones of our country. Who should map the resources? This is more of a political decision than a technical one. You have the Chinese or the US geological survey, the British geological survey that can do this work. But remember the country you give the opportunity to map the resources will have a critical mineral data, which impacts the awards to exploit this resources. It must be handled with care. South Sudan must allocate the resources to map the country’s minerals first before we could actually attract credible investors that can actually participate in the minerals for infrastructure projects. Anything short of this will be speculative and might not achieve the desired outcome.

Kenya, South Sudan move to protect trade route amid Ilemi Triangle row theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/bus…

When Sereste Khama was the President of Botswana, and the war broke out in neighboring Zimbabwe, the Botswana Defense Force was formed in 1977. The President’s eldest son, Ian Khama who was then 24 years old was promoted to Brigadier General and made second in command. His twin younger brothers Tshekedi and Anthony, became agents for firms like Landrover and international aerospace companies. They also took large shares in military and police procurements. I am sure many of you know that later Ian Khama went on to hold many other high profile positions in government including two-terms President of Botswana.

Ilemi dispute threatens vital Kenya-South Sudan highway link theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/new…

The match lived up to its billing that it was going to be one of the toughest matches this window. The Nigerians put up one hell of a spirited fight, but the South Sudanese’s fast-paced play, their athleticism, and playing above the rim was too much for the D’Tigers. Congratulations the Bright Star, continue shining the light as we play the next match. South Sudan to the world. Yalla!!!

The Bright Stars in the second, made the same mistake D’Tigers made in their game against Cameroon yesterday by going for three pointers which they couldn’t convert. I wish they could just go with that explosive first quarter in the second half. South Sudan can still win this match.

The Bright Stars are shining bright 👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿

The boys will be looking at this result for some inspiration in the next match.

For Bright Stars to make it through, they will have to win all their matches this window, no margin of error. We play fast basketball, and the height and strength must be deployed against the strong West African opponents. Make East Africa proud, raise our flag higher up.