Dr. Riek Machar Teny is reaping what he sowed and the Nuer community has the wherewithal to safeguard his life. Yet, because of his insatiable lust for power, he has made them vulnerable and helpless
By Hon. Wany Bum Makhor,
Thursday, April 3, 2025(Nyamilepedia) —It must be made crystal clear that the Nuer community is a united and resilient society in the Republic of South Sudan and should not be blamed for Dr. Riek Machar’s confinement in Juba. To avoid any doubt, Dr. Riek Machar was not captured during the military confrontation, and I can promise you that no human being can capture or humiliate him if not for his insatiable lust for power. He abandoned his mighty army and the overwhelming support of the Nuer local youth (the White Army). To label the Nuer as a cowardly community whose leader was arrested and who made no effort to safeguard him is a misleading narrative.
Historically, the Nuer are renowned for their bravery, resilience, and strong resistance against injustice. They resisted Anglo-Egyptian and British colonial rule, as well as brutal regimes in Khartoum. The Nuer have repeatedly expressed frustration and dissatisfaction with how the country is run. Unpatriotically, when a few individuals felt their livelihoods were threatened by the Nuer, they resorted to premeditated ethnic cleansing as evidenced by the 2013 Nuer massacre, the 2016 Dogfight, and the 2025 indiscriminate bombardments by the SSPDF and UPDF against Nuer civilians in Upper Nile and Jonglei States. These events were not coincidental but were organized, planned, and coordinated attempts by the government and its foreign backers to tame and annihilate the Nuer society.
An ambitious Dr. Riek Machar who once commanded tremendous support within the Nuer community has become the prime target for neutralization by the government and its foreign machineries. In 2013, a plot to take his life was successfully foiled, and the plotters were deterred by the Nuer local youth. Again, in 2016, the Nuer stood firm against a strong and determined threat; they confronted the enemy head-on, and his life was spared.
In 2018, he came to Juba without proper security details. The entire Nuer community advised him to exercise patience and to push for the unification of necessary forces before coming to Juba. Yet he ignorantly acted in violation of that advice. He rushed to Juba to assume the role of First Vice President, appointing his wife and several close relatives. Dr. Riek Machar deliberately favored other ethnic groups by awarding them lucrative positions at the expense of the Nuer community. In doing so, he severed his ties with his own people, and his betrayal has drawn widespread disapproval from the Nuer society.
In a nutshell, Dr. Riek Machar is the author of his own misfortune. The Nuer community sends a clarion call to the public and particularly to the government of South Sudan that we stand for peace. We support the full implementation of the revitalized peace agreement, which we believe is the only legal instrument that will rescue our beloved country from the current wave of economic meltdown and humanitarian catastrophe. This agreement will lay a solid foundation for free, fair, and credible elections in 2026.
In the spirit of peace, I urge H.E. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit to unconditionally lift the house confinement of Dr. Riek Machar.
The writer is a member of parliament in the Jonglei State Assembly, representing Uror South Constituency. He can be reached at wanybum12@gmail.com.
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