Rebecca Nyandeng, widow of South Sudan founding father John Garang and former adviser on gender affairs to the president, told South Sudan in Focus that in a meeting in Kampala last week between her, President Kiir, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and former detainees, she and Kiir agreed to seek a solution to South Sudan’s political crisis.
Nyandeng, who a few months ago had called on government soldiers to lay down their weapons saying that would leave the President with no power, said it was Kiir who asked for reconciliation with her.
“For me, reconciliation between me and him; we don’t have any problem; our problem is how we can rescue people of South Sudan. It needs all of us to come together so we can see how we can mend the fence,” Nyandeng told South Sudan in Focus.
Nyandeng said despite her new relationship with Kiir, she will not return to the country until all of its political forces are reunited.
Asked about the terms of her reconciliation with Kiir, Nyandeng responded: “President Kiir called me mom, and if President Kiir call me ‘mom,’ then I am the mom of all people of South Sudan. If I am the mom of the people of South Sudan, I will not leave them out; I want everybody to be included. I want peace, comprehensive peace,” she said.
Asked how she will convince the doubting Thomases of South Sudan who only believe she has reconciled with Kiir if they see her in Juba, Nyandeng answered with a question of her own: “When they were doubting, what happened to them? Jesus Christ appeared to them!”
Pressed on when she will return to the South Sudanese capital, Nyandeng said, “When Jesus Christ appears to me, that is when I will be going back to Juba.”
Nyandeng said she wants her people to be reunited. “I want them to come together, and I pray for that. We need to see that all the people who are aggrieved come to the table,” she adds.
Nyandeng said South Sudan is her country and wondered “why should I not go back?”
“Mama Nyandeng,” as she is known in much of South Sudan, added, “I will not leave all those children outside. What am I going to do with the big son when the younger children are outside the country?”
