THE REASONS TWIC GLOBAL SOCIAL CLUB ARE BITTER AND WOULD LIKE TO EXCOMMUNICATE ME FROM THE COMMUNITY.- By Cpt Mabior Garang de Mabior

Fellow Junubeen,

there are no individuals nor groups of individuals who are purveyors of identity in any community. I was born a Twic, and nobody can return me to my mother's womb and make me Japanese. This is what the members of the interest group Twic Global are trying to do. They appointed themselves inheritors of Twic identity and taken it upon themselves to determine who is and who is not a member of the community. I have been declared by the leaders and members of this club as not being part of the Twic community. "Ka ci Teic luel," they say!

But, this is mischief!

The real reason Twic Global - not Twic people - are bitter against me, and wish to delete me from the community is quite simple. It is because they feel I have robbed their leaders of certain honours. I was the first son of Twic East County to be appointed as Minister. When the history of Twic East County is told, our children will learn that I was the first in the county to receive these honours in an independent South Sudan. Whoever comes after me can not also become the first. Even if I was murdered, I would still have been the first. That history can not be erased.

Compatriots,

The confusion you have been hearing about in recent days as if there is an issue with the Twic Community of Greater Bor is not something peculiar to that community. Identity politics is tearing our nation apart. It is the result of the power struggles of disgruntled politicians who feel left out of the division of the national pie. These new and traditional elites use identity politics because they can not mobilize any support on the national stage. This sectarian cultural politics is what has resulted in many instances of intercommunal violence in our land.

I have been under attack from the separatists within my own community for standing up for the unity of our people. I am not against any community in South Sudan, much less the one that makes me South Sudanese, Twic.

All I am saying is, "We must be united!"

To be continued...