President of South Sudan Salva Kiir in a speech yesterday sought to spread fear that introduction of a federal system in the country would bring ‘Kokora’, resulting in the expulsion of Dinkas and other tribes from the Equatoria region.

Speaking in a mix of Arabic and English, the president said that Kokora ‘will happen’ if a federal system is introduced in the country, stressing that people of the Bahr al Ghazal and Upper Nile regions were expelled from Equatoria under Kokora.

Kokora was a movement of Equatorian particularism in the early 1980s at a time when South Sudan was divided into three separate political regions. Many southern Sudanese from greater Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile regions were forcefully evicted from Equatoria during Kokora.

But the governors of the three Equatorian states who have recently been calling for a transition to federalism say that they have no intention of expelling people of other regions, calling for a political division and not an ethnic division.

The governors have called for federalism to be introduced under the permanent constitution, giving state governments more exclusive rights and powers not to be interfered with by the national government.

Kiir, however, stated that different peoples would not be able to live together under a federal system: “The issue that people are raising now, that is the same issue that came in 1983. Kokora. And Kokora should not again derail us from what we are doing.”

“Because when it happened, yes, it started in Equatoria. The Equatorians wanted their own state. Equatoria Region. It was called ‘region.’ The people of Bahr al Ghazal left, the people of Upper Nile left, the people of Equatoria stayed here.”

“Did they stay together united?”

He continued: “They expelled [even] Zande, they expelled the people of Eastern Equatoria – the people of Central Equatoria they remained alone. Will this thing not happen again? It will happen.”

The president’s remarks follow a debate held at Juba University on the issue, which was attended by a large crowd of students, citizens and officials. Giving the keynote lecture at the event, historian Dr Douglas Johnson stated, “Let us be clear, Kokora is not the same as federalism.”

Dr Johnson urged South Sudanese to continue discussing the issue, so as to avoid confusion and allow an informed decision on the issue.

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File photo: Salva Kiir Mayardit