The South Sudan President could have escaped being the epicentre of the massacre of the Ethiopians in Gambella last month. But his luck does not seem to be viable based on the effort he has undertaken to conceal the crime.

After learning that the Ethiopian government dispatched military convoys into South Sudan’s Murle areas, Kiir promoted David Yau Yau into the higher ranks and appointed him as deputy Defense Minister. Apparently he urged him to work with his harsh rival, a fellow Murle, named Baba Medan Konyi.

Medan is the governor of the newly proposed Boma state appointed by the president out of the will of the Murle community but his association with the president and the way he confides the Murle affairs to him got him the job.

Nonetheless tensions arose between his followers and the supporters of Yau Yau following his appointment leading to the civil unrest in Pibor two months ago. Yau Yau was relinquished from the post of Greater Pibor administration, a strategy from the president designed to detach him with the Murle community at large who have entrusted their issues over to him since war broke out between Yau Yau and Kiir in 2010.

Upon the killing of more than 200 Ethiopians and the abduction of over 100 children by the Murle ethnic group where they both hail from, Yau Yau expressed his disappointment on the killing and offered his condolence to the families affected.

He expressed that he loves the people of Ethiopia as their government helped in brokering a peace deal which ultimately brought an end to the war between him and the president. In his media statement, Yau Yau said that Ethiopia should contact the governor of Boma state, Medan as his communities were those who crossed to Ethiopia and carried out the massacre in the Nuer Zone.

Yau Yau and Maden have no communication nor love between themselves. However, the peremptory move to unify the foe spawned some doubts among many political thinkers who know the likes and characters of President Kiir.

Many argue that the appointment has little or nothing to do with South Sudan’s political climax but more so with the concealment of crime allegedly committed by Maden’s men.

Thus, the president is using the appointment of Yau Yau as a tool to silence him so that he does not divulge any information about the whereabouts of the criminals and who armed them as well as the underlying motive as to why they could be armed with such sophisticated weapons.

If the truth of the matter is revealed, then this in fact would put the president in a bad image as the IGADD nations would be well informed that the president’s domestic policies are in fact based on cannibalism.

More importantly the Ethiopian government could hold him to account realising that he is an aid to the crime committed against Ethiopians in the Ethiopian soil. These are real possibilities which could proof futile to the president especially if one looks his unwillingness to conduct a joint operation with the Ethiopian military and his persistent protection of Maden.

These are the thing which could still haunt him in the long run. Baba Maden has done a lot of crimes for Salva Kiir and his activities in the Murle area could be likened to the brutalities of Bapiny Monytuel of Unity state all of which were armed by the president to kill their fellow citizens whose political ideas appeared to be at odd with the president.

There is no doubt that Kiir’s leadership is deigned through the blood of innocent lives. The Murle have become no exception in his bloody policies. In February this year, Pibor was set ablaze due to a squabble between the Murle themselves as Yau Yau was made to pay the price by the President and Maden for rejecting the president’s demand of using his community to attack Lou Nuer.

The atmosphere became even more unbearable for Yau Yau especially when an assassination attempt was made against him by Kiir’s Military Intelligence. This incident occurred after being sent to a workshop in Eastern Equatoria. The plot was designed to conceal the crime but would suit the claim as the message to his community could have it that ‘he was killed by the rebels of Eastern Equatoria’.

Knowing that his life was in danger Yau Yau resisted any expedition outside Juba. But as the government wanted him to suffer and his men even more, his Murle rival Maden, was armed and ordered to do his dirty work.

The members from Yau Yau’’s community who had found themselves as a target from Maden and the President had no enough weapons nor ammunitions let alone salary. As they do not want to give in to the brutal regime, they joined the SPLA in Opposition.

Other political thinkers also claim that Yau Yau’s appointment as a deputy Defense Minister may be designed to get his men back who defected to the SPLA IO.

The author of this article is hopeful that this article provides a puzzle as to who was the architect of the Ethiopian massacre in Gambella.  Reading the story provided in the above paragraphs would reveal the true intention of Salva Kiir about what has happened in Gambella.

Yau Yau’s union with the Governor as well as his promotion in deputy Defense Ministry was an indicative of the government is refusal to handover perpetrators to Ethiopian authorities.