By Deng M Koch
MELBOURNE, Australia, 23 April 2010 – The SPLM Youth League launch in Melbourne last Sunday, April 18, 2010, was attended by over 1,000 people.
The launch was organised by the SPLM Chapter in collaboration with other stakeholders who include members of the newly - formed youth organisation.
The Deputy Head of GOSS Mission to Australia Dr Jwok Thab said the formation and the eventual launching of the youth body had the explicit support of both the SPLM Chapter in the Australian State of Victoria and that of the infant Government of Southern Sudan Mission in Australia.
He encouraged the youth to be more proactive and prepare themselves for the task of taking the mantle from the SPLM leadership in the near future.
His sentiments were echoed by Mr Nyibil Amuom who said: “A nation with no active youth is not going to go anywhere”.
Mr Archangelo Nyuol Madut Bol, who was recently elected by members of the representative council as the first President of the newly- established SPLM Youth League, outlined some of his organisation’s objectives.
He began by acknowledging the presence of some dignitaries mostly from SPLM Chapters and GOSS Mission in Australia and went further to explain some historical facts pertaining the struggle of the marginalised Sudanese against the successive and oppressive governments of Sudan since the granting of nominal independence to Sudan by the Colonial British Administration in January 1956.
Mr Madut then mentioned the forthcoming referendum as very important and which forms major parts of the youth body’s aims.
“Our priorities in Australia here shall be to solicit political support and awareness from the Australian government and her people about the upcoming referendum for South Sudan and Abyei as well as for popular consultation for both Southern Kordufan and Southern Blue Nile”, he said.
“To this effect, the Youth League shall set up its own referendum taskforce to focus on providing political guidance and assess the necessary preparations for a successful conduct of referendum in South Sudan and Abyei by identifying challenges and recommending solutions”, said Madut.
He further appealed to the Youth League, the Chapters and GOSS Mission in Australia to work collaboratively to mobilise the South Sudanese in Australia to register within appropriate channels in order to be able to vote in a self-determination referendum exercise come January 2011.
“Our other priority areas include mobilisation of resources, capacity building for the SPLM youths, establishment of a database for graduates and skilled professionals who can be linked with the South Sudan Ministry of Labour and Public Service for employment opportunities based on merits and expertise; and in the process enhance the knowledge capacity of the region’s fledgling workforce in various fields”, he said.
Also on the Youth League’s agenda is the marking and celebration of historical days and organisation of exchange opportunities with some role model youth organisations such as the African National Congress Youth League among others as well as establishment and running of a fully operational SPLM Youth League website.
The website will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas pertaining to the long term existence and progress by the SPLM as a mother political party.
The youth leader said that his organisation would also pay attention to social and economic issues plaguing the masses of South Sudan who are yearning for a prosperous and peaceful nation.
“We will work in full collaboration with the mother SPLM and its overall Youth League to influence and or formulate some visible social and economic progress at grassroots level in the region. This would be so in order to reverse the near permanent suffering of the marginalised masses, which had been imposed by successive, hegemonic regimes of Sudan”, said Madut.
He concluded his remarks by saying that the youth league, once fully functional and widely launched, would be structured into functional committees that would each focus on individual priority areas.
Mr Nyuol Madut is a former member of the SPLA ZalZal II Red Army units and hails from Warrap State of the Greater Bahr el Ghazal.
His Deputy is James Atanasious from the South Sudanese State of Eastern Equatoria while the Secretary is Miss Nyabana Riek from Upper Nile State.
The make up of its executive committee is very much conscious and reflective of the Southern cultural and geographical diversity.
The full list of the executive committee members is yet to be availed to Gurtong.
Since last year, the idea of forming an SPLM Youth League has been in the hatching as consultations and meetings ensued among the Sudanese youth in Melbourne, who are supporters of SPLM, the political wing of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA).
The SPLA/M fought the successive Governments of Sudan for more than two decades and are currently the ruling party in the - semi-autonomous South Sudan and the main peace partner to the National Congress Party (NCP), their former foes in the then Government of Sudan and with whom they have negotiated and signed the 2005 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
The SPLM Youth League in Melbourne, which has the dream of forming an overall SPLM Youth League in Australia, is a brainchild of some active youth, some of whom are long time followers and supporters of the SPLM’s vision and aspirations for the Sudanese nation.
A steering committee has been working since early October 2009 and was tasked with drafting a constitution which was adopted by the general assembly in January this year.