Letter| Violence is our history, not our nature
Letter three of seven letters to South Sudanese Fellow South Sudanese, Since 1955, we have lived through more years of war than of peace. Again and again, power has gone to those who command guns. A war of liberation against Khartoum was followed by wars among ourselves. Some of us now say, with a weariness I understand, that violence has become our culture and our culture has become violent. Before we accept that judgement, we must ask what else our history has left us. While it is true that we have a long history of violence, it is equally true that we also have a rich history of settling disputes peacefully. When a killing threatened to become a feud, when neighbours quarrelled over cattle or needed to share land and water, our communities developed ways to restrain revenge, repair rel…
