By Liza Clifford
(UK-based journalist
and documentary filmmaker specialising in international justice issues.)
5 September 2017
“South Sudan terrorists need to be killed in order for
peace to reign. Lawful killing has been practised by states since time
immemorial.”
These
are the words of Gordon Buay, deputy chief of mission at South Sudan’s
Washington embassy, as posted on his Facebook page. Buay claims he’s simply
defending his government, but some of those working for peace in South Sudan
call it hate speech and accuse Buay and other prominent figures in the diaspora
of fuelling the terrible conflict in this newborn nation.
But
how much influence does angry writing on social media thousands of kilometres
away from the fighting actually have in a country with limited internet and
mobile phone penetration? About 21 percent of South Sudanese have phones and
around 17 percent can get online – but these people are mostly those in towns,
leaving rural communities largely excluded from tweeting, liking, and sharing.
Theo
Dolan, director of PeaceTech Lab Africa,
which works to reduce violent conflict using technology, media, and data,
believes words do matter. He says PeaceTech’s research has shown that online
hate speech – mainly coming from South Sudan’s diaspora in the US, Canada, the
UK, and Australia – is contributing to the violence.
“The
guys on the ground in Greater Upper Nile [one of the conflict’s front lines]
may not have Facebook, but they have large family networks,” said Dolan. “They
use their phones but also interact with their peers in person. They can spread
the [hate speech] regardless of whether they have access to internet or not.”
Achol
Jok from the #defyhatenow project, which works to counter online hate speech,
agrees that the diaspora’s influence on the conflict is strong and says its
writing is being passed on by word of mouth and phone calls.
“There is the perception if
you live in the West you are educated and better informed,” she said. “When
they write something or say something it is difficult for people to
differentiate between what is true and what is not.”
Born to rule
A
famine has been declared in parts of South Sudan caused by the civil war, which
began in 2013 when President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, accused then vice-president
Riek Machar, a Nuer, of plotting to overthrow him.
The
Dinka and the Nuer are the country’s two largest ethnic groups. Their leaders
are accused of having “born-to-rule” mentalities
that not only discriminate against other communities but have also led to atrocities being
committed by their soldiers and allied militias on the basis of ethnic
targeting.
South
Sudan has splintered into ethnic fiefdoms. The UN office coordinating
humanitarian aid estimatesmore
than 3.86 million people – one in every five South Sudanese – have fled their
homes, including 1.89 million internally displaced people.
Dolan
says Facebook, WhatsApp, and to a lesser extent YouTube and Twitter, are all
popular with those in the diaspora who are spreading messages of hate.
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But
not everyone sees the link between social media and the violence of the civil
war.
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