RE: NCDF Response to the Allegations by NCDF Broke away Group


Dear All,

It is unfortunate that our brothers who broke away a few months ago from NCDF under my leadership have chosen to welcome the New Year by attacking us with the following allegations (six points), in their Article dated 12/30/2006 and titled, “NCDF Resolution Disputing NCA Meeting with Commissioners”, in regard to Nasir Community Reconciliation Convention in which they were formally invited to partake but instead chose not to. My intention to repudiate these baseless allegations online is to set the facts straights to the same audience they are trying to target. Below, please find my factual responses to the allegations as I tackle them one by one in the same order they were fabricated. Sorry for the long explanations and thank you in advance for your time. Here they are:

Allegation# I. The NCA Nebraska Corporation under Khor Tot has invited the two commissioners from Africa in order to divide the NCDF funds between the two commissioners for their own development programs, rather than the goals and the objectives of the NCDF.

Factual Response: For the record, the two commissioners’ mission to United States was not to divide the NCDF funds between themselves for their development programs and they were not, I repeat not, invited to the States by Kor Tot Rualmim and NCA. These commissioners made it abundantly clear on December 23rd at Nasir Community Convention in Lincoln and again on December 24th at both Nasir and Ulang Counties Briefing in Omaha that they were not invited to the States by any one of the four splinter groups. Their mission was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to do the following: Firstly, to enlighten the expatriates of their respective counties in United States and Canada about the fruits of peace in Nasir and Ulang Counties, the administrative structures of the two counties, and the development programs to be undertaken henceforth. And secondly, to appeal to all the splinter groups and the entire community at large to reconcile whatever differences they had and reunite themselves under meaningful and inclusive organization.

Because you know all these facts clearly as we do but chose to misrepresent them, my response to your allegations is not to dispel your desperation but to present the facts accurately to the same audience you are attempting to target with distorted facts. Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) once said and I quote, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts”. Thus, you are entitled to your own opinions about the commissioners’ mission if you don’t agree with what they had accomplished, but you are not entitled to distort and misrepresent the facts of their mission.

Allegation# II. Commissioner’s refusal to meet the NCDF organization and its members.

Factual Response: The two commissioners’ mission to United States was to brief all the expatriates of their counties, including your group, in one convention…not separately. They made this abundantly clear, not once but twice, to your leadership during their private sessions with them as they did to our group and NCA’s. The reason they wanted to convene all of us (the four splinter groups) together is because there is no was they can effectively mediate the four groups separately within one week. Most importantly, negotiation is about give- and- take when parties compromise their differences. How can this possibly happen when your group continues to assert that it doesn’t want to see NCA members face-to-face under any circumstances?

The only explicable reason why your group was adamant about meeting with the commissioners in private was because you have no convincing case to make in public before the commissioners and the people of Nasir and Ulang counties. If your group truly has a plausible case to make, there is no better arena to confute the other splinter groups, before the commissioners and the people of Nasir and Ulang counties, than the Lincoln Convention that you refused to attend.

Also, your group insists that you support peace and unity only when all the root causes are identified and discussed. That is well and fine, but the question becomes: In whose house will the root causes be discussed if not in a public convention akin to the one you just boycotted because there are people you don’t want to meet face-to-face?

If Anya Nya II (Gordon Koang Chol) could sit down with SPLM/A (the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior) face-to-face after five years of needles war and reconciled their differences, forgave themselves for the countless casualties inflicted on both sides, and eventually merged in 1988; if SSDF (formerly SSIM led by Dr. Riek Machar) could merge with SPLM/A (the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior)in 2002 after 1991 split that resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands lives; and if SPLM/A (the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior) could negotiate the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with National Congress Party (President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir) after 22 years of uninterrupted war that claimed million lives, it is inexcusable that your group refused to sit down with other groups face-to-face merely because of an election dispute that transpired over five years ago in which no single casualty was suffered by either side. After five long years of bickering, we finally came to the conclusion that it is time to say enough is enough and restore peace in our beloved community.

Allegation# III. Members of NCA under Khor Tot defected from the community since 2001 and had formed their own community when they refused to accept the elected community leader, Mr. Pal Gatkuoth Deng. Therefore NCA Nebraska Corporation has no legal right to act and decide on behave of NCDF funds to fund the commissioners’ programs.

Factual Response: Nothing could be further from the truth about this allegation. The ambitious development initiatives that were presently at Nasir County Briefing by Comm. Gathoth Gatkuoth Hothnyang and at Ulang County Briefing by Comm. Duer Tut Duer will undoubtedly be in millions if not billions, and therefore be endowed by the counties’ budgets from the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) as the two commissioners clearly enunciated…not by NCDF funds that is only $170, 000.00 in toto.

Needless to say, the two commissioners’ mission to United States was not to plead for money from Nasir and Ulang counties members for their development programs. Just for the record, I want to assure your followers that no NCDF funds were pledged to the commissioners by NCA, period!

Allegation# IV. The two commissioners have shown their support to the NCA Nebraska Corporation, by rejecting the building of the Nasir community Institute initiated and approved by the NCDF organization.

Factual Response: The so-called “Nasir Institute of College”, the only institute of higher education in the world (at least that I am aware of) to be called “institute of college”, is not a credible goal that was openly discussed and approved by the NCDF General Assembly, but a scheme that was orchestrated by a cabal of the NCDF Board of Directors to defraud our community under the banner of building a college back home. If this is a realistic goal that you genuinely believe in, and it is being stonewalled by the commissioners as you persistently allege, why didn’t you inquire the commissioners at both Nasir and Ulang counties briefings about why they are opposed to this noble goal?
Riek Gach Gatluak, one of the assessors of Nasir Institute of College, was recognized for a question by Comm. Duer at Ulang County Briefing. Instead of asking the Comm. Duer about why he was apposed to Nasir Institute of College, he only commended him for the ambitious development programs he presented. Also, it’s my understanding that the other “assessor” of Nasir Institute of College was also recognized for a question by Comm. Gatkuoth at Nasir County Briefing and his query was not about the college either.

The reason why commissioners were rightly opposed to this noble goal is because: Firstly, it was not discussed and approved by the NCDF General Assembly; and secondly, college is not the dire need of the local inhabitants we are trying to build it for. Building a college when there are only a few grade schools in both Nasir and Ulang Counties is not realistic for a number of reasons at this time; and to persist about it would be putting the cart before the horse.

Allegation# V. The NCA meeting they called on Dec 23, 2006 is open to all people who are none members of the organization to discuss about NCDF funds. This is not acceptable according to NCDF bylaws.
Factual Response: The two commissioners’ mission to United States was not to brief only those who marshalled themselves into some sort of non-profit organizations, but to enlighten all the expatriates of their respective counties in United States and Canada. This is why the convention was open to all…anyone who calls himself/herself a member of either Nasir or Ulang County. No specific discussion took place about NCDF funds. If still in doubt, please view the convention videotape.

Allegation# VI. NCDF is a non-governmental organization that has the right to choose its own developmental programs and not to be dictated by government official or none contributors to allocate its assets.

Factual Response: Yes! NCDF is a non-profit entity whose developmental programs should be openly discussed and passed by its General Assembly, not a selected few as apparently is the case. No government official or non-member, now or in the past, has ever interfered with its business or swindled its funds for anything. The illegal withdrawal of $7,000.00 (from NCDF account) that fomented our recent schism was not made by a government official or non-member, but by the Treasurer who succumbed to the cabal.

In closing, I urge you to exercise restraint in waging another war of words online. It’s not going to help either side. A familiar quotation that comes to mind is Abraham Lincoln’s, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time”

Long live our Unity! Long live the people of Nasir and Ulang Counties!


Jinub Koang Bongjak
NCDF Executive Director