The late Dr. John Garang once said that the opportunity cost of taking up arms in southern Sudan was so low that it paid to be a rebel. But what if you are part of the majority and those on the outside cannot tell you apart from the oppressors? What if you are not trying to be hero? What if you are the sole breadwinner for a wife, children, elderly parent(s)? And what if you are fighting in a war that is not yours? These are the questions that plagued my family on the death of my "rebel" uncle.
A senior officer in the army before he was unceremoniously fired his problem was politics. He seemed to close to the "westerners" and not loyal enough to the center. In revenge he joined the rebels. At first he might not have believed in their cause, but he soon found himself leading a failed couped that reached to Khartoum. Subsequently captured, questioned, and probably tortured.
Months later under the auspices of a "cease-fire" he returned to Darfur, to rebel encampments only be bombarded and killed a mere 1800 kilometers from his family.
At his funeral, amidst anguished cries, our relatives shook their heads and wondered at the price of rebellion.
