Faith-Based Peace-Building in Sudan's
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Stuck in Change Faith-based Peace-building in Sudan’s Transition Ulrich Mans Osman Mohammed Osman Ali Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ Conflict Research Unit October 2006 Language editing: Jane Carroll Desk top publishing: Carola van der Heiden & Michaela Wortelboer Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ Clingendael 7 2597 VH The Hague P.O. Box 93080 2509 AB The Hague Phonenumber: # 31-70-3245384 Telefax: # 31-70-3282002 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.clingendael.nl/cru © Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyrightholders. Clingendael Institute, P.O. Box 93080, 2509 AB The Hague, The Netherlands. © Clingendael Institute iii Contents CONTENTS........................................................................................................................... III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................................. V SUMMARY........................................................................................................................... VII 1 RELIGIOUS ACTORS IN PEACE-BUILDING ............................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 1 THE CHOICE FOR SUDAN.......................................................................................................... 2 OBJECTIVES............................................................................................................................. 3 RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE.......................................................................................................... 3 METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................................... 3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY............................................................................................................... 4 LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 4 READING OUTLINE................................................................................................................... 4 2 MAJOR RELIGIONS IN SUDAN ...................................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 6 ISLAM...................................................................................................................................... 6 CHRISTIANITY ......................................................................................................................... 7 INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS........................................................................................................... 7 3 RELIGIOUS ACTORS IN SUDAN’S PEACE PROCESS............................................... 8 RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN SUDAN: LIVING APART TOGETHER? ................................................. 8 MAPPING AND A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED RELIGIOUS ACTORS ................................. 9 THE SITUATION IN KHARTOUM................................................................................................ 9 THE RELATIONSHIP OF RELIGIOUS ACTORS IN KHARTOUM WITH THE POLITICAL ARENA.......... 9 THE SITUATION IN JUBA ........................................................................................................ 10 THE RELATIONSHIP OF RELIGIOUS ACTORS IN JUBA WITH THE POLITICAL ARENA .................. 10 REVISITING FAITH-BASED PEACE-BUILDING IN SUDAN: WHO DOES WHAT? ........................... 11 4 IMPACT ON THE PEACE PROCESS ............................................................................ 15 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 15 ACTIVE PROMOTERS .............................................................................................................. 17 CONSTRAINED CONTRIBUTORS .............................................................................................. 18 SILENT SUPPORTERS .............................................................................................................. 19 POTENTIAL SPOILERS............................................................................................................. 20 5 DISCUSSION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES............................................. 25 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 25 RELIGIOUS ACTORS AND THE CPA – MAJOR CHALLENGES .................................................... 25 RELIGIOUS ACTORS AND THE CPA – MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES ................................................ 27 6 CONSIDERATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT................................ 29 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 29 ENTRY POINTS FOR POTENTIAL SPOILERS................................................................................ 29 iv © Clingendael Institute ENTRY POINTS FOR SILENT SUPPORTERS ................................................................................. 29 ENTRY POINTS FOR CONSTRAINED CONTRIBUTORS .................................................................. 30 ENTRY POINTS FOR ACTIVE PROMOTERS ................................................................................. 30 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 30 7 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NETHERLANDS.................................................. 33 POLICY PRIORITIES FOR THE NETHERLANDS IN SUDAN.......................................................... 33 PARALLEL ACTION REQUIRED................................................................................................ 33 1) SUPPORTING THE ROLE OF FAITH-BASED ACTORS IN GENERAL…...................................... 34 2) …AND FACILITATE CONCRETE CONTRIBUTIONS TO CPA IMPLEMENTATION ..................... 35 ANNEX I: DESCRIPTION OF FAITH-BASED ACTORS IN SUDAN .......................... 37 MUSLIM ACTORS IN KHARTOUM ........................................................................................... 40 CHRISTIAN ACTORS IN KHARTOUM ....................................................................................... 47 KEY FAITH-BASED ACTORS IN JUBA....................................................................................... 50 ANNEX II: INTERLINKAGES BETWEEN SUDAN’S RELIGIOUS ACTORS........... 55 ANNEX III: CATEGORIES OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO PEACE-BUILDING............. 58 ANNEX IV: MAP OF SUDAN.............................................................................................. 61 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 63 © Clingendael Institute v List of Abbreviations AIC African Inland Church CBO Community-Based Organization CEAS Church Ecumenical Action Sudan COC Coptic Orthodox Church CPA Comprehensive Peace Agreement CRU (Clingendael) Conflict Research Unit DPA Darfur Peace Agreement ECS Episcopal Church of Sudan GOSS Government of Southern Sudan HAC Humanitarian Aid Commission IDP Internally Displaced Person JAM Joint Assessment Mission MB Muslim Brotherhood MFA (Netherlands) Ministry of Foreign Affairs NCP National Congress Party NGO Non-Governmental Organization NIF National Islamic Front NSCC New Sudan Council of Churches PCOS Presbyterian Church of Sudan SAF Sudanese Armed Forces SCOC Sudan Church of Christ SCC Sudan Council of Churches SIC Sudan Interior Church SPLM Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement SRCS Sudanese Red Crescent Society UNMIS UN Mission in Sudan WCC World Council of Churches © Clingendael Institute vii Summary Over the last five years, Sudan has become a priority concern for many international donors. The end of the North–South conflict and the outbreak of the Darfur crisis have drawn the attention of the international community to Sudan, triggering substantial investments supporting national actors to achieve a lasting peace. Despite this engagement, the multifaceted reality of Africa’s largest country creates many dilemmas for outside supporters of the peace process. One of these dilemmas relates to the role of faith-based actors in the national peace-building process. Sudan is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, and in the past, this diversity has been both cause of conflict and source of peaceful co-existence. The academic discourse acknowledges the importance of religious actors in conflict and post-conflict settings and calls for more integration of faith-based actors in peace-building. The preliminary study of international faith-based actors carried out by the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, ‘Clingendael’ (Bouta, Kadayifci-Orellana and Abu-Nimer 2005) underlines this need and provides a first insight into how international faith-based actors contribute to national peace processes; it lays the groundwork