6 FMR 24 African renaissance: towards a

New by Francis M Deng the mammoth Jonglei Canal to divert What was the war about? Have its causes been addressed the waters of the Sudd (the White by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)? What Nile’s vast floodplain) and channel are the future prospects for the South after the tragic its waters northwards for irrigation.

SUDAN death of John Garang? Garang’s vision udan is a nation whose identity cultural development. Until colonial In 1983 Dr John Garang de Mabior has been divisively distorted policy dramatically shifted in 1947, it founded the Southern-based Sudan but which is now striving to appeared that the British intended to S People’s Liberation Movement and rediscover itself, albeit in a tragically prepare the South for independence Army. The SPLM/A’s stated objective violent way. The silver lining is that as a separate state. was not secession but the creation of a more constructive search for an a restructured New Sudan, in which identity framework around which The independence movement was there would be no discrimination on Sudanese could unite may be within pioneered and championed by the the bases of race, ethnicity, culture, reach. North, supported by Egypt. The religion or gender. cause was reluctantly supported by As with most, if not all, African coun- the South, which stipulated federal- Garang’s vision of the New Sudan tries, the colonial power brought ism and guarantees for the region as was initially not understood, far together into a state framework na- conditions for endorsing indepen- less supported, in the North and the tional groups that had been distinc- dence. The South opted for inde- South and even within his move- tive, separate and in some cases mu- pendence on the basis of Northern ment. For southerners, who over- tually hostile. The identities that are reassurances that their concerns whelmingly preferred separation, it currently in conflict are the result of would be given ‘serious consider- was incongruent with their aspira- a historical legacy characterised by a ation’. However, the North quickly tions, and in any case was utopian, form of slavery that classified groups reneged on promises to Southerners since the North could never allow into a superior race of masters and and stepped into the British colonial it. For the North, it was arrogant inferior enslaveable peoples. The shoes. As internal colonisers, North- and, at best, naïve. The fighting men North, two-thirds of the country’s ern governments sought to impose and women in the South took it as a land and population, is inhabited by Arabisation and Islamisation as the clever ploy to allay the fears of those ethnic groups, the more dominant bases of a unified homogeneous opposed to separation within Sudan, of which intermarried with incoming Sudan. the international community and the Arab male migrants and traders and, Organisation of African Unity (later over centuries, produced a mixed Southern opposition to impending the African Union). Their attitude African-Arab racial group that resem- Arab domination began in August was reflected in the Dinka saying bles the African peoples south of the 1955, six months before indepen- popular among fighters: “Ke tharku, Sahara. Indeed, the Arabic phrase, dence, when a battalion of southern angicku,” “What we are fighting for, Bilad al-Sudan (‘land of the blacks’) soldiers in the town of Torit muti- we know.” While Garang was talking refers to all of those sub-Saharan ter- nied and fled with their weapons. the language of a united Sudan, they ritories. Arab immigration and settle- Their protest escalated into a rebel- were fighting for secession. ment in the South were blocked by lion which resulted in a civil war that distance, environmental barriers, the was to rage intermittently for over Central to Garang’s philosophy was harsh tropical climate and resistance half a century. the conviction that the dichotomy of the warrior Nilotic tribes. Those between the Arab-Islamic North and Arabs who ventured southwards The initial conflict, secessionist in the African South is largely fictional. were primarily slave raiders, driven its objective, lasted until 1972 and While the North has been labelled by commerce, not interest in Arabis- ended in a compromise – the Addis Arab, even those who can trace ing and Islamising the South. Ababa Agreement – that granted the their genealogy to Arab origins are South regional autonomy and ush- a hybrid of Arab and African races As the dominant partner in the ered in a precarious decade of peace. and even their culture is an Afro- Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, the Its subsequent unilateral abrogation Arab mix. Significant portions of the British ended slavery and effectively by the government led by Gaafer country in the Nuba and Ingassana governed the country as two sepa- Nimeiri – the military strongman who or Funj areas bordering the South rate colonies. They developed the ironically had made it possible in the are as African as any further south in North as an Arab-Muslim society and first place – led to the resumption of the continent. The Beja in the Eastern forged in the South an identity that hostilities in 1983. Southerners were part of the country are also indige- was indigenously African, exposed to incensed by Nimeiri’s embracing of nously Sudanese. The Fur and several Western influences through Christian Islamism, his redrawing of North- other ethnic groups in Darfur to the missionaries, but otherwise denied South borders to incorporate south- far west are black African. And, in any political, economic, social or ern oilfields and plans to construct FMR 24 African renaissance: towards a New Sudan 7

most cases, these non-Arab pockets with the international community. Is- work in progress. Its main shortcom- SUDAN of the North, though predominantly lam, rather than Arab race or culture, ing was the asymmetrical relation- adherents of Africanised Islam, have was their only weapon for mobilising ship between the North and the been almost as marginalised as the the Northern majority. South which would have facilitated people of the South. The vision of gradual assimilation of the South by the New Sudan therefore promised CPA and Addis Ababa the North rather than equitable inte- to liberate all these people and to gration that would make diversity a create a country of genuine plural- The Addis Ababa Agreement gave source of enrichment. ism and equality, with a greater southerners a corner of the country influence for the previously margin- within which to exercise a limited On 9 January 2005, the Govern- alised African groups. degree of autonomy while major ment of the Sudan (GoS) and the national and international issues SPLM/A signed the Comprehensive Over time Garang’s constructive were left to be determined by the Peace Agreement (CPA). The CPA has approach neutralised those opposed centre. The agreement did not pro- brought peace between the North to secession in the North, Africa and vide the South with a financial base and the South and the neighbouring the world, and rallied support for and southern ministers remained regions of the Nuba Mountains and justice in a reconstructed Sudan. dependent on the goodwill of central Southern Blue Nile. The CPA gives Garang incrementally challenged the government and President Nimeiri the South the right to secede through whole country with the prospects of for revenues. a referendum to be exercised after a a nation enriched, rather than rav- six-year interim period and stipu- ished, by its racial, ethnic, religious However, the agreement was lates that unity be made an attractive and cultural diversity. His dream significant in that it gave interim option during the interim period. began to appeal to those non-Arab recognition to Sudan’s ethnic, cul- It also offers the Nuba Mountains groups that had been subsumed tural and religious diversity while and Southern Blue Nile significant under the Arab-Islamic umbrella opening channels of interaction regional autonomy. To a significant and, eventually, even to northern and mutual influence that would, extent, the CPA ensures a more liberals as many began to question over time, allow for the evolution of symmetrical or equitable relation be- their assumed ‘Arab’ identity. This an integrative national unity. That tween the North and the South than national identity ‘renaissance’ began identity would no longer emphasise was available under the Addis Ababa to challenge the dominant Arab- the divisive elements but would Agreement. SPLM/A Leader Islamic establishment. The reaction instead highlight that which, though John Garang of the establishment throughout The South now has its own govern- unrecognised, is in common, as the and Sudanese the 1990s was to adopt a radical of- basis for mutual self-identification ment. The Government of Vice-President fensive posture that fuelled Islamic as Sudanese. In many ways, the (GoSS) is fully independent of north- fundamentalism and led to a sharp Addis Ababa Agreement was a major ern interference, has its own army, during peace talks deterioration in Sudan’s relations achievement but also a phase of a its own resource base, access to oil in Kenya. IRIN 8 African renaissance: towards a New Sudan FMR 24

international community, hope that unity will be made attractive to the South during the interim period. As the non-Arab peripheries challenge the status quo, the country is called upon to transform itself and start constructing an inclusive framework of national identity in which all Suda- nese would find a sense of belonging as equal citizens. The choice for the Arab centre is to play a positive role in the equitable reconstruction of the

SUDAN country. Given the genocidal nature of identity conflicts, the interna- tional community will continue to be needed not only to fill the vacuum of national responsibility and to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to the civilian population but also to promote the cause of a

Sudan Mirror just and comprehensive peace, the only credible and viable means of revenues and control of its own Al-Bashir endorsed Salva Kiir as the preventing genocide. branch of the National Bank, which, First Vice-President of the Republic. unlike its northern counterpart, will While leaders in the North and South The millions of people who ac- adhere to conventional – rather than committed themselves to pursu- claimed Garang on his triumphant Islamic – banking principles. Sudan ing Garang’s vision of a New Sudan, return to to be sworn is to have a national foreign policy many fear that Garang’s death has in as First Vice-President were not which will allow the South to develop left a vacuum. Sudan has been only southerners but people from bilateral relations with international deprived of a man poised to address around the country. Garang’s vision trade and development partners. In the country’s myriad crises, to bring had captured the imagination of the the Government of National Unity to the East and Darfur the skills to nation and had become a spectacular announced in September 2005, the facilitate peace and reconciliation he success. Even opponents grudgingly SPLM and other southern representa- had displayed in his native South. went along with the waves of change. tives have ministerial power within an arrangement set out in the CPA Given the fact that this is a peace Garang raised the South and the Su- which gives the ruling National accord between opposite poles of an dan as a whole to heights previously Congress Party 52% of the places, acutely divided country, it remains never conceived. Will those to whom the SPLM 28%, other northern parties to be seen whether this much-needed he has passed the baton – north- 14% and other southern parties 6%. peace will be sustainable. Several erners and southerners – allow the In order to maintain agreed quotas other regions of the country – fore- nation to fall from those heights? and reflect Sudan’s ethnic and politi- most among them Darfur in the West Or will they come together and join cal balance, several ministries will be and the Beja region in the East – are with those who opposed Garang to represented by a minister and a state still up in arms against the Arab cen- pursue this vision that will give all minister. tre. Though Muslim and Arabised in stakeholders their rights, whether varying degrees, they now see them- their preference be partition or the This complex framework has been selves as non-Arab, marginalised unity of the nation? In six years time threatened by Garang’s sudden death and discriminated against on racial southerners have the right to decide in a helicopter crash on 30 July 2005. grounds. While marginalised groups to secede or remain in a united Su- He had led the SPLM/A for 22 years in Kordofan, including those who dan. The North and Sudan’s interna- and, together with First Vice-Presi- have been generally labelled as ‘Arab’ tional friends have been presented dent, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, had though reflecting strong African with an historic opportunity to make been pivotal in the negotiations that features and cultural characteristics, unity attractive to the South. led to the CPA. He had been sworn in still identify with the Arab centre, as First Vice-President and President dissident voices are complaining Francis Mading Deng is Research of Southern Sudan only three weeks about their marginalisation. Even Professor of International Politics, previously. His death sent shock the Nubians of the North, in recent Law and Society, Johns Hopkins waves throughout the Sudan and generations close to Egypt and the University, Washington DC. A devastated the millions of southern- Arab world, are reviving their pride former Sudanese Minister of State ers who saw him as a redeemer. in their ancient Nubian civilisation for Foreign Affairs and Sudanese and disavowing the Arab label. Ambassador to the USA, Scandi- The SPLM/A acted promptly by navia and Canada, he was the electing Garang’s deputy, Salva Kiir Sudan poised at critical Representative of the UN Secretary- Mayardit, to succeed him as Chair- juncture General on Internally Displaced man of the SPLM, Commander-in- Persons from 1992 to 2004. Email: Chief of the SPLA and President The forces favouring unity within [email protected] of Southern Sudan. In the spirit of the Sudan, and in the region and the the CPA, President Omar Hassan