The Road to Peace: the Role of the Southern Sudanese Church in Communal Stabilisation and National Resolution Elijah M Brown Do
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THE ROAD TO PEACE: THE ROLE OF THE SOUTHERN SUDANESE CHURCH IN COMMUNAL STABILISATION AND NATIONAL RESOLUTION ELIJAH M BROWN DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 2008 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i DECLARATION ii ABSTRACT OF THESIS iii ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vi 1. INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 1 Justification 5 Methodology 9 Historical Overview 14 Key Terminology 24 2. ROAD THROUGH KENYA: HEARTLAND FOR SUDANESE REFUGEES 31 Recreating Society 42 Building Peace from Hong Kong to Baghdad 55 Modelling Social Initiatives 68 Analysis and Conclusion 75 3. INTERNALLY DISPLACED AND UGANDAN REFUGEES 84 A. On the Dusty Trails: The Internally Displaced of Khartoum 84 Hajj Yusuf: From ‘Carton’ Kassala Squatter Settlement to Hai El Baraka, ‘The Place of Blessing’ 94 Bestowing Cultural and Practical Sacredness during Life Transitions 97 Centralisation of Politicised Resistance 110 Analysis and Conclusion 116 B. Density of War: Oliji Refugee Camp, Uganda 122 Encouraging Communal Unification 129 Pointing to a Secure Hope 137 Analysis and Conclusion 139 4. CONVERGENCE ALONG THE ROAD 143 Converging Growth: Rationales Behind Christian Expansion 144 Convergence of Three Camps: Kakuma, Hajj Yusuf and Oliji 154 National Convergence: Indications of Civil Religion 160 5. NAVIGATING RECONCILIATION: THE NEW SUDAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN PEACE MEDIATION 169 A. The New Sudan Council of Churches and People-to-People Peace 178 Initial Steps: Akobo, Yei and Lokichogio 178 Wunlit Peace Conference 179 Implementation and Consecutive People-to-People Peace Conferences 185 Analysis and Conclusion 188 B. The New Sudan Council of Churches and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army 202 SPLM/A and the Religious Quandary 203 The Yei Dialogue 206 Analysis and Conclusion 212 6. INTERNATIONAL ADVOCATE: THE NEW SUDAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES AND THE COMPREHENSIVE PEACE AGREEMENT 217 Regional Advocacy: The NSCC and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development Peace Process 218 International Advocacy: The NSCC and United States Involvement 226 Comprehensive Peace Agreement Advocacy: The NSCC and the Right to Self-Determination 237 Analysis and Conclusion 241 7. CONCLUSION 247 APPENDIX ONE: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH AMONG THE DISPLACED IN KAKUMA, KHARTOUM AND OLIJI 262 APPENDIX TWO: INTERVIEW AND FOCUS GROUP PARTICIPANTS 263 BIBLIOGRAPHY 272 A. Oral Interviews 272 B. Published Books and Articles 282 C. Unpublished Sources, Official and Church Reports 323 D. Websites 328 Acknowledgments It is impossible to consider the completion of this work without immediately acknowledging the numerous individuals who helped facilitate this journey. I owe a special debt of gratitude to the many southern Sudanese who graciously expanded the breadth and depth of this thesis. I have been humbled, challenged and encouraged by the strength of your vibrant testimony. Thank you. I am especially grateful to Stephen Ter Nyuon Yier whose friendship was the origin of this work and for that I will always be in your debt, John Riak who spent numerous hours ensuring my time in Kakuma was a success, the staff of the Mobile Bible School, Sylvester Thomas the Canon of All Saints Cathedral in Khartoum, Lodi Francis and Terensio Alfred for their guidance and support in Oliji Refugee Camp, Matthew Mathiang Deang a consistent champion for southern Sudanese peace, Stephen Tut of the Centre for Documentation and Advocacy and Michael Ouko of the New Sudan Council of Churches. I am indebted to The University of Edinburgh Development Trust and their Small Projects Grant programme that contributed to the costs of my first research trip to Sudan. I am also appreciative for the hosting and encouraging support of Alan and Elaine Stanford in Washington D.C., Frank and Sharon in Uganda, the team in Khartoum who made my visit to Sudan possible, Deborah Fikes of Midland, Texas whose help was immediate and unquestioning, Michael Horowitz for access to the Sudanese files at the Hudson Institute, Armin Zimmermann and Roderick Campbell for their insightful comments on the refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda and for Henri Minder, your friendship has had a deep and permanent impact on my life. I have benefited immensely from the staff and students of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World especially Elizabeth Koepping, Afe Adogame, David Kerr and my supervisor Jack Thompson. I am grateful for the many who personally prayed, encouraged and supported this endeavour especially my parents Patrick and Jeri Brown, extended family, those of you who came to visit and the Chandlers who became family. There are numerous others who deserve mention but none more so than my wife Amy. Your support spiritually, emotionally, physically and materially is beyond words. This work is a testimony of love in the midst of difficulties, faith in uncertainty and support in the midst of transition. Thank you. i Declaration While grateful for the assistance of numerous individuals, the thesis was composed in its entirety completely and solely by myself as was all of the undertaken research. Any deficiencies therein belong solely to the author. The submitted thesis has not been utilised in the pursuit of any other degree or professional qualification. ___________________________ ____________________ Signature Date ii Abstract of Thesis This thesis examines the part played by Christian churches in the communal stabilisation of three refugee settings and in the national resolution of the second Sudanese civil war. Based on extensive field research in Sudan and in Sudanese refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda, the thesis is further underpinned by current theories on displacement, social identity and conflict resolution. Ranging from grassroots pastors to Presidential Cabinet Ministers, altogether more than one hundred fifty church and political leaders were consulted through individual interviews and focus groups with more than seventy-five recorded hours. Archives at The Centre for Documentation and Advocacy in Nairobi, Kenya, the New Sudan Council of Churches’ Archive in Kampala, Uganda, the Sudan Archive at the University of Durham, United Kingdom and the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C., United States were also utilised. The thesis commences with an examination of three grassroots communities in refuge, Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, the internally displaced of Hajj Yusuf, Khartoum and Oliji Refugee Camp in Uganda. In establishing the social impact and influence of the churches on the respective displaced community, each of the three local manifestations function as a case study detailing endeavours by Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Catholic and Pentecostal churches to respond to arisen needs, resolve political instabilities and reconcile ethnic tensions. Though the exact influence of the churches differs in each context one overarching theme that emerges is greatly enhanced communal stabilisation. Alongside the numerical growth and social impact of the churches at the local level, the ecumenical New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) employed a three-tiered strategy to facilitate national resolution of the second civil war as is delineated in the second half of the thesis. First, through ‘the people-to-people peace process’ the NSCC directly mediated grassroots reunification throughout southern Sudan. Second, the NSCC functioned as the primary channel of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) criticism and utilised its growing clout to pressure the SPLM/A to adopt measures of good governance and pursue in good faith negotiated settlement with the Government of Sudan. Third, the NSCC stood behind a successful international campaign that lobbied and secured engagement from regional and European and American governments critical to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. iii By paralleling three local communities and the NSCC national resolution initiatives the thesis proffers several important conclusions about Christianity and the civil war in south Sudan including enumerating rationales related to the explosive growth of Christianity, demarcating several nascent indicators of a Christian- influenced civil religion, highlighting the growing social and political impact of the churches throughout south Sudan and finally, delineating several general conflict mediatory keys relevant to the churches’ endeavours. The thesis furthermore clearly demonstrates that in the midst of civil war the southern Sudanese indigenous churches bolstered communal stabilisation at a grassroots level, substantively impacted the emergence of national political resolution and thereby directly facilitated the road to Sudanese peace. iv Abbreviations CMS Church Mission Society CPA Comprehensive Peace Agreement DOP Declaration of Principles ECS Episcopal Church of Sudan IDPs Internally Displaced Persons IGAD Inter-Governmental Authority on Development LRA Lord’s Resistance Army LWF Lutheran World Federation MBS Mobile Bible School, Kakuma Refugee Camp NCCK National Council of Churches of Kenya NGOs Non Governmental Organisations NIF National Islamic Front NSCC New Sudan Council of Churches PCOS Presbyterian Church of Sudan RECONCILE Resource Centre for Civil Leadership RSD Right for Self-Determination SPLM/A Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army SCC Sudan Council of Churches SPC Sudan Pentecostal Church UN United Nations UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees US United States WFP World Food Programme YCF Young Christian Fellowship v Illustrations Figure Page 1. Field of Tanks in Juba 2 2. ECS Worshipper