Durham E-Theses Islamists and the conict in southern Sudan: 1989-97 Meropoulos, John How to cite: Meropoulos, John (1998) Islamists and the conict in southern Sudan: 1989-97, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4828/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk "ISLAMISTS AND THE CONFLICT IN SOUTHERN SUDAN: 1989-97" by John Meropoulos A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies Supervisor: Prof. Timothy Niblock Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Univertsity of Durham July 1998 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the written consent of the author and information derived from it should be acknowledged. DEC 1998 CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Abstract ii MAPS CHAPTER 1: Background to the Civil War In Sudan 1 CHAPTER 2: The Islamist Movement in Sudan 16 CHAPTER 3: The National Salvation Revolution: 35 June 1989-September 1991 CHAPTER 4: The Regime on the March: 58 September 1991-December 1993 CHAPTER 5: Peace at Last? The Sudan Peace Agreement 75 CONCLUSION 92 BIBLIOGRAPHY 96 APPENDIX 1: The Sudan Peace Agreement 1997 ACKNOWLEDGEMNTS There are a number of people who I am grateful for their assistance in researching my thesis. I would first like to thank my supervisor, Professor Timothy Niblock, for his guidance, advice and patience throughout my research. The staff at Operation Lifeline Sudan ll-Southern Sector and the World Food Programme in Nairobi and Lokichokio, Kenya proved to be invaluable sources as to the events occurring in southern Sudan and generous with their time in answering my queries, in particular Jean Darque (WFP) and Ted Chiabas (OLS II). In the United Kingdom I would like to thank Bona Malwal, Joseph Lagu, Khatim Adian, Dr. Yassin Milheisi, Stephen Maalat Baak (SPU\-London) and Abdullah al-Koronky (Sudanese Embassy-London), for their valuable insights and opinions. In Saudi Arabia I would like to thank Idris Abdulqadir (Deputy Chief of Mission of Sudanese Embassy- Riyadh) and the many Sudanese expatriates in Riyadh who gave me their time and opinions on the conflict, of whom the majority wished to remain anonymous. ABSTRACT As the conflict in southern Sudan enters into its fifteenth year there are bound to be many studies that set out to examine the challenges, successes and failures of post- independence Sudan. The purpose of this study is to analyse the developments made by the Islamist led government and the impact its policies have had on the southern Sudan from 1989-1997. This work seeks to analyse how the contemporary reality of being in power has affected the Islamists' ideological approach in dealing with the south. The work begins with a chapter on the background of the conflict in the southern Sudan. Its focus is on the key developments that have occurred in the twentieth century, concentrating mostly on post-independence Sudan, and discussing the impact that successive governments have had on the conflict. The study continues with an analysis of the key events and personalities in the history of the Islamic movement in Sudan. Its purpose is to provide a background into their motives and actions and to examine the role of Islam and politics in Sudan. The remainder of the study concentrates on the period in question (1989-97) and the imprint that the Islamists have made on it. The period itself is divided into several time frames to illustrate the impact of their policies more clearly. Each chapter will include an investigation into the nature of the regime, ideological and political developments concerning the conflict, and finally a look at the "situation on the ground" in the south and the ramifications that government policies have had. SoiiaDio1956 EGYPT LIBYA noithem Eastern Hhartiram Dami Koidofan ETHIOPIA • AnU Upper N>m Babi al-Ghazal NUe CENTRAL J .w«. AFRICAN REPUBLIC Eqnatona Earocta TZBJUO • Toiit ZAIRE KENYA UGANDA Egypt THE NORTHERN Dongia Chad HARTOUM Khartou NORTHERN DARFUR lAREF El Fashir 3adaref WeStERN K0AD6PAN EIFula NORTHERN BAHA GASAL Ethiopia JONGULEI ^ ^ AWESTERN EQUATOR! yambio ASTERN EQU Kaboita Zaire Kenya SUDAN muss 1992 Government On Season Offensive KORDOFAN BLUE NILE DARFUR UPPER NILE BAHR AI-GHAZA CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC EQUATORIA UBttafil Sib UGArA)A Islamists and the Conflict in Southern Sudan 1989-97 CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND TO THE CONFLICT Sitting on the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East, Sudan is the region's most diverse country in terms of geography, culture and history. While being the largest country in Africa, it also contains three distinct regions that have played a role in the way the country's culture and history have evolved. It encompasses both a desert range in the north and an arid semi-desert centre that have been inhabited by nomadic and semi- nomadic Arab, Nuba, Beja and Fur tribes. It is these peoples that have adopted Islam and mostly speak Arabic. They have developed political entities based along tribal lines and set up dynasties in the central region such as the Funj Sultanate in the sixteenth century AD. In contrast to these areas, the south presents a different picture. Its terrain contains savannah plains and a tropical climate that is inhabited by distinctly African peoples of Nilotic, Sudanic and Nilo-Hamitic descentV These groups have for the most part, outside of Christian and Muslim proselytising during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, maintained their traditional cultures, religions and languages^ For the purposes of this study the term "north/northerner" will be used to refer to the groups of peoples from the north and central Sudan. The term "south/southerner" will be used to refer to the peoples of Equatoria, Bahr al-Ghazal and Upper Nile provinces. The stark divide in topography played a significant role in maintaining the isolation of the south from the north and in fact the rest of the world. Restrictions in terrain and climate, with its humidity, tropical diseases and overgrowth of vegetation, made the navigation and exploration of the south difficult and impractical. This situation changed in 1820 AD, when Turko-Egyptian forces under the Viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad All, penetrated into Sudan seeking the source of the Nile River and slaves. The forces of Muhammad All succeeded in subduing the Funj Sultanate and bringing the northern Sudan into his realm, and his successors continued policies of establishing Turco-Egyptian rule. For the southern Sudan, while not formally brought under the political dominion of the Egyptian Viceroy, Turko-Egyptian rule heralded the ' Malwal, Bona, Personal interview, 6 Feb.1998. ^ The tribes in the areas encompassing Equatoria, Bahr al-Ghazal and Upper Nile include the Dinka, Nuer, Annuak and Shilluk among others who have maintained their tribal languages and animist religions. European intrusion into their lives brought with it Christianityand the development of English as the lingua franca of the southern intelligentsia. In Sudan, Islam is the religion of the majority, while a significant minority (20%) retain their animist beliefs and a small minority are Christians (5%). Islamists and the Peace Process in Southern Sudan 1989-97 coming of the slave trade which southerners associated northern Sudanese notables with complying and profiting from. The period of Turko-Egyptian dominance brought with it 60 years of foreign rule that ended, albeit temporarily, with the Mahdist Revolution of 1881. While some have seen the events of 1881 as a reaction to Turko-Egyptian injustices, others have seen it as a religious uprising given its opportunity by the political vacuum created by the British occupation of Egypt^. The revolt led by the /77a/7c//("expected one"), Muhammad Ahmad ibn Donqolawi, was an indigenous uprising against Turko-Egyptian rule. The mahdi claimed to be the renewer of Islam, calling for return to an order reminiscent of that of the Prophet. The mahdis military campaigns throughout Kordofan, leading finally to the capture of Khartoum, were characterised by tribal coalitions that helped bring together the areas of Darfur, Kordofan, Donqala, Bahr al-Ghazal, and Suakin into the Mahdist state (1881-85). The years 1886-1898 were marked by the rule of the khalifa (successor) who brought about policies of centralising the state, known as the mahdiyya. He was able to maintain the integrity of the mahdiyya internally, yet was not able to meet the renewed threat from outside the Sudan this time in the form of Anglo-Egyptian imperialism. For the psyche of southern Sudanese the age of the mahdiyya represented a continuation of a period of encroachment on their lives by foreigners. While much like Turko-Egyptian rule, in that there was no formal mahdiyya political structure in the areas of Upper Nile and Equatoria, the brief halt in the slave trade by the Egyptian Khedive Ismai'l was resumed under the mahdiyya. ANGLO-EGYPTIAN CONDOMINIUM 1898-1953 The close of the nineteenth century brought with it the defeat of the mahdiyya at the hands of an Anglo-Egyptian force, resulting in what was to be effective Anglo-Egyptian rule of Sudan for the first half of the twentieth century.