Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem reflects on the changing politics in Sudan
The London bombs displaced so many issues from the
agenda of the world including the much-hyped G8 Summit
and the big global pre summit parties allegedly for
Africa. It was indefensible because whatever the
motivations of ‘whodunit’ its cause cannot be served
by indiscriminate bombing of innocent members of the
public some of whom may even share the frustrations of the
bombers. Even the loss of one life or one
leg or arm is too much but having said that, the blasts
were much smaller than what had been feared since 9/11
and expected after the war against Afghanistan and the
occupation of Iraq. Stoically the peoples of London
refused to be cowed and went about their normal
business bearing the pains and traumas and fears of
where and when next’ with a shrug. While 7/7 has been
the biggest terrorist attack on the city in any
peacetime London is a city that has known terrorist
outrages. I can remember in the 80s how amidst the
commercial consumerism of Xmas shopping Londoners
especially but people in main cities on the British
mainland in general used to expect bombs as gifts from
the IRA.
As we condemn without any reservation the bomb
throwers and show solidarity to the victims both dead
and living we also have to interogate the underlying
causes of this kind of violence that make human
beings to want to kill other human beings including
themselves. While every sane person can see the
linkages between the foreign policy of Britain under
Blair especially his subservience to Bush and
terrorism, both Blair and Bush are refusing to make
the link. Because to do so is to accept political
responsibility for being the recruitment officers for
international terrorism that they claim they are
fighting. Unfortunately the way in which they hare
fighting this war without boundaries or territory has
also provoked responses without boundary. If they can
visit other peoples with terror so can it be visited
on them on their soil. One does not have to be
sympathetic to terrorism and terrorists to make that
link even when it is clear that everyone of us is a
potential victim.
One of the historical events in Africa overshadowed
by the London Bombs and G8 was the swearing in of a
new transitional government of national Unity in
Africa’s largest country, Sudan, a country that has
been gripped by intermittent internal civil wars
since independence from the British in 1956. On July
9, after almost two decades of war, almost 2 million
people dead and many years of peace negotiations the
January Peace agreement between the Government of
Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army / Movement
(SPLA/M) came into force. President Omar Al Bashir
was again sworn in as President of the 6 year transitional
government but the man everybody came to see take his
oath of office in the new government is a former Colonel in Sudan
Army who became the rebel commander and political
leader of the South, Dr John Garang.
Usually inaugurations are about the No 1, the
omnipotent and omniscient ‘President’ in any our
countries. But in Khartoum last Saturday it was
the No 2 that excited the
Sudanese and the world including reportedly 7 African
heads of state who were present at the occasion. The
last time a No 2 so excited the world in Africa must
be the inauguration ,in 1994, of Mr Pasteur Bizmungu as
President of post Genocide Rwanda and then Major
General Paul Kagame as the Vice President.
The parallels between Sudan and Rwanda are not just at
the symbolic level. Like Habyarimana and the MRND in
Rwanda until they were caught in 1994 successive
governments in Khartoum had gotten away with genocidal
policies against their peoples for a very long time.
And no Sudan regime has been luckier’ in a most
morbid sense than the Civilianised Military junta of
President Al Bashir that has been in power before
Nelson Mandela was released from Prison. It is
still committing genocide
but the world is so desperate for peace between the
north and the South that nothing, not even the
butchering of innocent women and children by the Sudan
Army and its allied genocidal Arab militias in Darfur
will be allowed to stand in the way.
The situation in Darfur and resumption of
hostilities in the East of the country and the
potential threat of same in the Nuba mountains and
among other marginalized peoples of the country that
should make one extremely cautious about the
prospect for lasting peace in Sudan.
Like all peace agreements this one is not perfect but
the best possible compromise for the transitional
period in terms of the North and South fault lines.
But Sudan is not just about the north and the south,
there is the east and the west and even within all
these geographical configurations there are many
contradictions and political divisions. While the
SPLA/M is the dominant political force in the South
the south is by no means homogenous. And the north is
even less so and the NIF / National Congress
government cannot claim to represent all the North,
all Arabs or indeed all Muslims.
The continuing conflict in Darfur and potential for
armed escalation of conflict in other regions just
show how fractious the country is and the need for a
comprehensive peace agreement. Dr Garang may actually
turn out to be a guarantor of the unity of Sudan if he
can use his legitimacy as a freedom fighter and there
is honest political will and cooperation from his new
Best friends in Khartoum to persuade other warring
groups to accept a negotiated political settlement.
Otherwise he could find himself a stooge of Khartoum
and an active accomplice in its war against other Sudanese
peoples.
What will make you more optimistic about the future
for peace? I asked a number of my Sudanese
colleagues. Everyone of them has a long wish list but
in summary they include;
· Guarantee of Human Rights and Democratic
transformation in Sudan.
· Ensuring inclusiveness in power sharing and equity
in wealth sharing including provision of services.
· Ensuring redress for victims of past crimes and an end to impunity as Sudan reconciles with itself.
· Safeguarding the rule of Law and independence of the
Judiciary.
· Empowering of women and an end to discrimination.
· Ensuring democratic accountability, democratic
governance in the Sudan both at national and regional
levels.
· Continuation of South/South Dialogue especially with
the armed groups in the South.
· Continuation of National Dialogue with the aim of
building genuine National consensus for an All-Sudan
peace including honest talks with all armed and
unarmed political groups.
· Ensuring good neighbourliness with all the 9
countries that are Sudan’s neighbours.
· Government of Southern Sudan and the National
Government must be inclusive regionally and ethnically
balanced, to avoid Southern Sudan Civil War or create
basis for more civil wars by marginalized
nationalities in the country as a whole.
· Adherence to the letter and the spirit of the
comprehensive Peace Agreement.
All of these may not be achieved in one fell swoop
but everybody will be watching to see how the Bashir
and Garang twist plays out. If they show serious
commitment and take determined steps to succeed it
will give full meaning to Garang’s statement: “ I
congratulate the Sudanese people, this is not my peace
or the peace of Al-Bashir, it is the peace of the
Sudanese people”.