Final Communiqué-The 2nd All Nuba Conference

The 2nd All Nuba Conference

Confirming what was agreed upon by the Nuba people in their 1st All Nuba Conference (ANC) at Kauda on December 2 – 5, 2002, which recommended the rotary convention of ANC, the 2nd ANC was held on April 6-8, 2005 after eighty-six days since the signing of Peace Agreement between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Sudan Government. And in an environment characterised by hope and exaltation in the town of Kauda, the conference was attended by about 800 representatives of the Nuba people from all walks of life, including the Nuba people living in Europe (Holland, France and Britain), Australia, Canada, some African countries, the United States of America, Japan, some Arab countries and from the different parts of Sudan. The participants discussed the following issues:
– Unity with diversity;
– Assessing the Peace Agreement;
– Voluntary return [of refugees and internally displaced persons];
– Development in the Nuba Mountains;
– The Local Government System in the Nuba Mountains;
– Land issues; and
– Heritage and Nuba culture.

From the deliberations that were characterised by transparency, the conferees reached a number of resolutions and recommendations, including:

1. Confirming the recommendations and resolutions reached by the Nuba people in their 1st ANC on December 2-5, 2002;

2. The unequivocal recognition and adoption of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which was signed in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 9, 2005;

3. The Nuba upholding of the principles of the New Sudan;

4. Rejecting racial prejudices and tribal frictions in the region; and spreading love, religious forgiveness and the freedom of belief;

5. Asserting the unity of purpose and the direction of the Nuba Mountains issues;

6. The Government should work on its all levels in partnership with the citizens on a base level, and through civil society organisations in the decision-making process, especially in the provision of basic services, and ensuring that this concept is incorporated in laws and governing institutions;

7. Considering education and water as an utmost priority in the Government programme, followed by healthcare, environmental reforms, infrastructural projects, especially roads, communications, electricity, agriculture, animal husbandry and industry; and also preserving the environmental balance;

8. Giving opportunities to funding [projects] with affordable conditions that are suitable for the peoples in the Nuba Mountains that is after establishing a special bank in the region; opening local and outside markets through local companies to assist in marketing the products of the region and to help in developing the local capital;

9. Establishing a mechanism for developmental planning, media development and a special mechanism for monitoring and follow-up;

10. Combating poverty through the encouragement of investment and the provision of basic services for individuals;

11. The importance of the concentration of developing human resources which are aimed at the peoples in the Nuba Mountains, regardless of sex, age and mental capacity in order to develop their capabilities and skills to understand their problems at the local, regional and humanitarian level, and within a standard that could equip them to promote the onus of development and competing with modernisation and closing the knowledge gap between the Nuba society and the advanced human societies;

12. Drawing the map of available natural resources in the region, and the Government should work to attract conditional investments for the region with the encouragement of the peoples of the region to take part in investment projects within the region;

13. Calling for the international community and the humanitarian and voluntary organisations to fund the programme of the voluntary return [of refugees and internally displaced persons] in co-ordination with the authorities and local organisations;

14. Preparing the conducive climate to receive the returnees, providing information and basic services, and establishing investment projects to incorporate the skills of returnees and the unemployed forces;

15. Establishing voluntary organisations to promote the rights and achievements of citizens, and involving the returnees in the local activities;

16. The conferees decided that the central, legislative, executive, judicial, financial and investment powers should be devolved to the Local Government in the region in order to be executed through the rural administration;

17. Exercising the right of popular consultation to reform and rectify the drawbacks in the Peace Agreement;

18. The conferees asserted that using religion in politics threatens peace and security;

19. The conferees asserted the genuine belief in the principles of the New Sudan, combating corruption and adopting transparency and accountability;

20. The conferees decided that the Nuba lands and the areas where they have been living throughout the long history of Sudan, which can be traced back to the Christian Kingdoms, are theirs; according to this understanding, the Nuba are the indigenous population of the area;

21. The conferees agreed that the tribe or the community is the sole owner of the land of fathers and grandfathers according to custom and tradition, as it was the case with the Nuba tribes throughout years;

22. The conferees recommended the abolition of all land laws which were enacted since 1903, including the Investment Law which was introduced in 1993, and the insurance on the right of customary ownership through its incorporation in the civil law;

23. The conferees recommended the review of all [land] leases that were granted by the state in the previous periods, and abolishing them if needs be;

24. The conferees recommended the listing of all lands that were confiscated from the natives in order to redistribute them as public or private schemes, and
restoring them to their rightful owners or compensating them;

25. Drafting new land laws in accordance with the wishes of the citizens to own these lands;

26. Speeding up the establishment of Land Commission with a highly technical and administrative efficiency through training the personnel in different specialisations
(land laws, land economy, the administration of natural recourses, agriculture, animal husbandry, meat production, general administration for development, land survey, maps drawing?etc.), in addition to reappraising the rural skills and making use of them;

27. Renaming all tribes, districts, natural and human phenomena with their original names, and expurgating all names that are not related to the roots [of the Nuba people] from the new maps;

28. Reviewing all the legislations and the bases under which the lands were distributed for agricultural schemes in order to give the utmost priority to the local population, regardless of their investment capabilities, and the Government institutions should assist the local people in obtaining the necessary investment means;

29. The conferees confirmed that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement has asserted the cultural rights of the Nuba people besides the cultures of other non-Nuba tribes;

30. The conferees recommended the establishment of the followings:

– Music bands and bands for popular dances, and the development of the traditional music instruments used [in the region];
– History museum equipped with a modern library;
– Theatres, clubs and youth centres; and
– Linguistic research centres and teacher training.

31. The importance of training cadres in the fields of media, and drawing a media strategy to reflect the cultural diversity of the Nuba Mountains; and

32. The conferees confirmed that the English language is the medium of education in all different educational levels in the region, and the various local languages should be taught as a subject in the primary stage.

For further information, please E-Mail: [email protected]