Tribalism in Southern Sudan Government

By Steve Paterno*

Dec 13, 2005 — The recent incident of tribal clashes between the Western Equatorian tribes on one hand and the internally displace persons (IDPs) of Dinka-Bor on the other hand is once again a chilling reminder to the aspiring government of Southern Sudan that it cannot succeed if it does not tend to the interest of the various existing tribes of Southern Sudan, which are by coincident the citizens of Southern Sudan. In a democratic speak, the Southern Sudan government will not succeed in building a nation if it fails to appeal and address issues facing its constituencies, the tribes.

The problem with the wannabe government of the Southern Sudan is that it pretends that it is forming the government that does not reflect or represent the true nature of the people of Southern Sudan. However, the significant thing is that pretending is one thing and reality is another thing as it will continue to prevail no matter how much one pretends. Just in the recent appointments to the governmental posts in the all levels of government of Southern Sudan, several tribes filed complaints of under representation in the government, and the response they received from the President of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir who is responsible for the appointment of the members of the government is that: his government does not entertain tribal representation. Sooner than the newly appointed government could start its duties, the fighting broke up in towns of Western Equatoria between the Western Equatorian tribes and Dinka-Bor tribe. Now the government that does not entertain tribal interest is faced with tribal conflict, and what should it do? It is worth here to just pause and imagine the government that does not consider tribalism as a factor to be dealing with the realities of tribalism.

The answer to what the Southern Sudan government should do in building a viable nation full with tribal tendencies depends on how it is willing to practice democratic representations and how much it is going to consider tribes as a serious social, political, and cultural forces that make up a nation. The nation is not something that can just be born as a result of a bunch of generals getting together and lunching a successful revolutionary war or coup, nor is it an artificially drawn borders that tend to lump people in one area without considering their social, political, and cultural background, which are necessary for their very existence.

In Southern Sudan case, the nation is a nucleus that starts with a family, a clan, and then a tribe, which will in turn join with other tribes to form a nation. Therefore, it is not wise in Southern Sudan to skip this process and expect that one will form a representative government that does not reflects the true nature of the tribal people of Southern Sudan. The true constituencies in Southern Sudan are not some interest groups focusing on the drilling of oil from certain regions, which are void of tribes. Matter of fact, there is no region void of tribes for a focus group to claim leverage over and even exist without tribal affiliation. Therefore, the tribes are the true constituencies that require the government to represent their various tribal interests as oppose to any other none-tribal groups.

So, this interim government has a task ahead of it so that it pave away for a real democratic representation that consider tribes as the core constituencies. This interim government must first, draw boundaries of its counties to reflect tribal districting. The number of districts a regional tribe may has depend on the population of the tribe and certain population must be agreed on to equal the voting district. There have to be two systems of representation: one base on the districts representation and the other is base on proportional representation of tribes where each tribe whether small or large get equal representation. Therefore, in general elections, each district will sent its representative (or representatives depending on how much a district ought to have representation) who will represent tribes base on population, and also each tribe will sent its representatives base on a single tribe. That way, the smaller tribes that have no chances to compete with larger tribes can have their share in a proportional representation in the government.

This system will create checks and balances within the government and can never allow one other tribe to dominate the affairs of the government. For example, the Dinka tribe which is the largest and will have more districts and greater representations will face a coalition of other smaller tribes in any case it tries to overreach. The smaller tribes that surrounds the Nuer will create the coalition of their own to offset the balance of power, hence, there will be no Nuer domination in the region. The coalitions, however, is not going to be a permanent thing but it is dynamic in nature, depending on the issues at hand.

This system, however, will raise the serious concerns of one’s rights to live wherever he wants inside Southern Sudan. Well, drawing voting districts for representation purposes will not in anyway denies one’s rights to live wherever he wants to live. The only thing that it will deny is one’s privilege to vote and run for office in a district that one does not belong in. However, there will be room for establishing residency in a district where one does not belong to so as to earn those political privileges. The criteria or requirements for establishing a residency is something that should be left to particular districts to set forth, the requirement that may vary from one district to another for reasons known only to individual districts.

The one thing that must be clear is that having a privilege is not as having a right. A privilege is special consideration, and in the case of voting, it only applies to the members of the district that one belongs too by meeting residency requirement for the district that one is a member. So, as every one must have a right to live wherever they want they do not have a privilege to vote or run for office anywhere they want. Losing privilege to vote and run for office should also applies in the case of the internally displace persons (IDPs), the people who flee their native districts in event of disasters and settle in other districts. Naturally, the people who run away from their native homes for whatever reasons ending up losing several of their privileges that they would have enjoyed while at their native lands. We have seen these even in advance world like the U.S. where the victims of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina cannot just jump into trains from Louisiana and go to Idaho and start to vote, run for office, and claim a piece of land without meeting certain requirements set by the people of Idaho to be consider for the privileges that the people of Idaho have. Not even the governor of Louisiana will have a privilege to be the governor of Idaho just because Idaho is a small state and is part of the U.S. In a case of a disaster where it results to the displacement of people, the government will intervene and settle the victims temporarily until they are relocated back to where they belong. So, the government of Southern Sudan is not going to be exception in an even like this, and such disasters should not affect the existence of other communities who are not touch by the disaster.

Another concern will be that such a system will undermine the ideal of the national parties. However, that is not going to be the case. All the individuals running for offices must do so on a ticket of registered party of their own. It is the voters from the voting districts who will decide on which individuals they will elect. And since the South embarks on parliamentary system of government, it must continue with that system where the head of the executive body whether it is going to retain the title of president or prime minister must come from the majority party. This means, the head of the executive body has to first be elected from his district to the parliament, and from there the majority party in parliament will elect one of their own to be the head of the executive body or in most cases, the person who is the head of the majority party in the parliament must become the head of the excutive body. In case where there is no majority, several parties will form a coalition government and elect the head of the executive body. Such a system will encourage a multipartism and makes democracy a reality, and more importantly it will reduce tribal tendencies.

The interim government of Southern Sudan needs to seriously consider the social, political, and cultural forces that tribes are wielding, especially in a free democratic nation. And the interim government must make sure that it incorporates such a system outlined above in the constitution of Southern Sudan. Now is the right time that the interim government begin to ponder on this as they are looking forward for the creation of a viable state. However, without incorporating such a system of representation in the constitution of the South Sudan independent state one will will just wonder and imagine on what sort of the nation the South is going to be, given the prevalence of tribal forces and lack of democratic representation.

* Steve Paterno is a Sudanese residence of the United States of America. He can be reached at [email protected]