New Sudan agenda: the only option to redress the troubled Sudan

By Bor Gatwech*

“You must be the change you want to see in the world”.

Mahatma Gandhi- Indian ascetic & nationalist leader
(1869 – 1948)

Dec 10, 2006 — From the south to the far north; west to the east,
Sudan is a troubled land; a divided nation and a
tortured country. Originally, it was geopolitically
divided into the so called the northern and the
southern entities. But then the west and east have
literally declared to be not part of traditional
northern Sudan any more.

But if you don’t want to classify it as above, then
one get into more confusion. Say through religion?
Race? Language? Or culture… Sudan is the microcosm of
Africa. For if Africa is a messy continent, and then
Sudan depicts it explicitly.
Since time it become a republic, Sudan has produced
great men who struggled to shape it in many ways. Some
have struggled to redress its troubles, while others
have just added salt into the wound.

My famous role model, late Garang, once said that for
a doctor to give a correct prescription to a disease,
he/she has to first get the correct diagnosis. In
other words, to give a cohesive treatment, a doctor
has to identify the disease itself. For if you messed
up in the diagnosis of the disease, you will also
mess-up on prescription of its cure.

This is similar to the patient “el Soudan” with its
many both unqualified and qualified doctors. The
country Sudan has been sick for ages since its
inception. It has never been politically or socially
healthy for all its life time as a nation. So one
could ask what is wrong with the Sudan. Why does its
sickness just creep from one simple symptom to more
complicated one instead of improving?

Some body somewhere said: “Sudan is too sick to
continue to exist on its old ways of doing things. And
the cure for is to create a new Sudan “.

However, when you say the word “new Sudan”, every body
in the Sudan panic, or are erroneously confused and go
uncomfortable. People from both the south and the
north are hectic on this ideological paradigm. And my
surprise is why? Is the term “new Sudan” acronym to
“unity”, “democracy i.e. majority rule and minority
right”, self-determination, secularity etc…
Does “new Sudan” agenda makes any harm to the Sudan
and its people? The answer is NO! But why then do all
geopolitical entities resist this noble idea and
ultimate cure to the Sudan?

Simply, according to southern Sudanese nationalist,
the idea of new Sudan is all about the unity of the
Sudan as a secular and democratic state; something
impossible per what they experienced from their
northern brothers. But the Northern Islamic extremist
consider new Sudan agenda as a way of recreating Sudan
where democracy is established in the Sudan that
brings black and non Muslim majority rule.
Despite all these perceptions, new Sudan agenda is the
only gate to change in the greater Sudan; it is the
only cure to the stagnant Sudanese civil and religious
strives. New Sudan agenda is a vision misconceived by
long suffering southerners and northerners alike.
However, it is a vision beyond self-determination for
any part of the Sudan; a vision beyond southern
independency and also a vision beyond the unity of the
Sudan. It is the only solution to the re-occurring and
phase changing civil and religious strife in the
Sudan.
New Sudan vision is about redressing Sudan into the
post-modern world; it’s like the 17th C democratic
revolutions in Europe and 20th C American dream of
Martin Luther King.

As a matter of fact, Sudan will or may separate into
two, three or four independent states, but can still
remain at war with itself similar to what has happened
to Ethiopia and Eritrea. But a single step into
democracy, good governance, and rule of law, respect
for human rights, freedom, equality and liberty to all
our people in the Sudan regardless of race, religious
or cultural differences can drastically avert all the
turmoil Sudan has been going on for almost a century.
To me, neither unity, nor separation without new Sudan
agenda makes sense. I am neither a unionist nor a
separatist, but a new Sudan visionist. We should be
for a Sudan with no problems anymore wether it remains
one or become four. For sure, Sudan has to accept to
be new or will either fail to unite or separate as
well. It will just collapse like Somalia!
Thus, new Sudan agenda is inevitable to Sudan, though
wasn’t achieved during the Naivasha Peace negotiations
that gave birth to the CPA. It means many things at
different levels. It can mean resolution of the long
standing north-south conflict through separation of
the Sudan into two independent states.

Besides, It can be used as an ideological tool to
transform Sudan into a democratic and secular state
that belongs to all Sudanese. Or if this is
impossible, then it will just be an idea that will
allow the African Sudanese gather to drive away the
Arabs from Sudan back to where they came from.
In conclusion, despite the fact that the architect of
new Sudan as an ideological paradigm is not any longer
present in this world, the idea is still and shall
remain relevant to the Sudan. It will still creep into
Sudanese minds as the going get tougher in the Sudan.
There is no chance for the Sudan to remain as it is;
which indirectly drag the New Sudan ideology into the
stage. It is a matter of time, the Sudan will be new.

*Bor Gatwech is Sudanese living in Australia. He can
be reached via emails: bgpaul2002aaaaaaa2yahoo.com