Final Communiqué-All Tribes Conference

All Tribes Conference

While the whole world is aspiring for unity and cohesion, the first conference of All Tribes in Southern Kordofan was held in an environment characterised by belief in democracy, transparency and a drive towards unity and work for developing Southern Kordofan Region. Attended by about 700 participants from various tribes living in the region, the conference was held in the embattled town of Kauda where the first sparkle of liberation began in the Nuba Mountains, Southern Kordofan. With persistence and determination for unity, justice and freedom, and aspiring for the New Sudan – that can accommodate all the Sudanese people – after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Sudan Government, objectivity was the method used in the dialogue and patience was exercised to reach recommendations and resolutions after deliberating the following issues:

– (1) Objective evaluation of Peace Agreement;
– (2) Unity and peaceful co-existence;
– (3) The future of development in Southern Kordofan;
– (4) The Local Government System in Southern Kordofan; and
– (5) The political future of Southern Kordofan.

Throughout the discussions, which were characterised by transparency, the participants reached a number of resolutions and recommendations, which can be summarised into the followings:

(1) The conferees confirmed that the policies of different, central governments since Sudan’s independence were responsible for marginalisation, backwardness and conflicts among the peoples of Southern Kordofan Region;

(2) The reinforcement of national principles and the spread of the spirit of recognition, acceptance and forgiveness among the diverse population of Sudan;

(3) The importance of awareness and reinforcing the concept of peaceful co-existence among the tribes of Southern Kordofan;

(4) Reviewing the previous alliances between the tribes of the region, developing and activating them to adapt to the programme of the New Sudan;

(5) Establishing a commission to investigate truth, provide reconciliation for the disputing tribes on their conflicts and activate its work on a base level;

(6) The recognition of citizenship as a basis for rights, duties and ethnic, religious and cultural diversity;

(7) Establishing social peace through the spread of peace culture and building confidence among the population of the region in order to combat harmful behaviour, and exercising constructive self-criticism;

(8) The right to exercise religious freedom, and the separation of religion from politics;

(9) Establishing civil and rural administrations under new principles through drafting regulations and connecting them with land; and the dissolution of rural administrations which have been forcibly enacted by the regime;

(10) Exercising a balanced representation for the peoples of the region in all institutions;

(11) Reviewing educational curricula, and incorporating the culture of peaceful co-existence in school curricula to adapt to peace era, unity and cultural diversity in the region, and ensuring the vertical and horizontal extension of education; building students’ boarding houses, because of their role in upbringing generations;

(12) Accepting all the aims and objectives that cater for the creation of the New Sudan which is based on cultural, religious and ethnic diversity;

(13) Compensating the people of the region for the damage caused by the construction of oil pipeline according to the bases which have been used in dealing with the people of al-Jaili, Merowe and others;

(14) Resolving the land disputes by legal means and after enacting a new lands law, which will reduce the causes of friction between the tribes;

(15) Abolishing every fatwa (religious edict) and all decisions which were previously taken by conferences, tribal councils or institutions that led to the breakdown of social fabric in Southern Kordofan State;

(16) The conferees recommended that women should have a principal role in developing the society;

(17) Establishing research and advisory centres in the fields of development and various investments;

(18) Establishing infrastructural institutions in the fields of roads, transport, communications, health and water, including the construction of dams;

(19) Protecting investment and local production, and encouraging them to compete in free markets with a guarantee of circular investment;

(20) Making sure that the international organisations are working in partnership with local ones for training, acquiring skills and experiences in order to guarantee the continuation of development projects after the Interim Period;

(21) Enlightening the civil societies about their roles in the different stages of development process, and preserving environment;

(22) The conferees recommended that a province should have separate powers and also bilateral powers with the state;

(23) The importance of reinforcing the concept and practice of democracy among all the peoples of the region through media, public fora and educational curricula;

(24) The conferees confirmed the importance of rallying the peoples of the region in order to exercise the right of self-determination through a popular consultation; and

(25) Establishing a mechanism, which will be responsible for the follow-up and execution of these resolutions and recommendations.

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