Development is the cry of the people of south Sudan
Editorial, The Khartoum Monitor
Oct 27, 2005 — Development is a loaded word. We can think of it in terms of progress, expansion, evolvement or advancement.
South Sudan as it is now is a huge shame to the successive governments in the Sudan, including the very partner with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The Sudan is said to have got “independence” since 1 January 1956. But would anyone in his right, thinking mind believe that the Sudan really got independence?
What happened on 1 January, 1956, was a mere handing over by one colonialist to a fierce and ruthless, dangerous, greedy and terrible colonialist that has no conscience at all. It was a big mistake on the part of the British administration to have handed over the Sudan, a huge African country, to invaders, whose sole interest is to grab the land and loot its resources.
The mistake of the conscientious colonialist was to hand over innocent, illiterate and good-hearted people to the merciless settler Sudanese. That was a grave mistake for which the British administration must take responsibility. The wrath of the people of south Sudan will revolve on the British in the first place.
South Sudanese deserve an apology in order to regain their dignity. Take, for instance, Juba, the capital of south Sudan, as a case in question. American senators who paid a visit to the area had nowhere to sleep but in tents. This is an insult to African hospitality. This exposes the type of development south Sudanese got from the fake independence.
What actually transpired was that the British administration, in good or awkward faith, decided not to offer equal educational opportunities for the settlers and the indigenous people as such. For one reason or another, that administration concentrated on developing the settlers to further its own interests. This is the singlemost wickedness that the people of south Sudan will not forget.
And if south Sudanese are leaning towards America, it is not for anything.
They have seen human values and good will for their liberation from five decades of horrible oppression, deprivation, marginalization and worst of all, deliberate dehumanization at the hands of British-educated northerners.
All that the people of south Sudan want right now is a speedy development of infrastructure, service delivery, freedom and rights.