Unity of Purpose: A prerequisite for Southern Sudanese
By Nhial Titt Nhial.
Jan 4, 2006 — In the grand ceremony of the comprehensive peace agreement between the SPLM/A and NCP, Sudanese from all walks of life were in euphoric mood welcoming the birth of what the late Dr. John Garang called the birth of the second Republic of Sudan and end of the old Sudanese Republic. My mind is still ringing with sweet voices of ululation from our peace loving mothers. I remember with great passion the most spectacular performance by the SPLA military band and the dance by our diverse cultural groups that ushered in the moment of triumph and glory.
The late leader Dr.John Garang de Mabior said in his 90 minutes speech, “ From here on Sudan for the first time will be a country voluntarily united in justice, honor and dignity for all its citizens regardless of their race, regardless of their religion, regardless of their gender or else if the country fails to rise to this challenge of moving away from the old Sudan to the new Sudan of free and equal citizens, then the union shall be dissolved amicably and peacefully through the right of self determination at the end the six years of the interim period.”
It is clear from the horse’s mouth, the late leader Dr.Garang that if the country fails to unite voluntary in justice, honor, and dignity for all its citizens regardless of race, religion and gender the union shall amicably and peacefully be dissolved through the right of self-determination. In fact, there is no medicine at the moment to cure the old system of its disease of regarding its majority citizens like sub human beings.
Common sense has it that if an old cloth is amended with a new brand piece of cloth, it does not make any different. Sudan would have been well off with a new brand system in place. The SPLM with its leader as the president could have made a different in the life of the Sudanese. The testimony to this was the converging of an estimated multitude of six million in Khartoum in welcome of Dr. Garang and the SPLM, the largest crowd that has ever welcomed a Sudanese leader. That overwhelming welcome leaves one to say that the late leader Dr. Garang was a Sudanese president that never lived to rule.
Although some of the SPLM/A leaders are now in the government of national unity, they could not make different because the old system is still the head with the same blood. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela of South Africa told FW de Clerk to his face that oppressive system could not be reformed, and that it could be cast aside. It worked for South Africa.The oppressive apartheid system was cast aside and Mandela and his ANC took over. As a result, the system advocated by the ANC for many years was effectively implemented which saw great transition from the evil apartheid system.
As a matter of fact, chances are slim that the union will be made attractive by the NCP, which we know as one of the old systems that have been oppressing the country since independence. My point is for the Southerners to take the unity of purpose as a prerequisite. Our differences are minor and could be put aside. In my opinion, the problem is mainly a political different between our politicians some of whom want a straight break away and some want to reform the whole country in the South Africa ANC model.
This divides the South into two camps. One is the SPLM/A and the other one is the other Southern political groups. The SPLM/SPLA group in my analysis has the vision of new Sudan widely known as the vision of the late Dr. John Garang. This vision has been enshrined in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). In my analysis, the vision has part A and part B. Part A of the vision calls for a secular democratic nation with dispensation of equal economic, social, political and equal justice for all the Sudanese regardless of race, religion, ethnicity and gender. The six years interim period is the acid test for the plan A.
If the six years interim period is not making any change as expected by the SPLM/A and the Southerners, then the SPLM/A will use its part B of the vision which is secession through the exercise of self determination in July 2011.
The other Southern political groups want the independence of the South Sudan right away through the exercise of self determination without giving unity a trial because they feel that Arabs can not be changed.
In my analysis, the issue is typical of Dinka-Nuer nyop and bul.There is no different at all. Everything is going to lead to the final independence of the South. What the Southerners should choose and rally behind is the most effective method their parties are using.
History tells us that both separatist and unionist parties/movements have existed in the South. The unionist parties and movements to the best of my limited knowledge have been Sudan African National Union (SANU) led by William Deng Nhial and Aggrey Jaden and Sudan People Liberation Movement led by John Garang and Salva Kiir.
The separatist movements/parties have been Southern Front of the snow headed uncles Clement Mboro and Abel Alier , Southern Sudan Liberation Movement of Joseph Lagu now being revived being Dr. Michael Wal Dual from Jonglei,the defunct Southern Sudan Independence Movement of Riak Machar, and now Southern Sudan Democratic Forum led by Martin Lomoro to name them but a few.
The unionist parties have not only been popular to Southerners but also to the Sudanese in general because of their approaches in solving the problem of Sudan as a whole. Indeed their programs are not only well received by all Sudanese but reaches out to the hearts of both pan Africans and Pan Arabs. Through the Sudan African National Union, the Southerners were almost at the end to achieve their destiny when the brutal traitors took the life of its charismatic leader the late William Deng Nhial.
The opportunity remained with a straight separatist movement, the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement led by Joseph Lagu that signed the Addis Abba Agreement that was later on dishonored and put to the dustbin by former president Nemeiry. This led to the emergency of the SPLM as a political movement and the SPLA as its military wing. SPLM and SPLA came out as a formidable force that has learnt from the failures of the methods used by the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement and Southern Sudan Liberation Army (SSLM/SSLA) and the other separatist movements.
The SSLM/SSLA chose to solve the problem of Sudan as Southern problem but the SPLM/SPLA chose to solve it as Sudan problem. The SPLM/SPLA believed that the problem has been a clique of Arabs elites in Khartoum who have not only been oppressing the Southerners but all the Sudanese from all corners of the country including some of the ordinary Arabs. After the inception of the SPLM/SPLA, its leaders immediately called upon all the citizens of the country to rally behind them to remove the dictatorship in the centre and put in place the SPLM/SPLA as the government of the people for the people by the people by establishing a secular democratic nation with dispensation of equal economic, social, political and equal justice for all the Sudanese regardless of race, religion, gender and ethnicity. This saw the joining of the SPLM/SPLA by a large number of marginalized Sudanese from the North. The majority of those who joined the SPLM/SPLA have been from black Africans background and a dozens of Arabs who believe that Sudan should be changed to accommodate all races and all people of religious background. Notable among these group of Arabs are former Sudan foreign minister Dr. Mansour Khalid and Mr. Yaser Arman. The Northerners of African background who joined the SPLM/SPLA are notably the late Yusuf Kuwa Mekki from Nuba Mountains, Malik Agar from Blue Nile Region and Abdullah Hilu from Nuba Mountain among others. This gives the SPLM/SPLA an image of a nation wide people movement.
SPLM/SPLA received a huge international support both from the East and the West in its early stage and its later stage respectively. Not only that, some of the core Pan Arab nations like Libya among others sympathized with it in its early stage. Those supports have never been received by any Southern movement. This brought international attention that resulted in pressure for both side of the Conflict to bring a comprehensive settlement. Through the SPLM/SPLA method, either Southern Sudan or Sudan in general is going to change for the better through the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which gives a voluntary option for either the unity of the Sudan based on the good faith the Arabs will show or secession of Southern Sudan through the exercise of the self-determination as you have read early in this article in the late Dr. Garang’s quote.
According to analysts and observers, the SPLM/SPLA approach which result in the current CPA is the most excellent tract to eternal liberty for the Southerners and the better change in the Sudan. Some analysts put it that some of the Southern parties with straight separatist views have badly failed and that is why even the core straight separatist are now resorting to the idea they loved to hate. The Khartoum Agreement of April 1997 signed by Dr. Riak Machar a core straight separatist and his group failed. Fashoda Agreement signed by Dr. Lam Akol, a gentleman of the same ideology also failed.
These evidences should be a wake up call for the Southerners to abandon their different parties’ interests, take the unity of purpose and rally behind the current CPA and safeguard it with all the means. The CPA is our road to eternal liberty.
* Nhial Titt Nhial is a Sudanese living in Winnipeg MB, Canada.