Transitional recovery efforts in Sudan’s Bahr el Gazal deteriorating
By John Deng Ayok*
April 14, 2006 (RUMBEK) — The comprehensive peace agreement brought along both positives and negatives, this was an expectation as every human activity has two sides of which one side will always be good and the other bad.
POSITIVELY
The CPA has shape the country’s political and economical systems as Sudan now operates under legitimate GoNU and southern Sudan with its semi-autonomous three level government systems, GoSS, State and Local Government.
The south Sudan is undertaking transitional recovery and developmental activities that it has not undertaken since the colonial times, this undertakings are evident construction and reconstruction of country’s infrastructure, basic social service centers (clinics, hospitals, and schools), roads, bridges, and decent local government structures at state and county levels. These all off course are made possible through the valued support of international and local NGOs and local and external private investors.
NEGATIVELY
Implementation is very slow, is of course the general view of the south Sudan population in the region and the leg dragging has proved to have created or intensified a / the string of ethno-communal conflicts that drags particularly along the boarders of Lakes State, Warrap State, and in northern Bahr el Gazal where the Dinka, Nuer, Mezzeit and Zakawa slaughter themselves over natural resources, livestock water, grazing and farming land. Social basic services (water, food, clinics, etc) as provided above have and seem to will take ages to reach the most vulnerable at the village levels.
ETHNO-COMMUNAL CONFLICTS
In south Sudan are fueled and encouraged by anti CPA or peace in south Sudan elite within the highest level of the current government of Sudan which is still pursuing the divide and rule mechanism but in an extremely different and flexible format, arming civilians to fight, loot, raid themselves such that the focus of the peace supporting elite (e.g. GoSS) is diverted from transitional recovery and reconstruction efforts to ethno-communal conflict resolution and management. These is what some communities provide to local authorities, international and local NGOs interventions to ethno-community conflicts by for example facilitating peace dialogues, conferences, making examples of ?there are a lot of brand new and good condition AK-47s in hands civilians’, are common in community peace meeting or conferences in conflict within and among themselves in the south Sudan, while the SPLA also at the other end justifies that the ?machine guns in the hands of civilians are not ours, we have not had new AK-47s for a very long time’.
The elites behind ethno-communal conflicts in south Sudan are mainly south Sudanese political leaders in the south Sudan that are recruited and influenced by anti peace groups to instabilize communities for political and economic power / wealth.
If for instance in the recent Dinka section civil conflict in Lakes State that claimed over 718 lives, destroyed property leaving a huge population in dare vulnerability and also heavy catches of ammunition in Warrap State in past few weeks proofs that the established bodies under the security arrangements protocol in the CPA sets the Area Joint Military Committee (AJMC) and the Joint Military Team (JMT) as not performing their duties and responsibilities of monitoring and protecting human rights or humanitarian law, failure to undertake this duties has resulted to unexpected continued lose of vulnerable lives at this particular given time of the so called ?peace time’.
FOOD SECURITY
There was a food security assessment report on Sudan of 2005-2006 expected to be released by UNFAO, UNWFP and Ministry of Agriculture, this report is fortunately out and in Geneva for reviewing. Unfortunately, it is not likely to help contain the already extreme levels of food shortages and already high level of malnutrition that is particularly worst in the greater Bahr el Gazal states of Northern Bahr el Gazal and Warrap in south Sudan.
There are a few international NGOs that have set up a couple of feeding centers that are not close to containing the high level of malnutrition indicated in nutritional reports for 2006 by local authorities and international NGOs. WFP late last months sent to the region a number of food full tracks from Khartoum and the GoNU also made efforts to send over a hundred food full tracks to each region. These food relief efforts are not close to relieving the communities from hunger as witnessed in one of food distribution points in one of the counties, it was evident that food was not enough to feed the population as one 100kg bag of maize grains was shared amongst about six hungry heads, per month, this cannot sustain them for even a week considering most households having at least over five household members.
RETURNEES
It is even more a threat that there is a very high and spontaneous influx of returnees into the region and local host communities without food will even be more difficult and the level of food shortages and malnutrition will rise.
Positive and successful implementation of the CPA needs community grass roots to build positive confidence and commitment in making it possible. The GoNU, Go[1]SS, State and County government levels and international and local NGOs must work cooperatively for community confidence in protecting the CPA.
“What was agreed by the politicians and economists of south Sudan is meaningless to us the hungry ones in the villages here if they just come and tell us than show us the difference it has made in our communities now compare to before it was achieved”, a 62 year old lady angrily expresses herself in a community gathering.
* John DENG Ayok is a freelance field based social researcher in the field of conflict prevention, management and post-conflict transitional recovery, reconstruction, emerging democracy and transformational development in south Sudan. he can be reached at [email protected]