A Southerner to lead Sudan
Alfred Taban, the Khartoum Monitor
April 30, 2006 — Northerners have lost their legitimate right to lead Sudan and if the unity of the Sudan is to be maintained, a southerner has to be installed at the top.
This is my sincere advise to my northern brothers. The centrist northern Sudanese have dragged this country through at least four wars, two of which are still raging. They have ruined the economy of this country and produced millions of beggars and a cream of super rich only amongst them.
They have reduced this country to a laughing stock of the world. A country which is considered a bread basket of Africa and the Middle East is now almost empty, its people dependant on relief aid.
A country which was known for its generosity and good behaviour has now become the human rights animal of the world. Genocide, rape, crucifixion, which used to be alien to the Sudanese people are now labels thrown at the Sudanese people at ease.
We blame the northern oligarchs who ruled this country and are still doing so for the mess we are in.
The rest of the northerners failed to remove them. It is time for southerners to be given a chance to rule. The southerners are saying enough is enough to the mismanagement of Sudan by others. It is now time for them to manage or mismanage their own country.
Many northern Sudanese, while criticizing this government, have benefited from it. Many of them never return to Sudan. Many northern Sudanese doctors are permanently stationed abroad, sent by the governments in Khartoum at public expense. There are over one thousand in London alone. Cromwell hospital is full of them.
Many northerners hold dual nationalities. Southerners rarely get these kinds of chances. How many southerners get specialized training abroad in medicine at government’s expense? How many southerners have dual nationalities? For them, Sudan is the only home. They do not have any other home. That’s why they are likely to perform better than northerners because they know they have no where else to go if they bungle up things in their country of birth.
To maintain the unity of this country, we have now to go beyond just giving southern Sudanese their rights. A radical solution is required.
An executive president must now come from Southern Sudan. That is the price for keeping the unity of this country. The northern Sudanese can easily pay that price if they really want to.