“New Sudan” misrepresents Dr Garang’s Vision
By Ohiyok D. Oduho
March 20, 2007 — Angelina Teny-Dhurgon, the State Minister in the Ministry of Energy, has come under fire for stating that the SPLM is pursuing the unity of the country. This statement was supported by the decision made in Yei not only to move the SPLM headquarters to Khartoum but also to affirm that SPLM will be transformed into a formidable national political party.
A body calling itself Bor Group has seriously attacked the SPLM decision to pursue unity of the Sudan and its intention to relocate SPLM headquarters to Khartoum. “As SPLM/A, we have resolved that working for a united Sudan is the only way to stability. The voices thinking of an independent Southern Sudan will have to wait or if some things change drastically”, Angelina Teny-Dhurgon, told investors attending the second annual international investment conference for southern Sudan in Nairobi, (http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article20863).
What Madam Angelina said is nothing new. It’s sad to realize that she is being held accountable for what is supposed to be an SPLM policy that she, like any other SPLM member, could articulate in support of party policies and objectives.
SPLM is a unionist movement and those who believe that the SPLM would separate South Sudan and make it independent for them are actually wasting time. SPLM’s interest in unity did not start from the time of Lt-Gen. Salva Kiir but from its founder, Dr John Garang de Mabior.
Whether or not Madam Angelina or any other SPLM senior official reveals the true SPLM sentiments on the issues of unity and separation in this country, those who found themselves uncomfortable must know that they are to decide the fate of the South during the plebiscite in 2011. No SPLM senior or junior official would impose on the people what they do not want.
However, this country is called ‘The Sudan’ an Arabic terminology for “The Black.” Like other parts of Africa, the Sudan had visitors from the Arab Peninsula who settled and intermarried with ‘The Blacks’ and became its citizens. Should the original Sudanese people, “The Black” who were systematically pushed south, abandon the unity of the country?
South Africa and Namibia have whites who, like Arabs, came as visitors but decided to occupy and ruled both Namibia and South Africa for more than 300 years. Today the black South Africans and Namibians have accepted these people and have no intention, whatsoever, to divide the countries for fear of the Whites. South Sudanese have no reason to fear from the Arabs because the CPA has set up a mechanism for co-existence.
It will be more than naïve for anyone in the Sudan to think that he or she is free to divide the country into many parts. This author may not have agreed with the late Dr Garang on a number of issues but he is united with him in the vision of building a new Sudan based on equality, respect for human dignity and its multi-racial diversity.
When Dr Garang coined the term “New Sudan” he did not mean independent South Sudan. He rather meant that Sudan must be transformed into a new Sudan that in which its blacks, Arabs, Muslims and Christians people live together with respect for the country and each other’s beliefs, cultures and norms. Reference to the South as “New Sudan” is indeed a misrepresentation of Dr Garang’s vision.
* Ohiyok D. Oduho is a permanent columnist with Sudan Vision newspaper. He can be reached on [email protected].