Nations left to Suffocate-Sudan example

By Hala Alkarib

June 14, 2010 — The East African and sub-Saharan regions with their messy colonial borderlines, hybrid culture and population inherited from various episodes of occupation has made the nations of these regions coexist abruptly and trapped between current western world expectations, perceptions inherited form the latest western colonial period and their own conflicting heritage.

In the end, very few nations have managed to stand at the edge of surviving; the majority has been left to suffocate as a result of the confusion, mixed international interventions and their internal self destructive clashes.

As the biggest country between the two regions (sub-Sahara and East Africa) carrying the features and the burdens of the conflicting map, Sudan is suffering the most. This country’s series of disasters and failed structures have put it in the category of the nations that have been left to suffocate, except that Sudan’s suffocation is taking a longer time. It is happening in stages because of the country’s large size and multiple geopolitical statuses. Every day the big country is missing out on opportunities of rescue and continues to sink deeply into the fearful unknown.

Wangari Maathai in her book, The challenge for Africa, said; “While colonialism was devastating for Africa, it has become a convenient scapegoat for conflict warlords, corruption, poverty and dependency. Africa cannot continue to blame her failed institutions on colonialism; but these issues can neither be understood fully without acknowledging the fact of Africa’s past.”

I agree with most of Wangari Maathai’s statement but disagree with the last phrase which is hinting that colonialism is Africa’s past. In my view, colonialism is not Africa‘s past, it’s the continent’s ongoing present and to a great extent a determining factor of its future.

Both Africa and the west are still stumbling over the colonialism era, unable to overcome, just keep going around it. Regardless of the different dynamics and change of approaches, we are all (Africans and western nations) stuck in that conflicting relationship hunted by the traps of perception (who are we suppose to be, as opposed to who we are in reality). Aspects of guardianship and stagnation of the perception of what Africans, Sudanese, Southern Christians, Northern Muslims, Darfurians, etc, are supposed to be, look like and behave. How politics’ democratic practices or non practices should look like, what do we deserve; how we should we live as part of this world?

As powerless nations, this is all to be determined for us by others perceptions. The latest Sudan elections were a clear manifestation of the western perception / misperception of how things are suppose to work in a country like Sudan. As said loudly by the Russian envoy to Sudan, “Sudan elections are fair by African standards. (I don’t want to touch on Russian democracy).

The truth is that the conventional western perceptions internalized by various international actors is becoming very handy for our repressive regime as they are the ones constantly empowered, nourished by masters of misperception, and their existence was prolonged and supported for layers of pragmatic and shortsighted reasons, the safety and security and development of the country’s citizens are not part of the equation, since the value of our lives doesn’t add up.

WHAT ARE OUR LIVES WORTH, WHAT IS THE VALUE OF OUR VOICES?

Darfur: Between 2003- 2007, as a result of the massive violence killings and displacements in Darfur, Sudan has witnessed the largest international campaign exposing the violations that took place in the western region of the country. For over four years, Darfur has turned into the destination for humanitarian workers, aid and human rights groups. In 2005, some actors from the International community in their efforts to create another landmark agreement rushed to the engineering of the completely of out of context “Darfur Peace Agreement “(DPA)”. This is a micro version of the Sudan CPA, it was nice and good looking on paper, yet obviously had no potential of being taken anywhere since it was signed in isolation and it did not relate to the context and the stage of the conflict in Darfur at the time. However, the agreement certainly came as a nice gift to the Sudanese regime, to utilize in the fragmentation of the immature emerging rebel movements of Darfur and eventually contributed to widening the scale of conflicts beyond limits.

The engineering and composition of the earlier AU mission which later became UNMID forces never changed and if not worsened the security situation in the region. Due to the mission’s poor and limited mandate and its obvious capacity challenges observed very early by the Darfur people, the mission turned into a burden on the local community and a huge machine of recourse consumption with no sensible role or contribution other than to demonstrate the good will of the International Community.

In March 2008, efforts of the International Community hit the ceiling in regard to Darfur after the indictment of Sudan’s President and the crackdown on humanitarian aid agencies and civil society. This step which was taken abruptly by the regime has ended the international community camping in Darfur and opened chapters for escalating violence and more civilians’ victimization.

On the other hand, the conflict continued to expand and aspects of insecurity, instability and infraction were escalating every day. Current efforts to contain the situation by the International Community, African union and Sudanese can only be described as lacking relevance to a great extent, far from the actual road to sustain any level of stability in the region. (An issue to talk about in another piece)

The author a Sudanese human and women rights activist works in Sudan and the Horn of Africa on aspects of policy and legislating change in relations to women rights and gender equality. Written and contributed to many papers and articles on women rights situation in the Horn of Africa and Sudan; latest report” Waking through Forest of Thorns – About women organisations experiences advocating against violence against women in the Horn of Africa”. She is the current director of a Horn of Africa Women Coalition-(SIHA)