Democracy is vital for any kind of peace and resulting prosperity in the Sudan

By Namaa Faisal Al Mahdi

“The government’s prime failure is identified not in the dismal catalogue of intolerable, massive corruption, degrading subservience to foreign manipulation, ludicrous ” second-class, hand-me- down capitalism”, damnable shooting of strikers and demonstrating student or banning of unions, but in the failure of our rulers to re-establish vital inner links with the poor and dispossessed of this country, with the bruised heart that throbs painfully at the core of the nation’s being’ a heart which, though in need of healing, possessing what Ikem sees as an ” artless integrity’ , a ‘stubborn sense of community’Chinua Achebe’s (Things Fall Apart)

February 20, 2011 — The government of Sudan ruling party claims- in many words-that it’s the only structure effective enough to uphold Sudan’s peace and stability-it also claims that it’s the main reason why many parts of the country have not disintegrated into war and conflict. I often wonder where is this peace and stability they are referring to? There isn’t much peace and there isn’t much stability to speak of in the Sudan- as a matter of fact – all things have long fallen apart.

Every Sudanese newspapers and journal is full to the brim and bursting with- issues human rights violations and citizen’s abuse on every sentence, abductions of civilians in Khartoum, North Kordofan, White Nile, Sinnar and Jazeera State by the Government’s National Intelligence and Security Service personnel on every page, torture and psychological abuse of detainees.

Daily reports of heart wrenching violence- National Congress Party orchestrated and conducted massacres in Darfur and Southern Sudan, a lingering recent history of massacres in the East, the Port, the North, the Centre, the West and the South- the South. Is there a foreseeable end to this flood of blood-our incessant wailing has yet to stop.

The government of Sudan in Khartoum, has not merely failed in connecting with the peoples of Sudan at each and every level, it has chosen as it seems –taking into account the endless lists of massacres and genocides committed in the past 22 years- to use the country’s army and resources to wipe out, kill and displace the populations of the peoples of Sudan- To this day, Sudan has the highest internally displaced population of 4.9 million people.

On the morning of 30th of July 1989, Brigadier General Omar Hassan AL Basher announced on Omdurman’s national radio, the successful takeover of the non-partisan National Salvation Revolutionaries. The news was met by great public jubilation and joy; in his announcement he presented an end to what many Sudanese considered to be the chaotic rule of the democratically elected political parties. Within a few months of National Salvation rule, it turns out that the non-partisan claim was the first in the never ending string of lies, and what appeared to be – (The Army) was the face of the National Islamic Front Party NIF.

What followed was a string of endless lies, a propaganda of strength, wit and organisation that has gone as far as the NIF to label themselves – the organisation (???????)

In the 22 years of National Salvation turned National Congress Party rule, we are in the presence of a country in disarray, a systematically corrupt and dysfunctional government administration, a series of anti-government resistance in the South, West, East, North and Central regions, an endless list of human rights violations and atrocities and the latest in a list of crisis, the Ministry of Health officials contract for the sale of human organs. It is indeed a Criminal Gang, which occupies the seat of governance in the Sudan.

There are no visible signs of any level of organization or salvation, but multiple signs of looting at all levels, murder and destruction. Even the NCP constructed cross Sudan’s roads, have been labelled the roads of death. The NCP have used cold mix asphalt concrete commonly used as a patching material to build the Sudan’s main roads- a process often used to patch road potholes and to build lesser trafficked roads. The result are roads, which have a maximum load capacity of 60 tonnes, regardless of the load capacity of the vehicle and daily news reports of commercial buses and vehicles skidding and turning over and killing hundreds, civilian cars skidding across the road and killing families- more death, more death, more death.

The NCP claim that their removal, will throw the country into a Somalia like conflict. The country is already in multiples states of conflict, in Darfur, in Southern Kordofan, in Abyei, in Nubia (Kajbar and Dal) and soon if the situation remains the same- in Eastern Sudan. I cannot think of a single region in the Sudan-which is not in one way or another in a state conflict with this regime.

The fact that the bullets are not resonating over every door in every major city in the Sudan, does not make the fact that they are resonating on the doors of Sudanese families in Darfur and in Jongeli any less painful;

Will the Sudan’s Army ever stop pointing their guns and shooting at Sudanese- will they ever do their job and protect those who they regularly kill –will they ever protect the citizens of the Sudan- Is there a foreseeable end to this flood of blood-will our incessant wailing ever stop……..

It is the presence of the NCP in the seat of power that is causing and sustaining this endless stream of conflict and resistance across Sudan. Initially it was the lack of peoples of Sudan representation in the National Assembly (Majlis Watani), which has led to marginalization of all non NCP Sudanese- (the majority in the Sudan), which have led to peaceful protests.

The NCP’s policy of brutally crushing peaceful protests and demonstration have led to armed protests- have led to the multiple conflicts in the Sudan. They are the cause and are the reason.

The main reason why Somalia has disintegrated into the current state of conflict and disarray it is in today, was because of a regime similar to the NCP’s and because of the lack of any structure that can overtake the role of governance, when the Somalia regime was overthrown, this is not the case in the Sudan- the Sudan has already a transitional government in waiting. Which is part of the package of demands recently presented by the National Consensus Forces.

Our endless and our African neighbour’s endless war experiences have shown, that time after time, no militia, no gorilla war, no personal guards, no ill trained cowardly National Intelligence and Security Service organisation can stand against the weakest structure of government, and no government can stand against the tide of the a people’s uprising.

The only way, Sudanese people’s marginalization can be addressed, the only way the Sudan can function as a nation is through a fair and transparently elected democratic government. The only chance of any peace in the Sudan is through -democracy.

The only way, every Sudanese citizen, every Sudanese voice- can be represented at the level of the local, central and national government is via a democratic process, whereby an elected government official, will be made responsible- not as a tribal leader, but as a government official, to convey the peoples voices, needs and choices – to the various levels of government and to convey the policies and response of the various levels of government to the people.

The only feasible method people can connect to the government and the government can connect to the people through a democratically elected member of parliament, serving at both ends. A member of parliament who is the servant of the people and the government and a government which is the servant of the people, and not the super-imposing structure of fear and tyranny- such as those created by the systematically murdering National Congress Party or the dictatorship of the previous Mayo regime.

Successive systems of dictatorships are the main reasons for conflict in the Sudan. The Sudanese citizen’s lack of understanding of the basics of democracy and the democratic process and system of governance, is also one of the main reasons for conflict in the Sudan.

The Sudanese citizen know and have mainly experienced two types of governance dictatorships (past colonial and past and present national) and tribal leaderships- democracy is to this day a widely misunderstood concept.

* Namaa Faisal AL- Mahdi is an educator in the Sudan Open Learning Organization (SOLO), an educational NGO in the Sudan, with HQ in Khartoum, working mainly in providing educational opportunities to vulnerable populations in the Sudan