New Currency for Southern Sudan
July 23, 2004 (LiquidAfrica) — Region wants its own independent character Should peace accords finally end 21 years of conflict between northern and southern Sudan, any peace dividend is likely to be paid out in a new currency created for southern Sudan – the New Sudan Pound, reports Sapa-AFP.
Under the provisions of the various July 2002 accords – signed, and still being negotiated – between Sudan’s Muslim, Arab north and its animist Christian south, the southern region will benefit from a six-year interim period of autonomy before its citizens vote on whether or not to remain part of Sudan. Along with its own new flag, licence plates and a system of collecting taxes, the New Sudan, as it is often referred to by negotiators, will also have its own currency, the New Sudan Pound (NSP).
“It is a sign of liberty for southern Sudan,” said an employee of the Nile Commercial Bank in Rumbek. “One hundred and two hundred pound notes of the NSP have already been printed and 10, 20 and 50 NSP coins are ready,” said Samson Arap, manager of the bank. Currently, transactions in the southern part of the country are conducted in Kenyan and Ugandan shillings and American dollars, but never in the Sudan dinar, the legal tender of the northern part of the country. Very few countries allow the circulation of more than one currency – the very symbol of national sovereignty. “We are going to be like China,” said Arap, explaining that the Hong Kong and Taiwanese dollars and the Chinese yuan are all accepted currencies in the world’s largest country. The Nile Commercial Bank opened its doors in Rumbek on May 30.
It is the first bank to conduct operations in this ruined city since 1986. Rumbek is likely to become the capital of the autonomous southern Sudan. So far the bank has no computers, telephone lines or electricity, but 60 people have opened accounts there. The war in Sudan erupted in 1983 when southern-based rebels, the Popular Army for the Liberation of Sudan (SPLA), rose up against the capital, Khartoum, to end Arab and Muslim domination and marginalisation of the black, animist and Christian south. Together with famine and disease, the conflict has claimed at least 1,5-million people and displaced 4-million others. On July 19, the Sudanese government and rebels, meeting for peace talks in Nairobi, said they would continue negotiating until a comprehensive ceasefire to end Africa’s longest conflict is clinched.
The accords between the north and south do not cover a separate conflict raging in the western Sudan region of Darfur, which erupted in February 2003 when black African tribes rose up against the same Sudanese government, to fight marginalisation.
In another report, Sapa-AFP says Sweden has urged the United Nations Security Council to take more responsibility in efforts to end the violence in southern Sudan. It said it would send a Swedish diplomat to the African country’s capital.