A peace to be nurtured
By The Guardian
Jan 11, 2005 — It is right to celebrate some rare good news from Africa: that Sudan has formally ended its agonising civil war – the continent’s longest-running internal conflict in its largest country. Twenty doves released to mark the agreement signed in Nairobi on Sunday were a symbol of hope that after 2 million deaths from fighting and famine and 4 million people displaced, a new departure is possible. John Garang, leader of the rebel SPLA, is to become vice-president as a transitional government is formed and a constitution drawn up. Oil revenues, largely generated in the south, are to be shared 50-50 and civil service jobs filled on a proportionate basis. Christian and non-Muslim southerners will be able to vote on secession from the Muslim north after six years. The prospect of that happening should be a strong incentive to the northerners to make this work.
But the agreement is fragile – “a precious child to nurture with love and care” in the eloquent words of one African mediator. This is a conflict with roots deep in Sudanese history and culture, which has simmered since independence from Britain in 1956. The Islamist government in Khartoum includes hardliners who feel President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has gone too far. Mr Garang has colleagues who would have liked to carry on their struggle, as would some government-backed militias in the south.
Much has to be done to turn a paper pact into reality on the ground. Refugee returns from Kenya, Uganda and Congo will be the first big challenge. Huge efforts will be needed to disarm fighters and clear landmines. The UN is doing its bit with a pledge to raise $1.5bn for Sudan this year, with a pounds 50m donation announced by the UK. Some of this is urgently needed for the war and famine-ravaged province of Darfur.
This north-south agreement owes a lot to Sudanese exhaustion, but more to post-9/11 US pressure (partly generated by Christian groups which tend to exaggerate the religious dimension of the conflict) on a regime which allowed Osama bin Laden to operate freely in the 1990s. Oil, as ever, was a factor in galvanising foreign interest. Optimism about the future must remain guarded: “final” peace accords have often failed in Sudan and elsewhere in Africa. A long, hard slog lies ahead. But we know only too well what the alternative looks like. It is also right to regret the absence of any mechanism for tackling human rights abuses: the same government that signed this deal is still backing or acquiescing in cruel attacks on civilians in Darfur, the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crisis.