From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Oct 18 2009 - 15:58:45 EDT
They came to say good-bye
Frank discussions between north and south suggest what must be done if Sudan
is to remain one country, reports Asmaa El-Husseini from Juba
15 - 21 October 2009
Issue No. 968
_____
Recently, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of President Omar
Al-Bashir turned down an invitation to participate in a conference in Juba.
Its absence didn't make much difference, for the accusations came thick and
fast anyway. The south, which will have a referendum on its secession in
January 2011, seems to have given up on unity with the north. Its
politicians blame everything that went wrong in the country and in their own
region on the ineptness of the northern leaders who have ruled Sudan since
the 1989 coup.
Some northern leaders turned up in Juba, but their attempts to soothe nerves
have been less than successful. Among the northerners who travelled to Juba
were Umma Party leader and former prime minister Al-Sadeq Al-Mahdi, National
Islamic Front leader and former parliamentary speaker Hassan Al-Turabi, and
Communist Party leader Mohamed Nugud.
The southerners are livid that the northern leaders have failed to establish
a Sudanese state that tolerates diversity. Some accused the northerners of
waging a jihad against the south during the years of the National Salvation
Revolution. Some recalled certain atrocities that took place in the south
during Al-Mahdi's rule. References were made to "broken promises" and
"forgotten vows".
The conference brought back memories of another meeting that was held in
Juba in 1947, before the country won its independence. Northern politicians
spoke of that conference as an event that launched a united Sudan. But the
southerners recalled a different story.
Yasser Arman, deputy secretary-general of the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM), said that the first Juba conference was a "painful memory"
to the southerners. It was a ruse that continued until independence, he
added.
It was in Juba in 1947 that the southerners voted for unity with the north.
"They were promised federalism, but the northern political leaders cheated
them. It is therefore a tricky business, reminding the southerners of that
conference. For them, it is a sad memory," Amnad said.
Speaking at a session of the south Sudan parliament, Paul Mayom, information
minister, said that the process of unity in an Islamic country differs from
that in a diverse country such as Sudan. "The peace agreement concerning the
south is not a solution, but a means to an end, which is self-
determination," he said.
Mayom denied that the partitioning of Sudan would be bad for Africa. "We
cannot live in a unified Sudan at a time when leaders of the country manage
politics by the standards of religion," he pointed out.
John Luk, minister of energy and mining of the south Sudan government,
called on the Sudanese to stop blaming the colonialists who left the country
50 years ago. He criticised leaders of the north for monopolising power, but
stated that Sudan may be able to remain united if religion and politics are
separated. He said that the peace agreement has given Sudan two governments,
an Islamic one in the north and a secular one in the south.
Luk called Al-Mahdi and Al-Turabi to come up with ideas on how religion and
politics can be handled in Sudan. Khartoum should start acting differently
if it wants the country to stick together, he added.
Malik Aggar, deputy leader of the SPLM and governor of the Blue Nile
Province, said that today's Sudan is not one country-one nation, but one
country with many nations. He blamed the northerners for the current strife,
adding that the attempt to impose Arab culture on others has ripped the
country apart. Unity, he added, cannot be attractive to southerners when the
northerners want half of the oil revenues of the south.
Reacting with remarkable calm, northern leaders did their best to refute the
allegations. Al-Mahdi said that he wasn't against the peace agreement and
the gains of the south, but only wanted the agreement to be expanded to
include other Sudanese parties.
Al-Mahdi said that the Islamists don't see eye-to-eye on all matters. He
spoke of a future Sudan where citizens' rights and religious freedoms would
be honoured under a democratic regime. He said that he is ready to face the
blame for his mistakes, but added that the southerners also made mistakes
that must be addressed.
This is a time for reconciliation and healing, Al-Mahdi declared. He denied
that he came to the south to promote unity. The colonialists mustn't be
blamed for everything, but the Sudanese should keep in mind that colonialism
has left many inequities in the country, ones that had not been addressed in
full. Despite Sudan's troubles, Al-Mahdi said, the country can, through a
serious and open dialogue, achieve true democracy.
Speaking at the same event, Al-Turabi said that his idea of jihad was
limited to self-defence. He said that Sudan's diversity makes it necessary
for the Sudanese to keep an open mind and stop judging their compatriots by
standards of colour and race. Al-Turabi went on to reiterate some of his
conservative opinions regarding women and freedoms.
Mohamed Nugud said that through dialogue the Sudanese may be able to
establish a modicum of national consensus. He warned of the adverse impact
of personal vendetta on Sudanese politics. Then he reminded the southerners
that unity has to be attractive to the northerners as well.
Lam Akol, former Sudanese foreign minister and leader of the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), said that the criticism
directed at the northern leaders is a normal outcome of long standing
grievances. He hinted that the northerners are trying to involve the SPLM in
their power games, adding that the south must not be dragged into these
games.
Nhial Deng, defence minister in the south Sudan government admitted that
hopes for unity are fading. "If we look at the situation realistically, we
see that the chances for unity in the south have perhaps diminished. This is
because the NCP, our partner in government since the beginning of the peace
agreement, didn't pay enough attention to that matter. This is because when
we said that unity should be attractive, we meant that something needed to
be done for the sake of unity. We needed to act even before the ink dried on
the agreement. But unfortunately this didn't happen... The simplest thing
that the national unity government should have done for example was to
rehabilitate the national projects that existed in the south so as to prove
to the citizens in the south that it was sincere about healing the wounds
and opening a new page. But none of this happened."
In interviews with people in the street, Al-Ahram Weekly learned that the
mood was mixed. Some were happy that eminent leaders from the north have
deigned to come to the conference in Juba. Others saw the conference as the
beginning of the end. "They came to say good-bye, for in 14 months [January
2011] it'll all be over," a southern man told me.
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