Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Conflict in Sudan ; The Roots Causes and the Consequences 3

On other hand the war in Darfur, it’s also reflect the conflict between the center and the peripheries .but Darfur question exceed to the conflict between the peripheries itself; to treat the question of Darfur we have to return back to the roots causes lie behind the crisis from historical point of view. According to research I had published six year ago I reached conclusion that the roots causes of Darfur can be list as below:
1. The drought and desertification which hit west Africa early in the seventies compelled number of people to migrate to anther areas specially the nomads whom were seek postures to their camels ,cattle and goat .this movement create contact between the farmers and pastorals lead to severe conflict during these period, unfortunately the government did no efforts to tackle the problem. The accumulation impacts of this conflict lead at the end of the day to confrontation between the people of Darfur on ethnic base that is because the nomads most of them are from the Arab race and vise verse the farmers are from African race. This situation keep continues tension between the farmers and the pastorals  That is what the rebel’s movement invests to fuel their war against the government. The situation can be describe as;
·  Deserts have spread southwards by an average of 100 kilometers over the past four decades.
· Land degradation is linked with overgrazing of fragile soils. The number of livestock has exploded from close to 27 million animals to around 135 million.
·   A "deforestation crisis" has led to a loss of almost 12 percent of Sudan's forest cover in just 15 years, and some areas may lose their remaining forest cover within the next decade.
·  Declining and highly irregular patterns of rainfall in parts of the country—particularly in Kordofan and Darfur states—provides mounting evidence of long-term regional climate change. In Northern Darfur, precipitation has fallen by a third in the past 80 years.
2.     At the same period in the eighties a huge number of Darfurians youths were flee their school for economical reasons, most of those were migrate the neighbor countries mainly Libya. Because the migrants gained nothing form their migration the most of the Darfurians prefer to stay in Darfur. Again and again the rebels found away to running the war. That is why huge number of youths fall a victim to propaganda of war. The first civil rights movement in Darfur named Darfur renaissance front founded by Mohammed Ibrahim Draig a well known Darfurian leader. And grounding upon this we can say Darfur civil movement opened the eyes of all Darfurians to seek their rights. Although Darfur witnessed repeated accidents of lawbreaking in systematic forms,  central governments accounted all the civil rights movements as an incidental, isolated and bandits’ activities.         
3.     In 1970 president Jaafar Nummairi Dissolve the civil administrations in the Sudan grounding on the regime orientation, the step pave the way to violating the law in remote areas such as Darfur. Because the civil administrations maintaining the security and order, Some people assumed that the civil ex-members are involved in the law-breaking acts so as to compel the Nummairi's regime to setback.
4.     As part of the conflict enlargement between the south of Sudan and the central government Darfur's youths start joining the SPLA/M and as a new phase of war they think on invading Darfur militarily. One of those whom were joined SPLA/M was Dawood YahaYia Bolad one of the most dominant leader in National Islamic front party in Sudan- the party prepared, financed and lead the coup d’état in 1989. Bolad as part of the SPLA/M and on his capacity as Darfurian decided to invade Darfur to liberate the region, but the attempt failed and killed Bolad himself. The murdered of Bolad fuel again the ethnic war between whom they consider themselves as an Arab and the African. Bolad was an African that is why the interested parties formulated propaganda that Bolad against the Arab race which pave the way to joint work against his movement. Beside this, the way Bolad killed also add controversial elements to the conflict in the region.                      

5.  Also the coup d’état of the national Islamic front in1989 participated greatly in aggravation of Darfur question through wrongful polices grounding in fabricated reports, most of these misunderstanding the genuine roots causes. Again the reports spoke described the case as a works of lawbreaker, road breaker and bandit leading the same road of the ex-governments since the broke out of the problems late eighties. Over and above the supposed Islamic regime plays in several wrong tactics to generate some tribes loyalty. in his first years the regime play on Islamic tone to maintain the trust of what we locally called Zurgha or non-Arab tribes under allegation that the Arab are historically supporting the traditional Umma party and democratic union. Late after Bolad joined the rebels in south lead the attempt of invading Darfur they turn back against the Zurgha again under different allegations that the Zurgha were planning to wipe the Arab tribes out of Darfur that is the reasons of the Janjaweed militia which lead all atrocities against the farmers’ villages in Darfur. This evil work made irredeemable gap between the populations in Darfur. The experiences all over the world showed the most optimal end to any war is the peace in spite of that the regime playing on flaming the war everywhere specially in the peripherals without thinking in its catastrophic consequences. What happened in the south give the prove that the war is not the right way to formulate strong united nation, southerner they chose to secede as result of war.                        
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The Conflict in Sudan; Roots Causes and the Consequences 2


Since independence Sudan faced political instability which led to secede of South Sudan. Once again the unity of Sudan threatens as result of the political conflict in various regions in Noba Mountain, Blue Nile and Darfur. This conflict must be taken seriously. Its going on rapid escalation whether in Darfur, Noba Mountain or Blue Nile. Just twenty years ago nobody even imagine that the South Sudan will secede. In 1995 when the conference of crucial issues agreed upon right of self-determination to South Sudan, Khartoum accounted it as political propaganda by the National Democratic Alliance so as to exaggerate its support to the southern question. Few years later the government agreed to give the same right to the SPLA/M during long fatigue negotiations in Mashakos. Now the Noba Mountain, blue Nile, Darfur marching the same road. Let us give an example for this deterioration, months ago number of Noba leaders in the SPLM/N they change their Arabic names into local names, that is exactly what happened late eighties’ when the number of SPLA/M change their names into local African names one of those who has changed their name Ahmed Alor changed into Deng Alor he is an ex Sudan foreign minister. The government and the others players in Sudan they have to consider this step and to account it on right bases. To degrade or belittle it, will pave the way to same destination. Our experience in Sudan showed that every step must be analyzed deeply. For five decades we didn't consider neither the rights nor the demands of the South, at the end of the day we compelled to agree to its an independent. I agree this is their fundamental right to practice their self-determination but at the same we lost fruitful chance to keep the unity of Sudan.

Monday, June 17, 2013

the Conflict in Sudan; Roots Causes and the Consequences 1



To discuss the issue of the conflict  in sudan we have to read through various questions. such as what is the concept of peace and security and how do we apply it to the case of Sudan. How do we read the geopolitical location of the Sudan? On what scope do we going to define the crisis? What are the dominant factors determine the steps toward peace and security? What is the role of the internal players? On what base do we account the role of the regional and international community?


Sudan located in the north of the African continent bordered by seven countries Egypt, Libya, Chad, central Africa, south Sudan, Ethiopia and Eretria.
This location made Sudan faces several challenges; the most significant challenge is how to control over these open borders? How to maintain peace and security along these vulnerable borders with countries suffering severe internal conflict. How do the government give up the waves of migrations which represented the crucial problem to the country.The migration to Sudan started since the breakout of Islam in Arab peninsula. Since that time the tribes of West Africa countries started their annual trip to Mecca the cradle of Islam. As a result of the economical welfare in Sudan and its short distance to Mecca most of the migrants prefer to settle in Sudan preparing for another trip, beside enjoying these prosperity of the region.
 Recently the reasons of migration to Sudan become merely economical ones. In the seventies’ and eighties’ West Africa had been hit by a severe waves of drought and desertification, this situation compelled the people to migrate to the neighbor countries in east and north Africa. Also the conflict in West Africa such the civil war in Chad and the Libya-Chad war over Auzo sector among another factors ignite the flame of migration to Sudan. In same period Sudan witnessed pattern of seasonal internal migration represented in the movement of the Nomads tribes marching toward the postures areas. As a result, the movement of the tribes from their original places to other tribes land led directly to harsh contact leading to conflict over scarce grass and water. The conflict between the farmers and the Nomads during the recent years led to enormous causalities most of them from farmers. Beside the risks of war the overseas migrant’s people carry different cultures and attitudes which threaten the local norms. Anciently the migration to Sudan not only from Africa but also from Arab peninsula that is what explains the diversification of population from Arab to African features. Unfortunately the sequential governments failed to invest these fruitful diversification to build concrete unity. In any case, there is no way out other than investing this diversity in what we refer to as unity in diversity. Secede of South Sudan added no change to the old cultural, ethnic and religious map of the country, till now we deal with the same map with the same components Islam, Christianity, pagans, Arab, African and mixture.