Vision of New Sudan still a threat to Khartoum
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By Peter Kuot Ngong
“There are no shortcuts and no easy walks to Freedom.” Dr. John Garang
de Mabior, Naivasha Kenya 2004
September 23, 2011 — To those hunters in mountainous ranges who
defected and jumped to the top of the mountains in Kidepo, Imatong,
Kapoeta and Kilkilai and started pointing their weapons shooting down
on the SPLA forces, and to those Nilotic herdsmen of the swampy
regions of Upper Nile who defected, mobilised in Nasir and formed a
group called the Nasir Faction which coalesced with the enemy in an
expedition to destroy the movement under the leadership of Late Dr.
John Garang de Mabior. It is high time to give our memories
substantial instances to pore over all that happened in the past and
whether the vision of the ’New Sudan’ was the right formula to use as
a principle for achieving the ‘freedom’ of the people of South Sudan,
or what Dr. John Garang called ‘shortcuts’ were better applicable.
As the new Republic of South Sudan moves on with its development plans
using its own resources without any intimidation or threats from any
external forces, the National Congress Party (NCP) which controls the
North Sudan government still feels a great threat of what was coined
as ‘The New Sudan Vision’ by the most sophisticated politicians of
Sudan including Late Dr. John Garang de Mabior, Late Yusuf Kuwa of
Nuba Mountains, Salva Kiir Mayardit, Yassir Arman, Malik Agar and so
many other political elites of Sudan, some of them late and others
still breathing.
After the declaration of independence of South Sudan two months ago,
there are still political forces and geographical regions counted to
North Sudan that are calling for the achievement of the vision of New
Sudan as the only way to transform Sudan into a democratic,
multi-religious, multi-racial, multi-ethnic heterogeneous state that
observe justice and equality of its citizens for a better progress.
That is a war the North will be fighting for years, as the horns of
freedom are blown on the top of mountains in Nuba by Abdelaziz Adam
Al-Hilu, they are heard in Darfur by the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM) and down to Blue Nile by Malik Agar. That is a big threat to
Khartoum and therefore a prevailing golden uninterrupted freedom of
the people of South Sudan.
When I met Comrade Yassir Arman in Juba after the declaration of
independence of South Sudan with other journalists in a group, he
strongly asserted that the vision of ’New Sudan’ is the only factor
for a better Sudan and the good formula for keeping the North and
South in a better relationship to the interests of their respective
citizens. Yassir described North and South Sudan as countries that are
socially and economically intact and any political move to derail
their historical relationship will not be at the interest of the
citizens of either countries and therefore a regime change will be
required to happen in the north.
When I met Malik Agar on the same day as a journalist to query him on
the same issue, he told me that any miscalculated approach to his
people by the Northern tyrants will amount to war that will be
coordinated from Blue Nile to South Kordofan and to Darfur. This shows
that the war has not ended in Sudan, though it has ended in the South.
The vision of ’New Sudan’ has to continue to achieve the blissful
dreams of the Sudanese citizens.
Back to the point on whether late Dr. John Garang was right to
implicate and impose the vision of ’New Sudan’ for the freedom,
justice and equality not only for the South Sudanese but also for the
marginalised people of other parts of Sudan including Darfur and
Eastern Sudan (the people of Adondowe), we have to descend deep down
the history right from the inception of the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement and Army (SPLM/A).
The vision has long been criticised by many Southern political elites
after failing to understand what it really means for the struggle and
started adopting what Dr. John Garang called ‘shortcuts’ as the
miscalculated moves to earn independence of South Sudan. John Garang
said the following statement for those who understood the vision of
’New Sudan’ at different dimensions.
“I am aware that the New Sudan has been criticized by people in the
past …... This is because as we have seen New Sudan has several
dimensions. It is at the same time a vision which guides us as well as
an objective to be achieved and it is also quoted as a strategy
adapted.” Dr. John Garang de Mabior, 2004.
As Dr. John Garang states it above, many people absorbed New Sudan
into their minds with different understanding.
The failure to understand the meaning of New Sudan as a vision has led
to some individuals, parties, groups, tribes and even regions calling
Dr. John Garang a Unionist and proclaimed themselves as the advocates
for the recently attained independence of South Sudan.
Garang was not a unionist but a political player whose game is now
still playing in Sudan to keep the South Sudanese citizens safer. He
was called a unionist by those who failed to understand his political
contrivance. If anyone did follow his speech after signing the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, then he said;
“We have brought to you the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on a golden
plate… It will be upon you whether to vote to be a second class
citizen in your own country...”
For that case Garang was not a unionist.
Therefore, based on the above simple statement that has been widely
quoted, Dr. John Garang was an underlying separatist who did not want
to call directly for the independence of South Sudan from the initial
stages of the struggle.
It was foreseeable that any movement calling directly for the
independence of South Sudan like the former SSIM (South Sudan
Independence Movement) of Dr. Riek Machar would easily be crushed by
the government of Sudan because it will easily rally all the other
parts of Sudan against the Southerners. The popular Islamist Hassan
Al-Turabi tried that move and it worked. He called the SPLM/A war
against Khartoum government, a Christian war against Islam and he
mobilised forces from all the Arab countries called them holy warriors
or Mujahideen.
This prompted Dr. John Garang to form a movement that will involve all
the marginalised areas of Sudan like Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile
and Eastern Sudan, for a well coordinated struggle against the unjust
government of Sudan. Here is the history of how the idea of ’New
Sudan’ came about.
The idea of ’New Sudan’ was coined through the first approved
manifesto of the SPLM that was released immediately after the launch
of the struggle in 1983.
When all the SPLM/A leaders mobilised at their base in Ethiopia in
1983 after the launch of the war in Bor on 16th May 1983, there was an
immediate need to formulate the manifesto even before forming a long
term leadership as required by former Ethiopian regime of Mengistu
Haile Mariam which was behind the struggle in terms of logistical
support.
The power wrangles that aroused among the leaders were only solved by
a well defined manifesto. The Ethiopian government requested for
well-defined manifesto as a precondition to support the war against
Khartoum government.
The late Akuot Atem who was a high ranking and popular leader and had
a great support from the South Sudanese refugees camps in Ethiopia
rushed to establish the rebels’ leadership in which he placed himself
the Chairman of the movement and Dr. John Garang as the Chief of Staff
before the group met the Ethiopian Defence Ministry.
When Mengistu sent his Defence Minister to meet the group, Akuot Atem
presented a manifesto to him. The manifesto for the struggle was
mainly and directly calling for independence South Sudan.
The Communist Ethiopian government refused to support the armed
struggle that directly calls for disintegration of a country. The
Minister of Defence told the SPLM leaders that Ethiopia fully supports
the African Charter (Africa Union) which does not allow further the
partitioning of Africa.
The Ethiopian authorities called on Dr. John Garang who had already
established good relations with them to re-write the manifesto. Dr.
John Garang wrote a well-defined manifesto in which he stipulated
clearly that the SPLM is fighting for “a democratic, multi-racial,
multi-religious, multi-ethnic, heterogeneous new Sudan that observes
justice and equality of its citizens, and disburse all the national
resources to all parts of the country for prosperity for all”.
The manifesto was very much welcomed by Ethiopia and committed all
their efforts to ensure a powerful base and support to the starting
movement against Sudan government.
What the SPLM wanted was an immediate support whether internally or
externally, so it was not fighting to be a communist government
because of being supported by the communist regime of Mengistu Mariam.
After seeing Mengistu accepting the manifesto written and
idealistically based on Dr. John Garang, Akuot Atem and Gai Tut fell
out with Garang and mobilised their own forces accusing the Ethiopian
government of forcefully making Garang the leader of the movement.
Those power wrangles that were based on individual interests were not
focusing on what to be fought for and how it would be achieved. There
was a need for the movement to be run by people who are educated,
people who understand what they are fighting for, but most of the
Southern intellectuals who joined the SPLM at the start and
establishing of the struggle were greedy and selfish. They used their
academic qualifications to challenge their uneducated colleagues and
started questioning why they shouldn’t be inserted into higher ranking
positions.
The initial mission of the SPLM according to its technical proprietor
Dr. John Garang was to mobilise as many intellectuals as possible so
that the war can be well explained to the international community.
Other parts of Sudan also requested to join because they were also
feeling the same pain as Southerners.
The struggle for ’New Sudan’ attracted other parties like National
Democratic Alliance to join the SPLM. The Eastern Sudan as well as
Darfur later joined to support the struggle against the government in
Khartoum.
According to Dr. John Garang, reaching to 1990s, some members within
the SPLA started viewing ’New Sudan’ as long method of fighting for
freedom and resorted to the ‘shortcuts’ like the Khartoum Agreement,
Fashoda Agreement, Djibouti Peace Agreement which failed to earn
freedom for South Sudan according to the expectations of the founders.
Several parties later joined the SPLM and altogether supported the
long method, the ’New Sudan Vision’ which has finally brought about
the Independence of South Sudan. The call for an independent South
Sudan was needed at the level of negotiations of a Comprehensive Peace
Agreement as it was done in Naivasha Kenya. And that was the point
where Dr. Riek Machar was needed. At that point, the Nassir
declaration was actually needed to be part of the CPA.
Dr. Riek’s Nassir Declaration directly called for the independence of
South Sudan. The SPLM’s motto of self determination was then used to
supplement on that and yielded that agreement of Southern Sudan
Referendum.
’New Sudan’ is still a threat to Khartoum because Darfur, South
Kordofan, Blue Nile and Eastern Sudan are still fighting for it.
Peter Kuot Ngong is a journalist in South Sudan. He can be reached at
[email protected] for any comments
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