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AFRICA - COMMENTARY |
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Vol. XVIII x No. 6 JULY 2006 |
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NUBAS THE DISAPPOINTING PEACE The ceasefire in the Nuba Mountains was only the first step to start the peace process imposed on both sides by the international community, in particular the US. Concerning the peace treaty between the North and South of Sudan, an old freedom fighter affirms: ′We are the true losers.′ By Renato Kizito Sesana Comboni Missionary ′In the Nuba Mountains, war has ended. People move freely; in the markets one can find the essential commodities. As for the rest, more than one year after the signing of the peace treaty, it is becoming increasingly clear that the SPLA has abandoned us and we are the true losers of the peace treaty.′ The person talking to me prefers to be unnamed. He belongs to the Nuba tribe and used to hold a prominent position in the movement but, since two months ago, he has chosen exile. He says that he doesn′t want to be part of a corrupt local government that has betrayed the promises of the long years of warfare. For years, this person has put his life at risk in resistance against the Khartoum government but now that, at last, there is peace, he shuttles to the Australian, Canadian and Kenyan embassies, in an effort to settle in one of these countries. His disappointment is shared by many Nubas. The Nubas have contributed much to the SPLA cause. Thousands of their young men went to fight in the South, giving a very remarkable contribution especially at Yei and its surroundings. Moreover, for years, they have constituted a bulwark against the imposition of the Muslim fundamentalism coming from the North. Their position is strategically important geographically – being in the North but close to the South – and from the political and religious points of view because they are a people, for the great majority, Islamized and yet who have been rebelling against a fanatically Muslim government. This made them subject to cruel government repressions, the last of which was in May 2001. The Nubas have, however, always counted little within the liberation movement, notwithstanding their undisputed faithfulness to the SPLA. The impression of many, strengthened by what happened last year, is that the SPLA was brushing up the Nuba subject when they wanted to block negotiations with the Khartoum government which, on its part, never accepted to put the question of belonging to the Nuba Mountains and to the people of the North. But apart from these few moments of notoriety, the Nubas were always marginalized even within the SPLA. It was, therefore, a big surprise when, in January 2002, the Nuba representative, apparently with the mandate of the SPLA leadership, signed a ceasefire with the Khartoum government. Suddenly the Nubas became the experimentation field of a possible peace, and politically their cause became central in the disputes about the Sudanese civil war. But it didn′t last long. The ceasefire in the Nuba Mountains, as it was understood in May of the same year, was only the first step to start the peace process imposed on both sides by the international community, in particular the US. Resistance without results In the bulletin published at the end of the first round of the peace negotiations, which took place at Machakos (Kenya), the situation of the Nuba Mountains and the "twin" area – the Southern Blue Nile ′ was not even mentioned. In those days the impression was that peace was going to be attained in few weeks time. Instead, the peace agreement was reluctantly signed by both parties only in January 2005, also because the SPLA, that in July 2002 was not yet ready for peace, threw the Nuba question on the table by including the commander of the Nuba area, Abdel Aziz al Hilu, in its delegation. But again, with the increasing pressure for the peace treaty to be signed, the Nuba cause was sidestepped. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of January 9, 2005, although foreseeing "autonomy" for the Nubas, the terms of which are not specified, inserts them into the North without the possibility of a choice. They will not be allowed to take part in the referendum about the choice to remain united with the North or, unlike the South, will be able to choose instead. In the CPA, there is the possibility for the local Nuba parliament to pass laws with autonomy about topics that do not touch the general principles of the Constitution, about local items of minor importance, but even the terms are not specified as well as the mandate of the vague "popular consultations" that are supposed to ratify these changes. Was it worthwhile to undergo persecutions, to become victims of a real genocide, to lose thousands of lives defending the rights of the South in order to get so little? "Nothing, even" as the person who speaks with me specifies. On the ground the situation has grown worse by the fact that the Khartoum government has succeeded in nominating as governor of the Nubas a second grade figure, weak and unprepared, and easy to be manipulated. At the moment, the Nubas are still savoring the relief of peace, with its unquestionable advantages, but the dissatisfaction is already creeping in, the more everybody realizes that peace will not allow the Nubas any form of self-determination. It is a morsel difficult to swallow by those who have withstood a resistance against the Muslim fanaticism that had a terrible cost in terms of sacrifices and lost of human lives. To give content to peace If one broadens the view to the whole of Sudan, the fear is that the forces that unleashed the civil war more than twenty years ago, and those responsible for the clashes in Darfur three years ago, may not be able to control the consequences of the war they have fuelled. As in Somalia and Congo, the external interventions of the US, the UN or the African Union seem not to be able to contain the progressive fragmentation of this largest country of Africa. In the South, the episodes of inter-ethnic violence continue; in Darfur the peace treaty satisfies none of the concerned parties; in the East, among the Beja, everybody is under the threat of intensifying clashes. Only in Khartoum, Kosti, El Obeid, Port Sudan, the central government is firmly in control of the situation and is implementing development plans with alacrity. In the South, the almost total absence of cadres who may be able to manage a new state, as well as the absence of a true leadership and a shared vision about the future of the whole area, makes us glimpse at the nightmare of a state in which programs are thought about and implemented by big international NGOs, whereas the local government is inefficient and corrupt. Those who have the future of the great country at heart hope that the progressive disintegration will be stopped by strong political actions that will re-affirm its unity. And it is not enough for the international community to force the signing of peace treaties. It is necessary to give content to peace, e.g. the dignity and respect for human rights, the overcoming of the extreme poverty, the construction of schools and hospitals. It is an enormous task, but it is a task for everybody: the government, the Sudanese citizens, the churches, the local and international NGOs – to avoid falling into an abyss. <WM Copyright©2003-2006 World Mission Magazine |
