Genesis: The Birth of the Republic of South Sudan
An Evolutionary Journey of a nation and people through enormous suffering and struggle for survival and preservation of collective identity
By Manyang Mador Koch Dengdit, Melbourne Australia,
June 24, 2015 (SSB) — The geographical entity which is now known as the Republic of South Sudan is a massive land sandwiched among some eastern and central African countries namely: Uganda to the South, Kenya to South East, Ethiopia to the east and north east, its former part of northern Sudan to the north, Central African Republic to north-west and west; and democratic Republic of Congo to South-West.
As the name suggests, South Sudan was until July 2011, part of the wider Republic of Sudan, once African continent’s largest country by land mass; but which unfortunately became embroiled in ideological and hegemonic struggles between the few privileged Political elites in the north who wielded and continue to wield enormously unchecked powers, be it political, economic or social, they controlled and continue to control and rule the country with an iron fist; and the largely marginalised communities in the outlying and badly neglected regions.
To understand the roots of the current status quo in Sudan, one has to step back nearly two centuries in the history. The land of Sudan was originally made up of rivalling kingdoms, fietdoms, and chieftaincies or less organised nomadic clans who fought their nearest groups for control over pastures and water sources. This was more so in the South where little was known about outside world or the entire universe beyond local peoples’ knowledge; and where modernity had not shed a ray of light.
In 1839 however, Captain Salim travelled down the Nile from Egypt and penetrated for the first time, the mighty Sudd wetland which is the floating vegetation covering 34 square miles in the heart of South Sudan; and which encompasses parts of the three main regions making up the South Sudan. This foreign expeditionary force reached Gondokoro near Juba, the sprawling capital of South Sudan.
he locals were suspicious of the aliens’ intention and their suspicions were well-placed; with Captain Salim’s voyage came the deadly raids for slaves as a combined force of European slave traders and their Arab foot soldiers wreaked havoc and dismembered the helpless families and communities they came across.
Forty two years later in 1881, the Mahdist forces attempted to conquer the South but their attempts failed as they met fierce resistance from local community groups and the unfamiliar terrains meant that the Mahdiya Muslim army from the north could not make a meaningful headway into the treasured territory of South Sudan. They eventually abandoned their quest for conquest of the south!
Nonetheless, Southern Sudanese’ woes were far from over; in fact it was just a beginning of the worst to come! In 1885, the European powers had met in a Berlin conference organized by the German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismark; there they decided to scramble for and partition the “dark continent” as they referred to African continent, for its enormous natural riches.
One of the iconic natural treasure in Africa is the River Nile, the World’s longest river which flows north from its source in Uganda through the heart of both South and north Sudan into Egypt and hence into Mediterranean Sea. The British Empire which was then the most dominant and powerful of the world empires and kingdoms, seized control of the Nile valley, thereby controlling Egypt and Sudan through to Uganda and Malawi further South.
Sudan was consequently ruled jointly by British and their Egyptian Allies under an arrangement called the Anglo-Egyptian condominium rule which lasted for 57 years – from 1899 to 1956. The British had initially governed South Sudan as a closed district, on the realisation that the people there were of distinct ideological, economic, cultural, social and religious convictions; and in efforts to stem out slave raids and trade.
Northern Sudanese were far more advanced in terms of education and development and were in a position of power and could take advantage of Southerners and their resources. The British however later on reversed their policy of ruling the south as a separate entity and this triggered protest by even their cadres (administrators) in the South.
The 1947 conference between Southern Sudanese traditional leaders and few intellectuals was meant to allay fears of Southerners; unfortunately the Southern Sudanese were betrayed by the British who later decided to leave Sudan as a united country, disregarding the country’s glaring ideological divides between the South and the north of the country.
Buth Diu, one of the first contemporary south Sudanese political leaders, formed a party called south Sudan Party which advocated for a federal system of governance in the country but the northerners did not budged, despite their earlier promises in the Juba conference of 1947. Suspicion grew and tempers boiled and on August 18, 1955, just four months before the nominal independence, the Equatorial (Southern) corps – members of the armed forces rebelled in the Southern Sudanese historic town of Torit and massacred their Arab officers and later vanished into the jungles and bushes of Southern Sudan.
This mutiny led to the formation of the South Sudan Liberation Movement and Army (popularly known as Anya Nya 1) who fought for an independent Republic of South Sudan. The ANYA – NYA Movement fought the war for 17 years, until they concluded the war through the 1972 Peace Agreement which granted the South limited autonomy with a Regional government headed by a Higher Executive Council.
However, The Arabs dominated and mainly Khartoum based government of Sudan reneged on the agreement 10 years later and began to implement unpopular policies which included redrawing of borders and introduction of an Islamic Shariah law. The South was once again up in arms on May 16, 1983, the Southern Sudanese dominated Sudan Army battalions 105 revolted in the Southern town of Bor and were shortly joined in rebellion by their colleagues in Battalion 104 based in Ayod town in the same province of Jonglei.
Like their predecessors in Equatorial corps, they once again headed to the bush and formed the Sudan People Liberation Army and Movement (SPLM/SPLA). The SPLA waged a war with a broader agenda and the theatre of war was no longer confined in the South; other equally neglected and marginalised regions of Sudan were awakened and they joined the fray.
For 22 years the intensive and bloodiest war on the century was raging in the giant African nation. More than two million citizens perished, four millions more were displaced internally and nearly a million more were refugees within international borders.
However, sudden changes in the geo-political arena at international stage, which came about as a consequence of 2001 terrorist attack on the United States of America, the world’s only reigning superpower, fully redirected the world’s attention to focus on the Sudanese conflict and the warring parties were eventually forced onto the negotiating tables.
The Sudanese government was already on the list of state sponsors of terror and hence the tides of ideological struggles on the world stage were against them; they had no choice but to negotiate faithfully or else and as a consequence, the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was finally inked in Kenya after more than two years of marathon negotiations. The SPLM/A and the National Congress Party aka National Islamic front were the two partners to the internationally witnessed and supervised peace agreement; the CPA granted the Southern Sudanese the right to self-determination through an internationally supervised referendum.
That moment came in January 2011 and an overwhelming 98.7% of South Sudanese voted for independence and 6 months after their resounding decision, Southerners prided themselves with a brand new Republic of South Sudan as they proudly hoisted their flag among the flags of free, independent and sovereign nations on earth!
Therefore, South Sudan is a nation brought about by excessive spillage of her people’s blood and through enormous sacrifices in lives and property. It was truly a journey through unspeakable suffering and extra-ordinary endurance by the people of Southern Sudan and by extension, the marginalised Sudanese. What happened after the Independent? Why happiness turned to sadness?
The author is a South Sudanese based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is a human rights and political activists and Postgraduate Student Studying at the University of Melbourne, for further details he can be reach on manyanginafrica@yahoo.com.
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