Why Are Some South Sudanese Demanding the Recognition and Adoption of Arabic as Second National Language?

Why Are Some South Sudanese Demanding the Recognition and Adoption of Arabic as South Sudan’s Second National Language: The Demands and Protests Against the Recent Decision by the Judiciary

By DENGDIT AYOK, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN

It is noteworthy that there have been repeated demands to adopt Arabic as a second language, after the sole official language adopted by the constitutional text, since the period preceding the declaration of the independence in late 2010 and early 2011, until the date of the declaration of the independence on July 09, 2011, up to this day.

If we go back to the beginnings, in the National Committee, that was formed to prepare the transitional constitution for the new state, we could find that there were voices within its membership that demanded the addition of Arabic as a second official language of the state alongside English, so that the state would have two official languages.

However, the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee and the architect of the current Transitional Constitution, the late Justice John Luk Jok, and Justice Michael Makuei Lueth, rejected the proposal to adopt Arabic alongside English. Their insistence on maintaining English as the sole official language in the constitution was supported by prominent legal figures in the committee, such as the late Professor Akolda Meen Tier.

Stemming from the provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005, which adopted Arabic and English as the official languages ​​of the Sudanese state before its division into two countries, the agreement became the basis of governance and the interim constitution of the Sudan during the six-year interim period (July 09, 2005 – July 09, 2011), and Arabic and English were adopted as the official working languages ​​of the Republic of the Sudan.

Nevertheless, the southern part of the Sudan at that time continued to use English as its official language since the 1920s, prior to the Sudan’s independence from British rule in January 1956, and it was the same language used in the offices of the High Executive Council Government in the 1970s.

Until the time of the declaration of the independence, the adoption of English as the sole official language of the state was enshrined in the transitional constitution (the supreme law of the land). Despite this, Arabic remained the language of popular communication and was partially used in some state institutions, such as the judiciary, the army, and the national police.

Therefore, calls for its adoption as a second official language have resurfaced periodically, even as the country approaches the 15th anniversary of its independence on July 9th.

It is worth noting that those who demand the adoption of Arabic as a second official language after English are mainly of two categories.

The first category consists of intellectuals who received their education in Arabic (from preschool to university), including postgraduate studies — master’s and doctoral degrees or PhDs — and most of them were internally displaced persons who were displaced from South Sudan to the North during the second Sudanese Civil War (1983 — 2011).

This group adapted to the Arabic language because they are a generation who grew up in a northern Sudanese environment characterized by Arabic culture in Khartoum and other towns. They received their education in Arabic, studied textbooks in Arabic, read magazines, watched television and followed all its programs in Arabic, read daily newspapers published in Khartoum in Arabic, participated in school and political activities in political forums, and wrote their graduation theses at Sudanese Universities in Arabic.

Furthermore, they entered the job market using Arabic, and their interests became linked to Arabic as the language of their work and livelihood.

Based on these facts, Arabic has established itself not only as a language of communication within social life, cultural, and political spheres, but also as a language of science and thought. It has become the driving force behind all the imaginations, perceptions, and studies of those educated in it, to the point that some members of this generation have written full-fledged articles, novels, and poems in Arabic, some of which are distinguished by their eloquence, clarity, and rhetorical power. For this reason, many members of this generation believe that Arabic should remain the official language of the new state.

Following the independence of the Republic of Sudan in 1956, and prior to the secession of South Sudan in 2011, successive northern governments adopted Arabic as the official language of the country and insisted on making it the language of education and employment, as part of a project of Arabizing and Islamizing all the Sudanese peoples.

Consequently, English was neglected and portrayed as a colonial and foreign language, despite its global reach and the fact that most Sudanese in the northern part of the country studied it both before and after independence of Sudan.

As a result, many of our sons and daughters grew up with a mindset that viewed English as a foreign language, and some even refused to learn it. However, the recent decision by the Chief Justice is sound, as it aligns with the state’s strategic policy and its supreme law.

On the other hand, one of the oddities of our country is that most legal professionals are the ones rejecting the decision, offering flimsy excuses, despite the fact that the state patiently granted them a 15-year grace period since independence to learn English. Some diligently studied English and succeeded, mastering the language in both speech and writing. However, those who refused to learn remained steadfast, clinging to Arabic and insisting on its continued use after the Chief Justice’s recent decision to use English in all our courts as the official language of the country.

They linked its continued use to the administration of justice, arguing that it is the language of their clients. Frankly speaking, justice is not achieved solely in Arabic; it can be achieved in any language, not just Arabic.

They also linked the issuance of the decision to the necessary reforms that have not yet been implemented within the judicial system, a matter entirely separate from the issue of establishing English as the official language.

After the recent Byzantine or futile controversy and the uproar the decision had caused, we pose a logical question: Who is threatening the interests of these and those legal professionals in the country? Is it the Chief Justice who made the decision in full accordance with the supreme law of the land, or those legal professionals who refused to learn English during the state’s 15-year history?

In summary, it must be said that this group has no strategic goals other than their work, given that they received their education in Arabic. Therefore, their familiarity with Arabic within its scientific and cultural context underlies their repeated demands for Arabic to remain a second official language in the country.

The second group consists of intellectuals, politicians, diplomats and academics who worked in the Sudanese state before the independence of South Sudan. Among them is also an ideological faction that demands the adoption of Arabic as a second official language alongside English for what they consider strategic purposes. Their repeated demands are based on the fact that they are Muslims, and Arabic is known to be the language of Islam and Arabism.

Therefore, the repeated demands by this latter group to adopt Arabic as a second official language in the constitution, after English, are an idea related to South Sudanes Muslims and the Arab and Islamic world that supports them. This is not because Arabic has become the language or a means of communication within the social life of the country for historical and political reasons in the former Sudanese state, but rather because it is the language of Islam and Arabism.

This group holds outdated views, seeing South Sudan as the gateway for Islam into Africa. Therefore, they demand that the Arabic language remain in the new state to facilitate the spread of Islam and the Arabization of South Sudanese people, after they led the struggle against Arabization and Islamization and established their own free state.

The irony is that they succeeded, managing to achieve a breakthrough in fulfilling this demand through the Ministry of General Education and Instruction during the tenure of former Minister, Hon. Awut Deng Acuil, and the then Undersecretary, Dr. Kuyok Abol Kuyok, who is now the Minister of General Education and Instruction.

Dr. Abdalla Deng Nhial and several of his aids have developed a curriculum for Arabic language and Islamic education through the Ministry. This constitutes a first step towards establishing a parallel Islamic state in South Sudan, according to our analysis for the reasons behind this group’s insistence on adopting Arabic as a second language and stipulating and enshrining this in the constitution.

Currently, there is ongoing work within the government, through Muslim political leaders, to push an agenda for adopting Arabic as a second language in the constitution (a political move aimed at returning the state to Khartoum) after its independence and the adoption of a non-Arabic language in 2011 as its official language.

In short, the repeated demands to adopt Arabic as a second official language stem from two groups: The first group wants its continued use for communication, as a market or business language, and making livelihoods, separately from the Islamic, Quranic concept that claims the sanctity of the Arabic language and that it is the language of Paradise and its people.

The reality is that most members of the second group are South Sudanese Muslims whose minds are tied to the Islamic and Arab world. They seek to create a parallel society within the state, and their repeated demands for the continued use of Arabic are not for everyday communication, but rather as a sacred language in which, as they claim, the Quran was revealed.

Their unstated or unspoken aims lead to this demand binding the state to Arab and Islamic identity. Their efforts constitute a form of passive resistance to any cultural direction the state takes that does not reflect Arabism and Islam, in clear contradiction to the goals of a state that liberated itself from Arab-Islamic colonialism.

Adopting English as an official language is linked to the state’s strategic objectives, independent of any agendas of Islam or Arabism. This country is a member of the East African Community, and English serves as its link to these countries, the wider world, and international forums.

Moreover, a new generation is now emerging, receiving education in English both within and outside the country, and when their national duty is fulfilled, the state will have achieved its goals.

In conclusion, the state must continue to adopt English as its official language, and this decision should extend to the military, police, and other institutions that still use Arabic. It must disregard the illusion of linking the state to what it has been separated from by the will of its people.

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