The art of national reconciliation for Sudan
July 12, 2008 (Texas, USA) - In the wake of all the threats we have seen since peace signing ,Sudanese need to take another step and work for national reconciliation to give peace a chance, which will allow for smooth referendum in 2011. We must understand peace not in the rosy heavenly sense but rather in a secular context where former warring parties can live in accommodation ,side by side with each other. That is why the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was given six years. The national reconciliation initiative I'm suggesting can also draw on ideas from diverse religious leaders in the country.
When the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) pulled out of the Government of National Unity last year, it sent chilly air down the marrows of almost all the Sudanese. But to many people’s surprise, the National Congress Party (NCP) and the SPLM solved the problem through dialogue until the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) withdrew from the oil-rich areas that they had been hanging onto. When the Sudanese people were about to expect the real implementation of the CPA, the problem of Abyei surfaced and escalated into the attack that forced the residents of Abyei out of their homes and left the unknown number of people dead this year. The Sudanese people again almost lost hope in the implementation of the CPA. But the NCP and SPLM surprised everybody by solving the problem of Abyei within few days. Even though the solution of Abyei’s problem is not yet completed, no one will deny the important step taken by the two sides. The deployment of the Joint Integrated Unit (JIU), the redeployment of both SAF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army SPLA), and the transfer of the problem to the International Court in The Hague are concrete solution steps. Therefore, if we the Sudanese have now learned how to solve our problems through dialogue, then we are growing up politically. We need to take another step and work for national reconciliation.
The southern Sudanese who will set their eyes on my suggestion for national reconciliation will wince and lean back to their seats for what they might regard as “non pragmatic ambition.” I share with them in this pessimism, because many agreements had been dishonored and are still being dishonored in Sudan. But I am seeing things in a different way today. Firstly, unlike the other dishonored agreements, CPA has given enough power to South Sudan. Nobody can force the government with the independent army into submission without sweating for it, and South Sudan has the army now. Secondly, few people had been educated in the past in South Sudan, but now the situation is different. Dr. John Garang has done something that no any other rebel leader had done before. He empowered Southerners through education. If you count the people who received and are still receiving their education in East Africa, those who are in Australia, those who are in Europe, and thousands of us in America here, then you will have a good percentage of well-educated people in South Sudan today, unlike any other time in the past. If the northerners decide to use the trick that they had been using in dishonoring agreements in the past, then we can rock the boat politically, let alone the military power that we have. Therefore, this is the time for careful understanding of each other’s point of view in Sudan’s politics.
National reconciliation is not necessarily meant for the unity of Sudan. The meaningless unity and the meaningful harmony and tolerance of one another are two different things. I would rather go for tolerance between the two nations than meaningless unity in one nation. The national reconciliation I am proposing here is the reconciliation that can bring understanding, tolerance, and harmony between northern and southern Sudan. Whether we like it or not, some business people will decide to remain as part of the opposite side if southern Sudan decides to secede from northern Sudan. Businessmen from South Sudan will decide to remain in northern Sudan, and businessmen from northern Sudan will decide to remain in southern Sudan. But only the uninformed government will force the investors out of the country. Investors are the backbone of economy everywhere in the world. But if people were not allowed to interact, then they would treat the investors as enemies simply because South Sudan has become a different nation. National reconciliation can promote appreciation of the investors in Sudan regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation.
However, the unorganized national reconciliation can result in a renewed conflict between northern and southern Sudan. Reconciliation does not mean giving one side power over the other. Reconciliation means treating people at the same level. Reconciliation also does not mean forcing the people to forget the past. It means allowing the people to remember the past with the spirit of forgiveness. Lack of reconciliation makes people nurse wrong feelings about the people of the opposite side. But when people are allowed to interact and to discuss their feelings freely, they can learn that both sides are suffering the same thing that the war caused them to suffer. They might even learn that some people on the opposite side disagree with the policies of their government, something that brings real reconciliation among the people.
This is how we can start the reconciliation in Sudan. We can start students’ exchange program. Universities can exchange students every semester. These students can be allowed to get involved in community activities so that they can interact with ordinary citizens. Sport can also be a good promoter of national reconciliation. High schools and universities should compete for national cups every year in the remaining three years before referendum. There also should be a forum of intellectuals and politicians between the North and the South and among different states. This forum should be for ideas generally, not just politics. This forum can include radio programs that should deal with difficult questions that some well-informed people would answer from the public. It should also include annual symposiums in the universities. This is just a suggestion and anybody is free to add onto this list.
If we promote understanding among the people, then trade between northern Sudan and southern Sudan will continue even after the secession of southern Sudan. But if we fail to promote understanding among the people at this time, then harmony will not be achieved after the secession of South Sudan from North Sudan and the two sides will remain as enemies for many years. I am not campaigning for secession or unity, I am just thinking.
The author of this article is a Graduate Student at Abilene Christian University, Texas, USA. He can be reached at zmb06a@acu.edu
