The
Tragedy of South Sudan
IDEA
Viewpoint
Ghelawdewos
Araia, Ph.D.
January 9, 2012
The
new republic of South Sudan gained independence
just six months ago, and yet it has already
embroiled itself in the contagion of ethnic
politics and conflict. The recent conflict that
flared up between the Lou Nuer and the Merle, two
traditional enemies, has claimed three thousand
lives. According to the New York Times, the
heavily armed Nuer attacked the Murle and as a
result 2182 women and children and 959 men were
killed, 1293 children were abducted and 375,186
cows have become booty for the Lou Nuer.1
I
had always worries about the future of Sudan and
as far back as 1997 I anticipated the breakaway of
South Sudan, and I was also right with respect to
the destruction of Somalia and the war
preoccupation of Ethiopia and Eritrea. In point of
fact, just one year after I wrote an essay on
conflict and conflict resolution in the Horn of
Africa, in 1998 Eritrea and Ethiopia entered into
a bloody war that claimed about ninety thousand
lives on either side.
In
1997, I had serious concerns with the
conflict-ridden Horn of Africa and attempted to
address the political instability surrounding
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. I suggested
that members of the Inter-Governmental Agency for
Development (IGAD), the United States, and the
United Nations engage in concerted efforts to
peacefully resolve the conflicts. I further
argued, “Members of IGAD must utilize their
Agency to promote peace and not war. For one
thing, the continuation of war for the peoples of
Eritrea and Ethiopia (who were yearning for peace
for three decades) would be totally unfair, and
for another development agendas will be curtailed
and altogether stifle any meaningful
reconstruction. …To avoid the coming political
quagmire, peaceful resolution to the conflict
should be initiated by IGAD members themselves,
i.e. African solutions for African problems. …
If the United States deems it necessary to monitor
the Horn, then it should try to resolve the crisis
in that part of Africa by mediating and hence
reconciling the various views and policies of the
states involved. …The United Nations or the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) must actively
support the peace initiative in the Horn and
condemn belligerence and war policies. The two
organizations have historical obligation in
settling disputes among nations.”
And
I continued the argument as in the following:
“If we ignore the peace proposal, this could
possibly be the political outcome: Sudan will be
divided into two; the existence of the Somalia
nation (already questionable) could be a thing of
the past; the victors (Ethiopians and Eritreans)
would be preoccupied with a war economy and the
hope of development will be dashed.”2 That
was my analysis of the Horn in 1997.
The
Government of Omar al Beshir that was blamed for
the genocide in Darfur is now ironically
witnessing (as a bystander) another genocide in
South Sudan under the watch of the liberator, the
Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) that was
apparently expected to bring peace, stability, and
prosperity to South Sudan. On the contrary, the
new SPLA government of South Sudan, helpless and
timid, was unable to quell the skirmish and ethnic
infighting and it looks the bloodshed in South
Sudan would continue unabated. On the one hand,
the government of South Sudan is to be blamed for
its inability to maintain peace and stability, a
criterion taken for granted by all states. On the
other hand, the South Sudan phenomenon of
inter-ethnic clashes is not surprising, for the
“tribal warfare” is centuries old in that part
of Africa. The conflicts subsided only during the
brief period in the history of modern Sudan, i.e.
from 1956 to 2010, and in fact it could be likened
to a dormant volcano that could erupt at any
moment.
Unfortunately,
the Nuer, Anuak, Merle, Shilluk, Dinka, just to
mention some from the plethora of ethnic groups in
South Sudan, were unable to learn from the Zande
(another ethnic group found in South Sudan and
Congo) and adopt their marvelous institution of
‘Blood-Brotherhood’, that systematically deter
potential confrontations.
According
to E. E. Evans-Pritchard, a British anthropologist
writing about South Sudan in the early 1960s,
“blood-brotherhood is a pact or alliance formed
between two persons by ritual act in which each
swallow the blood of the other. The pact is one of
mutual assistance and backed by powerful
sanctions.”3 The blood brothers
address each other as Bakurėmi,
literally ‘my blood brother’, and after the
ritual initiation their brotherhood is cemented
forever and never to fight against each other.
I
strongly believe that Africans, in particular
those who are engaged in bloody conflicts or are
susceptible to ethnic infighting, must seriously
consider to reinstate, revitalize, and implement
Zande-type blood brotherhood. One major problem
with most African countries is their suspension
between traditional customs and modern values, and
in due course they have lost their traditional
institutions that enabled them settle disputes
amicably in the past. They were unable to
effectively install democratically oriented
conflict resolution mechanisms either. It is for
this apparent reason that Somalia and Congo, for
instance, are still embroiled in bloody civil
wars, although it is also abundantly clear that
external hands and ideologies have also added fuel
to the fire of the conflicts.
Once
Africans begin to address each other as Bakurėmi,
however, history will once again witness the
enormous potential of Africa, and that will be the
day when peace and stability have been anchored in
earnest in Africa, and that, in turn, will
certainly lay a cornerstone for genuine
development and transformation.
Notes
- The
New York Times, Friday, January 5, 2012
(reported by Jeffrey Jettleman)
- Ghelawdewos
Araia, “The Horn of Africa: Conflict and
Conflict Resolution,” African Link,
Volume 6 No. 1, 1997
- E.
E. Evans-Pritchard, Social Anthropology and
Other Essays, Free Press, 1962
All
Rights Reserved. Copyright © IDEA, Inc. 2012. Dr.
Ghelawdewos Araia can be contacted for educational
and constructive feedback via dr.garaia@africandiea.org
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