لماذا يندهش الناس لعودة الحرب

Quote: Dear Dr. Elhiraika, Assalamu alaikum, Thank you for your message; I am very glad to know you and all this group of esteemed Sudanese, and I earnestly welcome the initiative for debate. You write: It is absolutely right for Nuba or any other group to advance their unique cultural and other interests, but that does not have to be seen as contradictory to the interest of other groups. That is why representatives of Nuba political and civil organizations have concluded in Koda conference, if the international community, through peace negotiations, wanted to incorporate the SPLA and NDA in a makeshift system that will perpetuate the NIF military dictatorship, with its agenda of Arabization and Islamization, then self-determination will be the only viable option for the Nuba people to live humanely, preserve and develop their indigenous culture. Five hundreds years of slave-hunt-raids by Arab marauders has pushed the Nuba from their fertile land at the Nile banks to the harsh savanna ridges known today as the Nuba Mountains. Add to that the scorched-earth policy in the last 15 years by the NIF government as an inevitable culmination of five decades of post-colonial governments, dominated by groups that had been empowered by the two colonial countries, brought the Nuba community to a subhuman living conditions, and their unique culture to the verge of extinction, and its individuals to the status of second (or maybe third) class citizens in a country that is known since antiquity to be their own. I know there are short sighted politicians who cannot see or do not wish to see all the tribes of the region living together in harmny; we also know of people from our own towns who are prepared to sacrifice the interest of their brothers and sisters for their selfish economic (and sometimes political) interest. I can name many of those people who supported Nimeri and Ingaz and who are not prepared to see a free and democratic Sudan. That is true for all the marginalized communities; some of their own always collaborate with their oppressors for very selfish interest; but unfortunately, uncritical tribal chauvinism spares these individuals from stigmatization and moral condemnation. Opportunists, however, exist on the opposition side as well. I think we should not waste our time thinking about conspiracies by Certain groups. What we really need is to build institutions and government structures that preserve the right of each and every citizen, and efficient and transparent governments that help our people to unleash their potential in all walks of life. Theoretically, this is a good political literature, but in practice, it is exactly what those who ruled Sudan since independence failed to do. The word "conspiracy" belongs to Brother Yassir Al-Ghannama from Costa Rica, but my own opinion is that the Nuba have been sold out in Naivahsa, big time. It started from the signing of the cease-fire in Geneva January 2002; the Nuba representatives of SPLA went there only for the ceremony and photo-ups; the deal had been arranged by U.S. mediators, SPLA leadership, and Khartoum regime long before that. Geneva had been described as a cease-fire to allow humanitarian relief, but in reality, it meant to put the Nuba Mountains and the South on two separate tracks as a prelude to the Machakos protocol. Through my research work on governance and sub-national (regional) governments, I believe that our first task is to establish grassroot democarcy starting with state constitutions and elected county councils and up to Governors. In term of local democracy, the Naivasha protocols constitute that an appointed council will function as a legislature with the SPLA and Khartoum regime sharing it 45% and 55% consecutively. This lopsided composition means that Khartoum will pass any piece of legislation with a clear majority. In addition, if history is a guide, the two parties will appoint only yes-men and apparatchiks to this council, and there is no shortage of them. Truly yours Hashim Badr Eldin July 3, 2005 .