الحلو: هذا السجم رماد .. علي النوبة في الجبال .. ربطه في كراع عنقريب!

Quote: 1964 witnessed the collapse of the military regime of Ibrahim Abboud, which had taken power in a 1958 coup and engaged in violent imposition of Arabization and Islamization in the context of the war in southern Sudan. The military government was succeeded by a period of multiparty politics, but prior to this some members of the Nuba intelligentsia had founded the General Union of the Nuba Mountains (GUN), headed by Philip Abbas Ghaboush, which was subsequently registered and won eight parliamentary seats in the 1965 elections (African Rights, 1995: 54). The stated purpose of this political organization was to improve the general wellbeing of the Nuba, although personal aspirations of some in the Nuba leadership also played a significant role. However, despite the high expectations and collaboration with southern and eastern Sudanese political formations, the GUN achieved little at national level towards raising living standards in the Nuba Mountains (Johnson, 2003: 34). 3 During the 1970s, Hasib used his ties with the Baggara and jallaba to become Governor of Kordofan a (...) This was in part because, following the 1965 elections, the GUN had split into two factions. While Abbas’ group emphasized the common Nuba identity and African solidarity, working closely with some southern leaders, Mahmud Hasib’s faction formed an alliance with groups associated with the governing elite (Saavedra, 1998: 223-52),3 and catered particularly to Nuba migrants to north-central Sudan who felt closer to the Arab culture and Islam. Sections of the governing elite often manipulated these divisions in which some Nuba politicians’ personal aspirations regarding jobs, personal influence and enrichment played a major role. These divisions in the Nuba political leadership prevailed. The multi-party interlude following Abboud was short-lived as a group of army officers took power in 1969 and established another military regime headed by Jaafar Nimeiri. The Nuba political leadership suffered a major setback around this time since Abbas was forced to flee the country and was sentenced to death in absentia following an aborted coup scheduled before power was seized by Nimeiri (Aguda, 1973: 177-200). Heightened economic growth in the early Nimeiri period facilitated assimilation of migrant Nuba into the Arab culture and Islam. New opportunities, particularly in north-central Sudan, encouraged labour migration. The Nuba generally provided low-level labour as workers, assistants and members of the security services, including the military, which indoctrinated many to fight against armed opposition on the periphery. After the regime’s increasingly Islamic orientation from the mid-1970s onwards, it provided grants to Nuba to study Islam and return to their communities to proselytize. Yet, penetration of Islam, and Christianity, continued to be hindered by the prevalence of traditional beliefs and customs (Baumann, 1987). In 1972, the Nuba League (al-Abna Jibal al-Nuba) was formed by secondary school students in Kadugli t counter Islamist influences in the Nuba Mountains. Five years later those members of the Nuba League who had entered Khartoum University in 1976 and 1977 formed Komolo, a group led by Yousif Kuwa Mekki. Prominent Nuba leaders, including Abdelaziz al-Hilu, Daniel Kodi, Ismael Khamis Jelab, Telefon Kuku and Neroun Philip, joined the movement.