مرشحي هو الدكتور توبي مادوت بارك لرئاسة الجمهورية ....

Quote: We have a duty to build confidence, hope and understanding among the Sudanese people Q. Dr. Toby Madut Parek, before we get into discussion of our topic and sub-topics will you introduce yourself to the readers of Sudan Vision? A.: Thank you for giving this chance to address the public through the Sudan Vision. I am happy to say that it is important that we should always be in contact with our people and particularly our displaced people in Khartoum. I think this interview will be one of the first important contacts with the majority of the people in Khartoum who are living in the displaced settlements. I come from Tonj, Warrap State, Southern Region, and I studied in Tonj primary and junior secondary schools and I completed my studies in 1954. I left the South and came to Khartoum and joined Ahfad Senior Secondary School where I completed my studies in 1958 ® Then I was also privileged to go to Czechoslovakia where I obtained a degree in medicine in Charles University in Prague in 1965. I came back home and I was also privileged to start [in the] medical profession in Khartoum where I worked in Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman hospitals and then I was transferred to Wad Medani where I worked and I was also transferred to Abbashar. In those days the number of doctors was very small but I was taken to a hospital where there were two doctors and the number of beds was 400. There was a regional inspector of health services in that particular area and was in-charge of the hospital. So it was a 2 men hospital and it was a very difficult thing, but I am happy to say it was also a very enjoyable work. I came across many nice people... those who were working as farmers, those who were working as Omdas, those who were working as teachers, those who were working as nurses and those who were rearing cattle and sheep. Then in 1968, I became a member of Parliament and I stayed until Nimeiri took over in 1969. During that time, I had a difficult time because I belonged to a party called Sudan African National Union, SANU. When Nimeiri took over we stayed for a short time out of prison but in 1970 we were arrested and we were detained in Daba and we stayed there for about three months... then we were able to come into agreement with Nimeiri that he would give in for a decentralized Sudan. Nimeiri said he was going to listen to our programme of federal system of Sudan as projected by SANU. At that time we were also lucky to have very wise and practical brothers from the North, people very qualified... academicians... and they were Dr. Jaafar Mohammed Ali Bakhiet and Dr. Mansour Khalid. They worked with us jointly to bring an understanding between the North and South and they worked very much to push the idea of reaching an agreement in Addis Ababa. Prominent in the list from the South were Abel Alier, Samuel Aru Bol, Hilary Paul Logali, Luigi Adwok and myself. We worked very hard with other colleagues in the provinces and with other colleagues in some institutions in the North and we achieved in 1972, the Addis Ababa Agreement. Q.: What is the name of your present political party? Is it still SANU? A.: It is SANU. I believe that SANU should go to the roots. To go back to its history. SANU was the first party advocating this federal system of government in the Sudan. It was the first party to put it in writing in many occasions including the Round Table Conference of 1965. It was the first party to mobilize particularly the Southerners for this idea. You would remember, even in the bush the founders were later William Deng Nhial, late Joseph Oduho and late Father Saturnino Ohure. The three men were the first to speak about the decentralized system of government and federal system of government, during the time when Southerners were discontented. They left the country in 1960s and established SANU abroad. Q.: Let us come to the current politics dominating the talks in Khartoum, in the country as a whole and abroad. This is the South-South dialogue. What do you say about this proposed dialogue? A.: I think South-South dialogue is a good thing. People will come together. We have many things in common. Before colonialism, Southerners had been living together. Whether they are tribes, whether they are religious people, whether they are rural people, whether they are cattle rearers, whether they are farmers, they have been together ever since. What is available today, if there are conflicts among them, most of these conflicts are tribal. Most of these conflicts are caused by poverty. People are poor. There are no projects. So I personally feel that it is the duty of the government. It is the duty of the civil societies organizations. It is the duty of politicians to bring people together so that they can live together, work together and build common interests. I don't think that this is difficult. Today, in Khartoum if you could visit the displaced people, Equatorians, Bahr Al Ghazalians, Upper Nileans are living together, even with their own brothers in the North here. Q.: You have once talked about the need for the Sudan remaining a united country. Is this your personal viewpoint or that of your party? A.: This is the viewpoint of our party, SANU since it was formed in 1964 by late William Deng Nhial, late Joseph Oduho and late Father Saturnino Ohure. Later on when it was established in the country in 1965 by late William, it was registered officially and the programme has ever since been unity of the Sudan. Late William and other leaders like Samuel Aru Bol and other leaders who lost their lives in the struggle have been working and they brought together many Sudanese groups together. They managed to bring the Nuba, they managed to bring the Beja, they managed to bring the Southern Blue Nile and they managed to bring even the Darfurians together with us. It is known by people like Father Philip Gaboush, people like Direig and people like Nadi Tanjur from Southern Blue Nile. Direig comes from Darfur, Philip Abbas comes from Nuba Mountains and even those people who come from Beja areas were members from that group. They were calling to come together. That people who were left backward should come together in order to call for their rights as strong people within a united Sudan... this has been our programme. We feel that the Sudan is for all of us. This has been our programme... that we must work so that we are equal. We have shared same things during the colonial days, we have experienced and have inherited the same institutions in the government, the executive. So this has been my call and this is still our call today for a federal system of government with more powers. The call today is that Southerners, people from Nuba Mountains, people from Beja, people from Darfur,... they have been calling that there is every inadequate share in power, inadequate share in building cultures and traditions. There is cultural marginalization, there is traditional marginalization and there are the three very important issues which we want to solve. We should solve the problem of inadequate share of wealth, inadequate share of power and cultural marginalization. There must be freedom of religion, freedom of tradition and all must work together as Sudanese. I would like to quote our brother Martin Luther King Jr. from America when he said, "Unless we learn to live together as brothers, we shall die together as fools." And this is what we are saying. "Sudan must learn to live together as brothers otherwise they will die together as fools." Q.: Dr. Toby, you have survived a lot of historical events in the Sudan after independence. What advice can you give to our present and future political leaders so that they do not commit the same mistakes done by their predecessors, the mistakes you have been enumerating? A.: I would like the Sudanese, whether they are in the government or in opposition or whether they are in the parties or they are leaders of civil society organizations, they must always work, or have the visions and dreams of the Sudanese people, that they are one people, one Sudan, one nation. These should be the dreams. In our walks of life are we doing this? I am saying, we are not doing it. We would like to see in the government, all the doors of all the ministries are open to all Sudanese that they have the same opportunities whether they are coming from the west, from the south, from the east, from the north. They should have the same opportunities. I would like to say also that all these things, whether they are political, economical, social or cultural, are [to be] respected. We should see these spirits, these dreams are translated into action. And this can only be done by us committing ourselves to these dreams and this mission. Q.: Soon or later a final agreement will be signed between the Sudan Government and SPLM, and in the South, a government will be established. Do you think the SPLM will include politicians inside in that government in the same way the Anya-Nya did in 1972 when you yourself became a minister in Juba? A.: I think that the most important thing now, what we should do is in fact having a genuine reconciliation and unity of the Sudan. If we have the spirit of reconciliation and unity in heart, whether we are inside or outside, then there will not be any problem. At this juncture, I would like to congratulate His Excellency the First-Vice President Sayed Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and also congratulate Dr. John Garang, Chairman of SPLA/M, for the very positive and historical steps that they have already taken towards peace in the last meetings in Naivasha, Kenya. I would like really to talk on behalf of the displaced population, the victims of the war whose population today is 5 million. Most of these people are coming from the South, from the Nuba Mountains, from Ingasanna, from the East and from the West. So the number has gone very high. Five million displaced people. And also the Sudan has paid a big price, for the deaths of two million people. So really we are very happy with the last achievements done by the Government and SPLM in trying to bring about peace. We as the victims feel that this is the only valuable situation that will let us again think of enjoying the life in our country, begin to resettle our people, begin to educate our people, begin to get proper living, water, electricity for our people in different parts of the South, and in different parts of the East and West. I think that we have a duty to build confidence in people, build hope in people, build an understand among the people... and I am sure the government that is going to be formed and led by John Garang, with his experience and with his history, I am convinced that he has the capability to unite the people and bring the people to happiness. Q.: At the moment the headquarters of the SPLM/A is Rumbek. Up to now there is no indication from the Movement where the capital of the South is going to be. Recently, a senior government official in an interview cited Juba as the possible site. As a senior politician, Dr. Toby, what is your information? A.: I would like to tell you that where the capital will be is not very important. If you look at the histories of so many African countries, they have been establishing capitals every four years anywhere. I don't think that it is a problem now... where it is going to start. What is important is where will it be easier for the leadership of the SPLM to establish their activities. This is what is important and what should be known by every genuine Southerner. From my own information, what I know is that they will start in a town which is near to the borders with Kenya. It would be very near to Kenya because they are going to get moving. They will start by stages to come in so I personally don't think that it is important that we stick that it is Juba or it is Rumbek. It should be handled in where they will easily establish their system that will be effective to serve the people. Q.: The nearest border towns of Southern Sudan to Kenya are Chukudum and Kapoeta. Which of these two towns do you think will be the capital? A.: I don't think that it is up to me, but I feel that it will be they who will have to choose which area will make them start the work effective. Recently I was with one foreigner, he told me he saw the SPLA reviving a small town near the borders and they have started doing some work there. I was told of a small area already established and they are moving their things in. It is not going to depend on us. It is going to depend on those who are going to start rebuilding the South. They will have to get a place where they can effectively do their job. This is the way I look at it.