---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 11:05 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Southerners in north Sudan without visas will be deported To: Group <[email protected]>
Southerners in north Sudan without visas will be deported after separation Published On Mon Jul 04 2011 The Star KHARTOUM—The letter, on official Ministry of Culture letterhead, is courteous, thanking Chol Deng for the “great services which you tendered to the ministry. Wishing success for your future life, and prosperity for your newborn state.” But make no mistake. It’s a firing letter. Deng received it the day after a decree came down in late June from the government of Sudanese dictator Omar Al-Bashir to dismiss an estimated 20,000 civil servants. They were no longer fit for public service because . . . they were southerners. The justification? In a January referendum, those in the southern third of Sudan decided, by a near 99 per cent margin, to break away from the North and become the Republic of South Sudan. The separation, which will take place Saturday, follows decades of civil war and an estimated 2.5 million dead. To Khartoum, southerners in the North — even if they were born there, have lived there for decades, or have no desire to move South, have become personae-non-grata. Foreigners. It’s stripping all of them of their Sudanese citizenship, a move that is stirring international concern. Top Canadian officials on Sudan privately say that citizenship — the status of southerners in the North and vice versa — is their No. 1 concern for the country and its stability. Deng, who was seconded to the ministry from Upper Nile University and has lived in Khartoum on and off for about 30 years, is not surprised he was sacked. “This is not Canada,” he said. “It’s not their right to take away my citizenship. But here it’s all about political hostility. Human ethics has no grounding here in Sudan.” The government talked tough prior to the referendum. “They will not enjoy citizenship rights, jobs or benefits,” Information Minister Kamal Obeid declared last fall on public radio. “We will not even give them a needle in the hospital.” More recently, Bashir ruled out any form of dual citizenship, reportedly declaring that a “northerner is a northerner and a southerner is a southerner.” International law allows people to decide on an independent state, Information Secretary Ibrahim Ghandour said. “But it also allows the other state to give them their nationality or not,” he argued. “Nationality is a sovereign government’s business.” The Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which fought the vicious war with the North and whose political arm now leads the new Southern government, “can’t leave the people (in the north) and take the land,” Ghandour reasoned. So southerners will lose their status, and will be treated like any other alien who comes to live in Sudan. If they don’t obtain a visa to stay, they will be deported. To many southerners — an identity underpinned by the notion that one’s tribe has its roots in the South — these words are frightening and confusing. “I feel terrified, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said pharmacist Stella Giatano, 32. Her family, including mother, sisters and brothers, are not sure whether to stay or move to the South, even though they’ve been in Khartoum since 1969. “Sometimes they say, ‘Let’s wait until July 9th and see,” Giatano said. “Then when they hear things from the government, they decide to go back immediately.” To some, the problem of nationality is simply a manifestation of how deep the enmity runs between North and South. Southerners are called “abeed,” the Arabic word for slave. Northerners similarly are disparaged as “mundukuru.” War may have ended in 2005 with the signing of a peace agreement, which led to the referendum and now, secession. But there are still major tensions. Oil wealth sharing, for instance. And the border regions, where the North is launching brutal attacks, killing civilians. The current South administration has said little on the nationality issue. But leaders have indicated northerners in the South will get nationality, said Deng Goc Ayuil, a former southern member of the National Assembly in Khartoum who will now sit in the legislature in Juba, the southern capital. “Some people who were born (in Khartoum) have no cultural connection or relation to the South,” said Ayuil, who hails from the southern Dinka tribe. “They have a right to be here.” Ayuil’s five children are on his mind when he says this. “They are Northerners,” he contends. “They grew up with Northern culture. They studied here in Arabic. Three of them don’t speak Dinka. “They will suffer.” http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1019470--southerners-in-north-sudan-without-visas-will-be-deported-after-separation END ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
