---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 7:04 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Solving Sudan's Nuba crisis To: Group <[email protected]>
President Omar Hassan al Bashir: "we will force them back into the mountains and prevent them from having food just as we did before" 1. Solving Sudan's Nuba crisis Extending rights to Sudan's minority Nuba population is the only way to solve the country's current crisis, says author. Last Modified: 06 Feb 2012 19:22 Al Jazeera This article is the second in a series by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a former Pakistani high commissioner to the UK, exploring how a litany of volatile centre/periphery conflicts with deep historical roots were interpreted after 9/11 in the new global paradigm of anti-terrorism - with profound and often violent consequences. Incorporating in-depth case studies from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, Ambassador Ahmed will ultimately argue that the inability for Muslim and non-Muslim states alike to either incorporate minority groups into a liberal and tolerant society or resolve the "centre vs periphery" conflict is emblematic of a systemic failure of the modern state - a breakdown which, more often than not, leads to widespread violence and destruction. The violence generated from these conflicts will become the focus, in the remainder of the 21st century, of all those dealing with issues of national integration, law and order, human rights and justice. Washington, DC - "We are forsaken." Halima Kaga, a Muslim woman from Sudan's Nuba ethnic group, looks directly into the camera. She is angry and exhausted, with her face full of anguish. "We are only looking for food," she pleads in the video clip, filmed in South Sudan's Yida refugee camp and now circulating online. "Omar Bashir only wants to kill us with his airplanes. But the poor, elderly, orphans, small children. What does he need with their souls? What did women do that he wants to kill us?" "The people of Nuba are dying," Halima says with exasperation. Halima fled the Nuba Mountains on Sudan's southern periphery, where several hundred thousand terrified people today are huddled in caves seeking shelter and safety from government bombardment. The vast majority have gone months without access to adequate food and are running out of water. Reports indicate they have resorted to eating bark and leaves. Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN, echoed many international observers in warning that "if there is not a substantial new inflow of aid by March" the situation in the province of Southern Kordofan, where the Nuba live, will be "one step short of full-scale famine". Southern Kordofan, on the 2011 partition border with South Sudan, has become a potential battleground between the North and South that could become an African version of Kashmir. Like Kashmir, which has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan for over six decades, Southern Kordofan could have gone to either North or South Sudan. Because Kashmir's fate was unresolved at partition in 1947, both India and Pakistan claimed the region and went to war three times over it. In Kashmir, those who suffered most were the local people. Alas, we fear this could be the fate of the Nuba. Though the Nuba - a majority-Muslim assortment of tribes that also includes substantial numbers of Christians and animists - supported the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during the Sudanese Civil War, their resource-rich area was not included in the new nation of South Sudan. The partition was based on British colonial districts, which placed the Nuba in the North. The North declared the status of the region was to be decided by "popular consultations", but no such consultations have been held. Instead, the North launched the current military push to extend government authority over the mountains in mid-2011. The result of this operation has been chaos as hundreds of thousands of Nuba have been violently displaced, affecting already unstable neighbouring regions. There have been reports of widespread atrocities against the Nuba population, with a TIME magazine reporter last summer describing the military campaign as a "bloodbath". Dangerous levels The involvement and interest of world powers was dramatically seen last week when Ambassador Rice condemned the Sudanese bombing of a Nuban Christian school that was funded by American donors, while Sudan's ally China dispatched a team to negotiate with a rebel group for the release of 29 Chinese construction workers captured in the Nuba mountains. With the crisis worsening and the humanitarian situation reaching dangerous levels, the conflict has the potential to further draw in regional and international actors, in addition to disrupting the local economy and the oil sector so important for both Sudans. The Nuba, described by Winston Churchill as a "mountain people who cared for nothing but their independence", have fiercely resisted central control for centuries. In the late nineteenth century, they fought back against the armies of the Arab anti-colonial mahdi movement as Sudan fell under British administration. The British ruled the Nuba indirectly, isolating them from the Arab population in the north and stipulating that traditional law and leadership be preserved. Yet after Sudan's independence in 1956, the central government began consolidating its power over the mountains, evicting the Nuba from their lands and distributing them to settlers and officials loyal to the government. In the mid-1980s, the Nuba were drawn into the North-South civil war with area attacks by the SPLA, which resulted in the government arming local Arab tribes who had previously largely co-existed with the Nuba. Some Nuba began to venture south, where they joined SPLA rebels. In addition to resisting what the government saw as efforts of centralisation and modernisation, the Nuba were now seen as posing a security threat to the state. Following his 1989 coup, Sudanese President Omar Bashir stepped up the campaign to subdue Nuban rebels and impose an Arab identity on the population. The policy was cast as a jihad against nonbelievers, despite the fact that the majority of Nuba were Muslim. Pro-government Islamic leaders declared that any "insurgent who was previously a Muslim is now an apostate" which "Islam has granted the freedom of killing". The commander of a powerful government-backed militia announced his intention to "cleanse every stretch of territory sullied by the outlaws". The government cut off access to the mountains and began a campaign to starve the population. Hundreds of thousands of Nuba were held in so-called "peace camps" where men were conscripted and forced to fight against fellow Nuba, women were raped in an effort to dilute the ethnic group, and children were forcibly taught Arabic and the central government's interpretation of Islam. Villages were systematically destroyed in bombing campaigns, and Nuba intellectuals and community leaders were arrested and killed. By the time the campaign was halted with the international mediation of the civil war, as many as half a million Nuba lay dead. The crisis involving the Nuba today needs to be seen in the context of this history as current events carry ominous echoes of the past. Recent satellite imagery shows the Sudanese military massing its armed forces for a full-scale assault on the Nuba, with evacuation routes sealed off. President Bashir had said last year that if the Nuba did not accept the results of the Southern Kordofan gubernatorial election - which saw a Nuban rebel leader defeated by a prominent government bureaucrat wanted by the ICC for war crimes in Darfur - "we will force them back into the mountains and prevent them from having food just as we did before". Echoes of the past The Nuba issue has proved intractable for the Sudanese government because it has not treated the Nuba as full citizens with basic human rights. Furthermore, there has been a consistent cultural campaign to deprive them of their honour and dignity. The Muslim Nuba rebel leader and politician Yousif Kuwa, who died in 2001, captured the pain and alienation of his people when he wrote that he initially believed himself to be Arab until secondary school: "As I understood what was happening and became politically conscious, I recognised that I was Nuba, not Arab." "I remember since elementary school until I went to the university that there was nothing in the history books about the Nuba that was good," he wrote. "The conclusion, of course, was that there is something wrong in Sudan that must be corrected… I started to think, we have to do something." For Kuwa, "being Nuba means to be a human being, with dignity and identity". If we accept that the Nuba region is to remain part of Sudan, and the problems of the past decades stem from a denial of basic human rights to the Nuba, then extending those rights is the only way to solve the current crisis. The Sudanese government should halt the current military operation and distribute food in the Nuba areas, not deprive its citizens of it. Government representatives need to be meeting the Nuba on a human level, eating meals with them and discussing how they can forge a new Sudan together. These methods, which could also include a discussion of a true federal system that would allow for local autonomy, are of utmost relevance not only for Southern Kordofan but also for the troubled peripheral regions of Blue Nile and Darfur. Such policies would be in accordance with international law as well as the dictates of Islam. Resolving the Nuba issue is not only crucial for the stability of Sudan but also for its very identity as a modern, Muslim country. The Sudanese leadership self-consciously projects itself as an Islamic nation, and Sudan has indeed produced influential Muslim figures and scholars. It is imperative that they explain Islam's inherent compassion to the Sudanese leadership. The Quran is replete with verses demanding compassion and mercy for all mankind, and the last great address of the Prophet of Islam at Mount Arafat clearly established an Islamic worldview in which distinctions based on ethnicity and color were rejected. "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab," he said, "nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white except by piety and good action... Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves." It is only in the extension of these Islamic and human rights to all of Sudan's people, whatever their religion and culture, that order can be restored and the suffering of people like Halima Kaga alleviated. For the Islamic leaders of Sudan preparing a final onslaught on the famished Nuba, it would do well to pause and ponder her name. This Nuban woman proudly carries the same name as one of the most revered figures in Islam, Halima, the foster mother who cared for and loved the Prophet of Islam. It would be a supreme irony that instead of honoring another Halima in our age with such a noble name, the leaders of Khartoum are planning to destroy her. This article was written by Akbar Ahmed and Frankie Martin. Professor Akbar Ahmed is Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington DC and the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Frankie Martin is an Ibn Khaldun Chair Research Fellow at American University's School of International Service and is assisting Professor Ahmed on Ahmed's forthcoming study, Journey into Tribal Islam: America and the Conflict between Center and Periphery in the Muslim World, to be published by Brookings Press. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/201226122813904533.html END1 2. Chinese captives in Sudan released February 7, 2012 1:58 pm FT By Katrina Manson in Nairobi Sudanese rebels have freed 29 Chinese workers captured 10 days ago in an incident that strained relations with China, a key political and economic ally. The Chinese road builders, employed by a subsidiary of Sinohydro, a Chinese conglomerate with infrastructure projects around the world, were seized on January 28 from Sudan’s South Kordofan state, where clashes between government and insurgents have displaced tens of thousands of people since last year. The foreign ministry said the workers were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday and flown to Kenya to be received by Chinese diplomats in Nairobi. Both the ICRC and Chinese embassy in Nairobi declined to comment. Khartoum moved swiftly to announce the release and assuage strained relations with China. “The Sudanese foreign ministry affirms to the government and people of China that Sudan’s government seeks to protect Chinese investments and workers involved in it,” said a ministry statement, according to Reuters. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), formerly part of the army that fought for South Sudan’s independence from Khartoum, previously said it captured the workers to keep them safe from fighting in the “war zone” after government forces attacked. “We have handed them to the ICRC and they will hand them to the Chinese government,” Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, one of a three-man SPLM-N committee overseeing their release, told the Financial Times from Nairobi. He said the SPLM-N handed the group of 29 over to the ICRC in Kauda, South Kordofan, from where they were flown to Lokichogio in the north-west Kenyan tip and on to Nairobi, where a delegation of Chinese diplomats awaited them. The armed group had asked China to put pressure on Khartoum to open an aid corridor, urge a ceasefire and an international investigation into human rights abuses. This had raised fears the construction workers were held as political pawns in a border war that threatens to draw former foes Sudan and South Sudan back into conflict, months after the south seceded from Khartoum. Mr Lodi said these had never been “pre-conditions” for their release, however, and thanked the Chinese government for “being wise in dealing with this” and ICRC for their “professional role”. “The government is still continuing to bombard the area day and night, with more killing and displacement,” he told the Financial Times. “This is of course the central message to the government of China, who we hope will play their role in helping this humanitarian issue.” The UN says bombardments by Khartoum continue in the area, and the US has said 500,000 people in the same area may face famine by March. China, which sent delegations to both Sudan and South Sudan in an effort to secure the release of its workers, has also come under fire at home for the risks its nationals are forced to take abroad. Eighteen other workers fled the scene of the attack in Sudan and 17 were later flown to safety in Khartoum. Sudan says it recovered the body of one Chinese worker. The kidnapping marked the third case of abduction of Chinese in Sudan since 2004. END2 3. Chinese workers held in Sudan freed January 7, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A group of 29 Chinese workers held for 11 days in custody of Sudanese rebels in the country’s border state of South Kordofan have been released and flown abroad. The construction workers were captured on Saturday, 28 October, by rebel fighters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLMN) following their military attack on the town of Al-Abbasiya in South Kordofan, 390 miles (630 kilometres) south of the capital Khartoum. One of the workers were shot and killed during the attack. His body was later handed over by Sudanese authorities to the Chinese embassy in Khartoum. Sudan’s foreign ministry said in a statement today that all the workers were handed over on Tuesday morning to the International Committee of the Red Cross which flew them from the rebels’ stronghold in Kauda to the Kenyan capital Nairobi, where they have been handed over to the Chinese embassy there. China’s official news agency Xinhua also confirmed news of their release. SPLMN rebels, who have been fighting government forces in South Kordofan since July last year, promised to release all workers unharmed. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/BREAKING-NEWS-Chinese-workers-held,41533 END3 4. Kidnapped Chinese workers freed in Sudan oil state Tue Feb 7, 2012 4:56pm GMT * Freed Chinese workers flown to Kenya * Kidnap an embarrassment for Khartoum By Ulf Laessing and Sui-Lee Wee KHARTOUM/BEIJING, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Sudanese rebels released 29 Chinese workers on Tuesday, ten days after kidnapping them in the main oil-producing state of South Kordofan where the army has been fighting insurgents, Sudan's foreign ministry said. The incident had been an embarrassment for the Sudanese government, which is trying to boost investment from China, its main political and trade ally, as it seeks to overcome a severe economic crisis. The rebel SPLM-North group said it had taken the construction workers for their own security after a battle with the Sudanese army in South Kordofan, which borders newly independent South Sudan. But the workers had apparently become caught up in a dispute between Khartoum and rebels who are trying to attract attention to the plight of 417,000 civilians who have fled fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, another Sudanese border state. Khartoum has restricted access for aid workers and the United Nations in both states, triggering warnings by the United States that a famine could break out. The 29 Chinese workers were flown out from Kauda in South Kordofan by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the campaign group and Sudan's foreign ministry said. "The Sudanese foreign ministry affirms to the government and people of China that Sudan's government seeks to protect Chinese investments and workers involved in it," the ministry added in a statement. The workers later arrived in Kenyan capital Nairobi "safe and sound", China's official news agency, Xinhua, said, citing a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry. SPLM-North rebel spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi declined to comment. SPLM-North leaders met Chinese officials in Ethiopia last week. Both South Kordofan and Blue Nile are home to large communities who sided with the south during decades of civil war with Khartoum. Many say they have been marginalised by the Khartoum government since South Sudan declared independence in July under a 2005 peace deal. The SPLM is now the ruling party in the independent south and dismisses Khartoum's accusations that it supports SPLM-North rebels across the border. China is an ally of both north and south and the main buyer of South Sudanese oil as well the biggest investor in Sudan. Western diplomats say China has the best chance of defusing tensions between Khartoum and Juba, which are locked in a row over sharing oil wealth, dividing up debt and ending violence on both sides of their shared boundary. CHINESE PRESSURE The kidnap was the third abduction of Chinese people in Sudan since 2004 and highlighted the risks to China's expansion in Africa in search of minerals and energy. Beijing had faced immense pressure to secure the safe return of the abducted workers. State-owned newspapers called for more protection for China's workers overseas as the world's second-largest economy expands its investments around the globe. The workers belonged to state-owned Sinohydro Corporation, a hydropower engineering and construction company. Khartoum counts on China to boost investment as it seeks to overcome the loss of three-quarters of its oil production, that South Sudan took with it when it seceded. Most Western firms shun Sudan due to a U.S. trade embargo imposed first in 1997 when Khartoum was hosting prominent militants such as Osama bin Laden. SPLM-North is one of a number of rebel movements in underdeveloped border areas who say they are fighting to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and end what they see as the dominance of the Khartoum political elite. (Writing by Ulf Laessing and Sui-Lee Wee, Editing by Ron Popeski) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL4E8D75KK20120207?sp=true END4 5. Sudan welcomes African, Arab and UN initiative to deliver humanitarian aid to South Kordofan February 7, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan has welcomed a tripartite initiative proposed by the African Union, Arab League and the United Nations to deliver humanitarian assistance to the needy civilians in the areas held by the rebel Sudan people’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N). Last January, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos announced the United Nations is negotiating with the African Union and Arab League about providing observers in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. The African and Arab observers should make sure that food and humanitarian assistance reach only the needy civilians. Sudan refuses to allow humanitarian aid to reach the civilians in SPLM controlled areas in South Kordofan saying the rebels prevent them from leaving their positions in order to draw food for their fighters. They also suspect some international aid groups of supporting the rebels. According to the official news agency SUNA, delegates of the three regional and international organizations have submitted Tuesday the tripartite initiative to the Sudanese Social Welfare Minister Amira al-Fadel Mohamed and Commissioner of the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), Suleiman Abdel Rahman. The minister told the delegates that the proposal will be referred to the competent authorities at the foreign ministry and HAC for consultations; but she however announced her initial approval of the submitted plan; according to SUNA. The commissioner, following the meeting, stated that all the humanitarian arrangements in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile are progressing according to schedule. He further said comprehensive surveys are now conducted in South Kordofan by national partners to identify the needs in the troubled states. Suleiman denied that his government is facing any pressures from international organisations stressing that the Sudan does not object to the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all its citizens, but this should be in the context of national sovereignty. The Sudanese official was alluding to the threats by US officials to conduct a cross-border humanitarian intervention to the South Kordofan state. Washington said that famine would occur in these regions if Sudan continues to reject access of international aid groups to the rebel held areas. US Ambassador to the United Nations , Susan Rice sent a letter to the UN Security Council on 16 January saying that over 500,000 people are affected by the war there "and if there is not a substantial new inflow of aid by March of this year, the situation in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile will reach Stage 4 of an emergency, which is one step short of full scale famine." Sudan rejected the American threats and accused Washington of making all these pressures to feed the rebels. (ST) http://www.sudantribune.com/Sudan-welcomes-African-Arab-and-UN,41542 END5 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 82 050 1235 (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. 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