South Sudan: new country, same challenges

If a country has huge oil reserves, fertile land and a privilege geopolitical position, I’d think this is a rich country, with a healthy economy due to the exploitation of its natural resources. However, isn’t surprising to see how many countries with a great economic potential are victims of men’s greed, intolerance and selfishness. This is the case of Sudan.

For 50 years Sudan fought against the British and Egyptian colonial power and since its Independence in 1956 this country has suffered two long civil wars where more than 2 million people died in a conflict motivated not only by economic reasons, but also by ethnic and religious problems.

On July 9, Sudan made headlines again. This time not for its conflicts or people’s misery, the news was the independence of the southern region and the subsequent creation of a new state: South Sudan.

Secession has drawn a new map and the country has spited into two. To the north, there is a smaller Sudan with capital in Khartoum and a population dominated by Arabs and Muslims. In the south, the new country with its capital in Juba is the home of a majority of black African.

Decades of struggle and Islamic repression

The independence of Southern Sudan has been the result of a long and difficult road that led to a peace process in 2005, which put an end to the longest and bloodiest African civil war.

That war erupted in 1983, the same year in which the president at that time, Numeiri, introduced the Sharia law in order to impose the Islamic doctrine. Popular discontent was evident, as many ethnic and religious groups live in Sudan: Muslim sunnis make up 70% of the population, African animists with 25% and Christians, 5%. To this dissatisfaction, must

be added the inequalities created during colonialism, when investments were injected into the northern forgetting the south, which led a legacy of inequalities that still remain.

After decades of struggle between the ‘rebels’ non-Muslim and the Muslim power –and under diplomatic pressure from the US, Europe, Africa and China– the government gave its approval to the referendum held on January in which 99% of the population voted for the independence of southern Sudan. The war had been too long and devastating: more than a million dead people, a 38 billion dollars foreign debt for weapons and a parallel conflict in Darfur (still in progress) on racial grounds.

The conflict in Darfur is particularly bloody. Rape is used as a war weapon, there are many cases of tortures, an increasing number of 400,000 dead victims and thousands of refugees have tried to settle in the neighbouring Chad. This brutality has been reported by the UN and, as a consequence, the president of Sudan, Al Bashir, has been accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

After independence, the horror continues

Despite the important step for its self-management, the independence of southern Sudan hasn’t solved by far all the problems. First, there is still no agreement on oil (located in the south but piped out through the north), neither on the division of the borders in “hot spots” as, for example, the oil-rich border region of Abyei, an area annexed by the north in May, although most of its habitants are allied with the south.

According to Time magazine, the result of secession has led to the creation of two weak sates and more conflict. After the independence, the government of Khartoum (northern Sudan) is conducting a terror campaign to force rebels and non-Muslim civilians fleeing the country to the south. These pockets of people “unwanted” in areas like the Nuba Mountains and South Kordofan (also rich in oil) are the target of indiscriminate aerial attacks that could be defined as crimes against humanity.

In South Sudan things aren’t better. The struggle for the exploitation of oil resources is manifested not only between the north and the south, but also between armed militias and the Dinkas, who makes up the largest ethnic group in the area. The militias are living in areas with oil and claim that are unfairly dominated by the Dinkas.

This clash of interests is compounded with corruption, concentration of power in the central government dominated by the SPLM party and huge control of the economy by its armed wing, the SPLA. The lack of resources translates into 85% of illiterate population and 90% living with less than a dollar per day.

As it can be seen, there are so many problems in Sudan that it’s not difficult to loose hope. However, it must be admitted that independence has created a symbol, something to benefit after years of struggle, repression and deaths that, unfortunately, are still far from just being memories.