Background - Sudan's history of conflict

Sudan, the largest country in Africa was jointly colonized by England and Egypt from 1899 until its independence as a republic in 1955. Since independence, Sudan has been running the longest civil war in the world; 38 years. Sudan has a diverse ethnic and religious makeup. Approximately, 40 percent of the population is Arab and 60 percent are African. Roughly 60 percent are Muslim. There are close to 600 ethnic groups and over 100 spoken languages in the South.

Its constant mode of crisis is characterized by a war dividing the Arab-Muslims to the north where Sudan's vast resources and policy-making are controlled by Khartoum, and the African-Christians and animists to the south who remain excluded from power sharing and ignored by the government. Since 1983, over two million people have died from war-related causes and up to four million have been displaced. While millions have survived, they are subject to hunger and human rights abuses. The Sudanese government has participated in aerial bombings of civilian targets, looting of cattle and grain, destruction of villages, extrajudicial executions, and the abduction of women and children.

Unlike the north-south divide, the crisis in Darfur has taken another dimension. The government backed Janjaweed army is launching attacks on African tribes who themselves are Muslim, killing religious leaders, destroying mosques and desecrating Muslim texts.

Decades of peace negotiations

Since Sudan's independence in 1956, its political landscape has been illustrated by military coup d'états, short-lived ceasefire agreements, and unsuccessful peace negotiations yielding little progress. The first of such negotiations between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) began with the Nigerian peace conferences, referred to as Abuja I and II in 1992, and subsequent efforts by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Drought and Desertification (IGADD, now known as IGAD Partners Forum or IPF) which established a Standing Committee on Peace in Sudan in 1994. In July 2001, the Joint Libyan-Egyptian Initiative (JLEI) took shape, then came later efforts by Eritrea, and renewed actions by Nigeria.   

The negotiations were characterized by disputes between Khartoum and the SPLM/A. over Khartoum's insistence on the imposition of Shar'ia law or Islamic law and the SPLM/A's determination on the separation of church and state. Negotiations were further marked by the continuous struggle to keep Sudan unified and the SPLM/A's threats of separation of the South and the marginalized territories of the Nuba Mountains and the southern Blue Nile if its objectives were not honored.

In 2001, the United States increased its engagement with Sudan.  George W. Bush's peace envoy and newly appointed U.S. Representative to the U.N.,  Ambassador John Danforth, proposed a series of confidence building measures including a ceasefire in the Nuba mountains, zones and times of tranquility in which humanitarian interventions could be carried out, a commission to study and report on the issue of slavery, and an end to attacks on civilian targets.

In July 2002  both parties reconvened negotiations under the support of IGAD in Machakos, Kenya. The government and the SPLM/A signed the Machakos protocol

in which their common objective was the unity of Sudan. Under this provision, they agreed to discuss the outstanding issues of state and religion, self-determination for the people of south Sudan, power sharing, wealth sharing and human rights. Soon after, talks ceased between both parties until January 2003.

Lasting Peace in Sudan?

The 18-month period between January 2003 and June 2004 has proven to be the most promising at bringing an end to Sudan's civil war. The peace talks held in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, 60 miles west of Nairobi, between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A have crossed several milestones and succeeded at establishing concrete measures.

To date, six protocols were signed which detail the establishment of a six-year transition period culminating in a referendum on independence in the south. The protocols outline power and wealth sharing arrangements, specify security measures and the merging of rebel and government forces to form a new 24,000 person army force, and reach settlement on the contested areas of Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile. The capital city of Khartoum will be governed under Islamic law, but special provisions will be made for non-Muslims.

Although Sudan has made considerable progress at reaching consensus to end a bloody war that has claimed the lives of over two million people, this current peace agreement does not apply to the western region of Sudan. The crisis in Darfur must be immediately addressed in order to avoid yet another outbreak of war and derail all progress made up to date. Thousands of people have already died from violence and brutality, starvation and disease while the world has only offered simple solutions and little action. Justice Africa, A United Kingdom-based think-tank, acknowledges that "it would be a terrible tragedy if peace in the south were to be achieved just as Sudan enters a new and equally vicious war in Darfur."

Posted July 16, 2004