Ayoun Wa Azan: Sudan

As I look at the map of the ‘two Sudans’, I recall some history lessons from high school. We were taught that Syria was the ‘bread basket’ of the Roman Empire because of the fertility of its lands and the abundance of water in it. I also recall some of my early political memories, when we thought that Arab unity was around the corner. Before its partitioning, Sudan was the largest Arab country. Sudan contains many more agricultural lands and water resources than Syria, and hence the idea that Sudan may become the ‘bread basket’ of a united Arab state emerged. “Where were we and where are we now”. The country that was rich in both oil and water has now become two states that are on the brink of a devastating war. Despite all that brings the North and the South apart, one common trait between them seems to be the absence of wisdom, statesmanship and political savvy. I do not claim to have special expertise on Sudanese affairs. I have never visited the country. However, I read every day about Sudan things that arouse my concern. This is not limited to the developments of recent weeks or months, but rather those of recent years. My personal acquaintance with Sudanese politicians is limited to Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail, whom I knew when he was the Foreign Minister, and used to see him on the sidelines of the annual sessions of the UN General Assembly. We kept in touch when he became adviser to the president, and I have always found him to be knowledgeable, impartial and a true patriot. Our brother Mustafa invited me to visit Sudan and interview President Omar al-Bashir. I promised to do so year after year, and he would smile and say when he saw me: The invitation is still valid. I did not decline the invitation out of laziness. I have spent my life travelling, seeking news, but I found myself opposing the policies of a president that I did not know. Hence, if I were to interview him, whilst keeping my professional integrity, then all my questions would be negative or aggressive, or if I were to place national Arab considerations first, then all my questions would be rather trivial. The above is only a little meaningful anecdote. However, I have more important information. Despite my previous admission of my limited experience with Sudan, I want to say that following the Islamist coup in 1989 led by al-Bashir and Sheikh Hassan al-Turabi, I found President Hosni Mubarak very concerned by the new regime in Sudan, and the role of Islamists whom he saw as extremists. Mubarak told me more than once that he knew al-Bashir as a military man, and thought that he was a ‘good man’ and that one could ‘deal with him’, and also said that he wanted to help him. However, his opinion of al-Turabi was rather the opposite of that. Today, I believe, according to what I heard in the past, but without conclusive evidence, that the Mubarak regime supported al-Bashir against al-Turabi, and perhaps even persuaded him that the Islamists were plotting against him, and so Mubarak incited the two sides against one another – with the result being the subsequent arrest and imprisonment of al-Turabi. The Sudanese political developments, year after year, convinced me that my decision to keep my distance from al-Bashir’s regime was on the mark. The agreement of January 2005 gave the South six years of self-rule, followed by a referendum on unity or secession, giving the regime in the North some time to win over the people of the South. We know today that al-Bashir’s regime attempted to impose Sharia on the tribes of the South, where there is a Christian minority and an animist majority. Al-Bashir thus instilled strife between the Arab Muslim North and the non-Arab non-Muslim South until it seceded, or until they divorced through international courts. We are hearing today that the South invaded the oil-rich region of Heglig near Abyei, although the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2009 that Heglig belongs to the North, unlike the disputed region of Abyei. The South then withdrew under international pressure, before President al-Bashir entered the region claiming to have liberated it and threatening war. The President of the South Salva Kiir then responded and claimed that the North started a war against the South. Every day, there is a story about fighting from Talodi in the Kordofan region to the Blue Nile region, or incursion by northern forces in the South and claims of 1200 people killed, or casualties among peacekeeping forces in Darfur. From the ‘bread basket’ of the nation to partition and war omens…an epitome of the collapse of the project of the Arab world.