South Sudan can still learn from Somaliland
South Sudan can still learn from Somaliland, I stress
STILL because prior to South Sudan gaining independence
I cautioned against the haphazard manner in which South
Sudan was choosing to become a nation while neglecting
to address the ethnic grievances, tribal and political
tensions that were inherent in the social and political
landscape of South Sudan for far too long, and with
which such antagonism and mistrust could be the impetus
that propels South Sudan to a full fle tched conflict . I
forewarned that secession for South Sudan would not be a
panacea to all of its political feuds and ethnic
hostilities, oil money would not be substitute for peace
and the solutio ns devised by foreigners would not
suffice nor stand in for homegrown solutions. Only an
all-inc lusive homegrown reconciliation efforts can
amicably mitigate these inter-conflicts from the
so lutions inherent within the customs and traditions of
the Southern Sudanese people.
As foreign ministers from neighboring countries have
converged in Juba to quell the ethnic strife before it
descends to a civil-war, with already hundreds dead and
thousands more at UN compounds, Here is my Op-ed written
at dawn of worlds’ youngest nation of South Sudan.
South Sudan Can learn from Somaliland
On July 9, 2011 the jubilations in Juba lived up to the
fanfare with which the continents 54th nat ion and the
United Nations 193rd member was inaugurated in, and
fittingly so given the lopsided referendum votes that
had underpinned the aspirations of the people of
Southern Sudan. Less precise however, is how the
apparent ethnic, political, and tribal cleavages in
Southern Sudan will be curtailed before this
undercurrent besets this young nation already under the
strain of outside influence and the meddling of neighboring regional-powers. The Government of South
Sudan has not been helpful in amicably finding solutions
that would cease the internal-conflicts among their
indigent populace which does not augur well for the
world's newest country, and this lackluster action have
been aided by the U.S. who remained silent and
unconcerned, and a western media that had keenly
remained transfixed on Darfur only. Finding a lasting
peace must take precedence for the government and people
of South Sudan as they can no longer avoid the tensions
simmering under the very volatile surface of their
country’s foundation. And now with the secession of
South Sudan concluded with, the seeds of peace to which
Africa’s next 54th nation is to spur from can only be
sown by the People of Southern Sudan, and this is where
the experience of Somaliland can prove invaluable to the
government of Southern Sudan in reconciling and forging
a true consensus to sustain and bond a cohesive nation
out of frail southern coalition where mistrust and
animosity runs high.
No other people deserve this opportunity more than the
people of southern Sudan to attain sta tehood after
peacefully expressing their will and finally determining
their own destiny once and for all. For nearly a half
century the people of Southern Sudan have been plagued
and known nothing but war and all of the social ailments
that accompany it. South Sudan has been in a cat egory
all to its own, as part of Africa’s largest country and
home to the continents longest las ting civil war,
nothing else compares or comes close to the mayhem and
massacres that the people of South Sudan have bared
witness to or have been acquainted with. Their lives
ravaged and rendered destitute by unending wars that
ceased intermittently for short durations only to resume
again with even greater fervor. The CPA agreement signed
in Kenya 2005 halted the re cent conflict that had ensued
for the last 22 years and more importantly bequeathed
the peo ple of southern Sudan the chance to finally vote
on their referendum.
The CPA agreement has been important to aspirations of
the people of South Sudan, however it is now more
crucial than ever that the people of South Sudan
commence an all-inclusive recon ciliation process among
their people, especially now that the common enemy that
held the their coalition together has now but all
dissipated. It is time to address the animosities and
mistrust between the people of South Sudan in order to
forgive and move forward with the building of their
country. As secession will not be a panacea to all of
the inherent problems of tribal-polit ical feuds and
ethnic hostilities, oil money will not be substitute for
peace and the solutions dev ised by foreigners will not
suffice nor stand in for homegrown solutions.
Foreigners like the United States who was not aligned
with the interest of the People of Sudan beyond
secession, albeit their sole efforts of financially and
politically backing the CPA agreem ent made the country
of Southern Sudan possible today. Southern Sudan was
indeed the ben eficiary of unilateralism political maneuvering of a bellicose Bush Administration on the
heels of the 9/11 tragedy vindictively driven to punish
Sudan government for harboring the Al-Qaeda leader late
90’s, a cause further championed by the powerful
evangelical constituents of the Republican Party coming
to aid of Christians in the Southern Sudan and oil
companies trying to neutralize the Chinese influence in
addition to current reports that the Pentagon is
negotiating to establish the African Command base (AFRICOM)
in Juba.
The security and welfare of people of South Sudan
post-independence was of no major concern to the U.S. as
they could have called for or initiated an all-inclusive
reconciliation among the co mmunities of South Sudan so
that the lasting peace to sustain the young nation could
have been garnered. But sadly obtaining secession for
Southern Sudan retained priority for the Unit ed States
which chose to overlook and even suppress reports of the
inter-conflicts and blood shed among the Southern Sudan
in fear that such public acknowledgement could hamper or
derail Southern Sudan from seceding, choosing not to
consider how if the continuation of large loss of lives
and bloodshed went unabated it could resurface once
Southern Sudan becomes a nation and inevitable affect
the viability and cohesion of it.
The American political clout and influence were
leveraged to alter any opposing views at the United
Nations and subdued the erstwhile stance of the African
union on the unified Sudan, further facts on the ground
were even skewed to generate greater support by propping
up the conflict as between Arab Muslims of the north and
Christian Southerners, while conveniently neglecting to
mention that the Christians are minority in the south,
and unlike other parts of Africa, where religious strife
and hostilities are rampant, Sudan had fared much better
and shown greater religious tolerance. Lastly the bold
action of enticing Al-Bashire to not interfere with S.
Sudan’s referendum by hinting to drop the warrant issued
for his arrest by the interna tional criminal court over
allegation for crime against humanity in Darfur as well
as removing Sudan of the terror sponsored list. But such
shortsightedness of American propensity has not been the
only problem, other African countries had fallen short
of their moral responsibilities as well, such as the
Kenyan debacle whose secret shipments of weapons and
tanks were exposed after the ship was hijacked by Somali
pirates, and which the Obama administration subsequ ently
threatened with sanctions as political window-dressing
to quell the international uproar of Kenya sending more
weapons to a place already inundated with them.
The mere fact that Kenya was entrusted signatory to the
CPA agreement that it hosted should have compelled it to
be a more proactive in safeguarding the tenants of the
CPA, unfortunately the Kenyan plunder rather typifies
the ethical dilemmas facing many African countries who
in fear of losing in favor with new Southern Sudan
Government would rather not offend them even if it their
actions endangers them. There is also Uganda, where
President Museveni had been close ally to the longtime
leader of South Sudan Garang, and the helicopter that he
perished in was owned by the Ugandan government.
President Museveni paid dearly for his close
associations with former leader of South Sudan, Sudan
government in Khartoum armed and assisted Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA), that has been at war with
Museveni’s Government.
The fidelity of these regional-power countries who by
the default of S. Sudan’s sheer land mass share boarders
with it, such as Kenya, Uganda, The Central African
Republic, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo have been to their own interest. Although these
Countries have been instrumental in one way or another
in aiding the South Sudan’s long arm struggle against
North Sudan, they are now vying for a piece of the
lucrative new nation. Blinded by these ulterior motives
some countries have resorted to using ethnic connections
as a way to court officials of Southern Sudanese
Government, not considering how the meddling along of
ethnic lines for mere political or economic gains for
any country could prove catastrophic for all, especially
given the numerous culturally intertwined ethnic
communities that many of these neighboring countries
share with South Sudan. No matter how strong or robust
some these countries maybe, we can all recall the ethnic
tensions that flared after Kenya’s last election which
highlighted just how frail it really is. And there is
Eritrea, which the Monitoring Group mandated by the
Security Council found their complicity in arming South
Sudan rebels.
Economic interest and expediency rather than principle
has trumped and Kenya which had been the last home of
SPLM outside of Sudan, has position itself to providing
pipeline from south Su dan through to its Lamu port of
the Indian Ocean, an economic opportunity for Kenya and
a se rvice to the landlocked Southern Sudan which is in a
dire need of it. furthermore Skilled and ed ucated
Kenyans have benefited from the lack of skilled work
force of the South Sudan that are needed to establish
government institutions and to run them, and financially
the Kenyan comm ercial bank dominates the banking in
Southern Sudan. Not to be out done, Ethiopia which was
the previous home of SPLA prior to their move to Kenya
have been reported to have secured an agreement to sell
hydroelectric power to South Sudan and bank of Ethiopia
is already oper ational there.
The possibility of South Sudan disintegrating cannot be
easily dismissed, the social breakdown that has allowed
the tumultuous communal-warfare to persist thus far,
could be the impetus that propels the lingering
antagonisms and mistrust to a full fletched conflict.
For God sakes in August of this year alone over 600
people have been killed over the battles between the
Lou-Nuer and Murle factions in South Sudan, deaths that
do not include the nearly 1,000 killed on the previous
month from these same tribes, a steady addition to the
lives that have been clai med by the unending tribal and
militia violence as the United Nations contends. The
apprehens ibility of these indiscriminate acts have been
happening on a constant and continual basis were
signified by a report compiled by Oxfam where it stated
“In one attack in a village in Jonglei state in August
2009, some 161 people were killed, most of them women
and children”. Sadly these murders largely went
unnoticed by the international media, although for
instance that same year in 2009 alone there had been
more deaths as result of Southern Sudanese
inter-violence than in anywhere of Sudan including
Darfur.
This dire situation is only made worse by many of the
South’s tribal militias who were once allies of the
North and used as proxy forces by Khartoum during the
long wars, these individuals raped, murdered and
blundered with the North’s blessings. The government of
Sudan in the north conveniently instigated the ethnic
feuds and tribal differences among the Southern Sudanese
people and supplied those in-line with them with modern
arms to commit havoc with impunity. Some of the more
profound heinous undertakings committed by militia
supported by the national government of Sudan in
Khartoum were the Nuer militia that perpetrated the Bor
massacre, where they slaughter women and children of the
Dinka tribe, as well as the Nuer –Anyanya atrocities by
the Murle. These heinous acts explains the tensions and
mistrust in the new official army of the Southern Sudan,
Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), where The
South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF) and Sudan Peoples’
Liberation Army (SPLA), who were once feuding enemies
have all converged on, and bad blood from the war era
remains higher than ever.
The divisions among the numerous tribes of South Sudan
was heightened in the 2010 presiden tial elections, when
several prominent Party leaders like Bona Malwal of The
South Sudan Dem ocratic Forum (SSDF), Lam Akol Ajawin of
the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic (SPLM-DC)
and Joseph Malwal of the United Democratic Salvation
Front (UDSF) had all rejected and refuted the results
that crowned Salva Kiir as the president. Fortunately
South Sudan overcame those quarrels that stemmed from
the result disputes, sadly however there other leaders
such as Peter Gadet a former SPLA commander who heads
the new rebel group SSLA and George Athor a previous
deputy chief of staff of the southern forces who have
all picked up arms and are at war with the new
government. They are only some of the ones at war with
government but many have accused the current structure
of government in Juba as a corrupt and undemocratic.
South Sudan has been a semi-autonomous government (Goss)
that had directly been responsible for the affairs of
the 10 states that make up South Sudan and since 2005
the South has received 50% of oil revenue, and has
part-taken and had input in the overall affairs of the
national government under the government of national
unity (GONU). This is all important because it was the
people of Southern Sudan, who brought down their
autono mous government in 1976 over allegation of
corruption and favoritism, a resentment shared of the
current government.
Not all the blood in South Sudan has been shed over
political disputes only; the conflicts over resources
have been just as bad and as gruesome. The southern
ethnic groups have continued to fight over water and
grazing land. Southern Sudanese has had the unfortunate
luck of being home to one of the fiercest cattle
raiding, and the plundering of small farms which all
contribute to the extent of destitute of local, who do
not grow any corps at all in fear of attracting unwa n ted
attention of being raided and looted by the bandits.
Large numbers of these bandits are comprised of Sudanese
youth who have known nothing but war and have not been
disarmed or incorporated to the join the government
forces. These youths in communities with the
overab undance of light-weapons, and amidst warring armed
civilians all equally pose threat to the vi ability of
Southern Sudan.
At this pivotal point for all the mentioned reasons the
people and the government of South Sud an can benefit
from accrued wisdom of the people of Somaliland. Peace
needs to be the intrinsic ingredient to the foundation
of South Sudan which will help alleviate its impediments
especially given the amount of blood that has been shed
among the tribes which their age old animosity is
predicated around. The clock is ticking and time could
be running out on a sincere reconciliation efforts
intended on crafting lasting peace among the communities
of South Sudan, instead of holding another conference
with a political dimension more concerned with the
legitimizing the new government by mainly appeasing the
opposing militia leaders with government posts than
addressing grievances and uniting the people of Southern
Sudan. The difficulties and the animosities inherent in
the social and political landscape of South Sudan will
not just disappear, but rather the ethnic grievances,
tribal and political tensions that culminated over wide
period of time need a sincere homegrown efforts to
mitigate these inter-conflicts on the horizon, which can
only be solved amicably from the solutions inherent
within the customs and traditions of the Southern
Sudanese people.
The people of Somaliland had already paid dearly before
they came out in the droves to vote overwhelmingly on
their referendum in 2001, sealing their affirmation for
independence with over 97% of the votes, an independence
they reclaimed a decade earlier in 1991 after union with
Somalia was dissolved, shortly after returning home from
the harsh conditions of refugee camps where they sought
refuge from their own government that indiscriminately
massacred well over 60,000 civilians.
The peace that exists in Somaliland can be attributed to
the liberators of Somaliland, the Somali National
Movement (SNM) who made forgiveness and reconciliation
their priority, instead of ma nifesting the bitterness,
anger that had fostered over the decade they braved the
bushes and wilderness in addition to the immeasurable
losses gallantly suffered in the war to liberate their
people and land by defeating the Brutal dictator armed
with one of the best equipped and trai ned armies on the
continent. Paramount to peace the Somali National
Movement (SNM) broke red was their inclusion of the
elders and traditional leaders from onset in finding
traditional rem edies rather than the negotiations being
outsourced or becoming susceptible to manipulation by
outsiders with top-down foreign solutions.
The first conference convened by the Somali National
Movement (SNM) was not based on politic s or the
legitimizing of their rule, but on the brotherly
reconciliation of all the major tribes in So maliland. In
the initial conference held in Berbera locally called
“Walaalaynta Beelaha Waqooyi”, which turned out to be a
momentous accomplishment that initiated healing
understanding and more importantly helped restore trust
among the Somaliland's tribes, and ended up being the
needed stepping stone to further dialogues such as the
Grand conference in Burao.
The successful progress in Somaliland’s reconciliations
were largely due to its home-grown legal system called
Xeer, which all inhabitants are accustomed to and is
hinged on traditional mecha nisms for finding solution to
quarrels and conflicts. Xeer is an all-encompassing
time-tested traditional legal framework that is by
default democratic with a bottom-up-approach where
grievances are aired under a simple tree. Somaliland’s
stability was possible because of the elders
spearheading the negotiations as well as the involvement
and ownership taken of the reconciliations process by
the stakeholders-larger society as a whole.
Addition to the indigenous legal system Somaliland’s
current status was only feasible because of the
resilience and resolve of the Somaliland women, who have
always been the backbone of Somaliland society and
played a decisive role in garnering the peace that has
made everything possible. They toiled in face of arduous
circumstances as the link and go in between the feuding
factions, they hosted and looked after visiting elders
and delegates of the conferences, on top of preparing
meals and decorating the conference venues.
With the initial conferences held by SNM managing to
obtain a mutual end to hostilities between all the major
Clans in Somaliland among the Isaaq, Dir, Dhulbahante
and Warsangali, no one had anticipated the fallout and
internal strife within the iconic Somali National
Movement (SNM) that liberated Somaliland, once the
unifying goal of liberating their land was accomplished.
A situation made worse by the post-war atmosphere of
unmentionable destruction and ruin with a million of
displaced Somaliland citizens in the midst of
battle-hardened armed tribal militiamen (Daayday)
roaming the streets looting and plundering, and even as
Peace seemed moribund in those vexing years, the elders
never relented nor yielded to ubiquity of violence, but
instead were proactive in calling for the Boorame
conference that lasted for nearly 6 months even though
it did not avert the inter- conflicts that consumed the
major cities in Somaliland. Those conflicts in the
mid-1990s eroded the joy, unity and the euphoric triumph
of the Somali National Movement (SNM) and instead
created shock and agony among the people of Somaliland
that they will remember for long time to come.
Somaliland’s current status as a peace of oasis
accumulated from the consensus and compro mise forged by
the citizens of Somaliland and the peace it has is
constantly a work in progress that is tedious and
unending. Nurturing peace in the postwar environment
riddled with despair and destruction, burdened with
displaced citizens and clan based militias was no small
feat for the people of Somaliland, but their nexus of
wise liberator’s, fair-minded elders, the toil of
ever yday women with the assistance of the business
people and contributions of diaspora made it possible.
Hard-won peace and harmony obtained internally by the
trusting and relying on the home-grown legal traditional
framework of customary laws of the people and the
marginalizing and excluding foreigners from interfering.
Somaliland is only an example of the many other African
countries that utilized traditional mechanism to serve
justice and find peace, countries like South Africa’s
truth and reconciliation commission post-apartheid era,
and Rwanda in dealing with the aftermath of the genocide
where nearly a million Tutsis where hacked to death.
South Sudan can find ample examples in varying degrees
that they can look to or even emulate, but only their
own homegrown indigenous methods will be conducive to
their socio-cultural topography.
The salvation of South Sudan depends on its people to
find solution to their own problems, solution that can
come from the immensely rich and value laden heritage of
the Southern Sudanese people, which is ample with
cultural solutions and traditional remedies. The bond
that will sustain and solidify the harmony of the South
Sudanese people can only immerge from the wisdom and the
breadth knowledge of the community leaders and
traditional elders. The future stability of Southern
Sudan is contingent on its people to collectively find
their own solutions to problems facing them while being
cognizant of the many problems that the secession will
not be a panacea to, and for southern Sudan to prosper
and fully benefit from the resources endowed with it,
its homegrown grassroots efforts must truly address the
decades of grievances and perceived betrayals within the
Southern Sudanese people first.
Oil-money, international influence will not have any
bearing and will not be able to mitigate the impending
inter-conflicts on the horizon, as those can only be
solved amicably from the solutions inherent within the
customs and traditions of the Southern Sudanese people.
The formation of South Sudan as a nation can’t be based
on the shared grievances against Khartoum. The people of
South Sudan must be impelled to solve their own problems
especially given the prying eyes of neighboring
countries driven by self-interest, and the American
assistance that stopped at secession. All the economic
and social disparities will not be resolved overnight in
South Sudan and the dangers of political and tribal
cleavages will neither disappear.
Becoming a new nation might have been the easier part
for Southern Sudan, with Khartoum be ing held at bay, the
hard part however will be the forging and the sustaining
a cohesive nation out of frail southern coalition that
is already feuding. South Sudan has been forewarned and
hopefully they will heed the ominous warnings as
internal-conflicts only erode the social trust which
leads to segmented societies while a peaceful nation is
a prelude to a prosperous one. Only the brotherly
reconciliation will enable the cohesion and consensus
that can sustain the harmony and unity of this young
nation with the bright future.
With that I conclude with the wise words uttered by
Thabo Mbeki, the Chairperson of the Afri can Union High
Implementation Panel on Sudan, who stated “Within
Southern Sudan, the days and months following the
historic exercise of the right of self-determination
will be a time for healing, for reconciliation and for
building a new, inclusive and democratic Southern
Sudan”.
No other people on earth wish and hope for the success
and longevity of the people of South Sudan than the
people of Somaliland. A message personally carried and
conveyed to the people of South Sudan by the President
of Somaliland on that joyous day on July 9, 2011 in
Juba.
NABAD IYO CAANO KU WARA, A Somaliland adage meaning
“Peace and Milk” which roughly trans lates to with Peace
fallows Prosperity.
http://www.longlivesomaliland.com/south_sudan_can_learn_from_somaliland.htm
Geleh Ali Gulaid
Hargeisa, Somaliland
Geleh@hotmail.com |
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